EAV attributes, default values and source models

EAV Attribute

I tried to add an EAV attribut, set a default value and that without using a source model, set this options:

$this->addAttribute('customer', 'customer_type', array(
	'type' => 'int'	    
	'option' => array('values' => array('Customer', 'Artist'))
    'default' => 'Customer',
	[...]
);

Default value

Magento adds the values into the eav_attribute_option_value table and shows them in the backend. The problem is, if we save them as int, we can't set 'Customer' as default. And we can't set the eav_attribute_option_value.value_id, because we don't know it.

Solution

I removed the options from the attribute and added a soure model.

$this->addAttribute('customer', 'customer_type', array(
	'type' => 'int'	    
	'source' => 'company_extension/entity_attribute_source_modelName',
    'default' => 1,
	[...]
);

A source model needs to implement the Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Interface. To make life easier there is an abstract class Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Abstract we can extend.

So just implement the source model, then you know the int value of your options and you can set it.