Add custom product attribute to URL product view

Question

I have created an EAV entity (that represents the brand) which can be associated to a product as an attribute. Now, I would like to add the name of the brand to the product view URL. I would like something like this:

http://myhost.com/category-name/brand-name/product-name

Is there a way to extend the url rewrite for products view?

Answer 1

In order to create url key with "/" sign you need to override Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Url's formatUrlKey() method.
You can do it like so:

class Vendor_Module_Model_Catalog_Product_Url extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Url
{
 /**
 * Format Key for URL
 *
 * @param string $str
 * @return string
 */
 public function formatUrlKey($str)
 { 
 // added '/' character
 $urlKey = preg_replace('#[^0-9a-z\/.]+#i', '-', Mage::helper('catalog/product_url')->format($str)); 
 $urlKey = strtolower($urlKey);
 $urlKey = trim($urlKey, '-');
 return $urlKey;
 }
}

You can override beforeSave() method of the Backend Model of Catalog Product Urlkey attribute as following:

class Vendor_Module_Model_Catalog_Product_Attribute_Backend_Urlkey
 extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Attribute_Backend_Urlkey 
{
 /**
 * Before save
 *
 * @param Varien_Object $object
 * @return Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Attribute_Backend_Urlkey
 * @overridden
 */
 public function beforeSave($object)
 {
 $attributeName = $this->getAttribute()->getName();
 $urlKey = $object->getData($attributeName);
 if ($urlKey == '') {
 $urlKey = "{$object->getBrandName()}/{$object->getName()}";
 }
 $object->setData($attributeName, $object->formatUrlKey($urlKey));
 return $this;
 }
}

Now while product is being saved, if url key empty it will automatically create an 'brand-name/name' like url. If it comes to category name it is a matter of magento configuration to or not to add category name at the begining of URL address.

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Alternatively check out this free extension, it does exactly what you require: https://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/custom-product-urls-seo.html