Spec sheet (attributes)

Products carry a typed, validated spec sheet via attributes-for-laravel — the descriptive data that complements variant options (which define SKUs). Define the schema under shops.attributes.definitions; each entry has a type (string, integer, float, boolean, array, datetime) plus optional rules, default, required, unique and encrypted. Definitions are registered at boot:

// config/shops.php
'attributes' => ['definitions' => [
    'material' => ['type' => 'string'],
    'weight'   => ['type' => 'integer', 'rules' => ['min:0']],
]],

Setting and reading values

$product->attachAttribute('material', 'wool');
$product->attachAttribute('weight', 500);
$product->attachAttributes(['material' => 'wool', 'weight' => 320]);
$product->syncAttributes(['material' => 'cotton']);   // attach/replace, prune the rest
$product->detachAttribute('weight');

$product->attr('material')->string();   // 'wool'
$product->attr('weight')->int();        // 500
$product->attributeInt('weight');       // ?int
$product->validateAttributes();         // enforce the definitions' rules
$product->history('material');          // value-change history

Filtering and sorting

Query scopes build faceted catalogue browsing — wool only, lightest first:

Product::query()->whereAttribute('material', 'wool')->get();
Product::query()->whereAttributeIn('material', ['wool', 'cotton'])->get();
Product::query()->whereAttributeBetween('weight', 100, 500)->get();
Product::query()->whereHasAttribute('material')->get();
Product::query()->orderByAttribute('weight', 'desc')->get();

Definitions are read strictly at boot: an entry that is not an array, a type typo, a required flag that is not a boolean or rules that are not an array throw an InvalidConfigurationException naming the shops key (for example shops.attributes.definitions.colour.type) instead of being skipped.

Every write is checked against its definition before anything is stored: a value that fails the type or rules throws InvalidAttributeValueException, whose attributeName, messages() and errorBag() carry the details. Turn on the attributes package’s attributes.strict to also reject undefined attribute names with UnknownAttributeException.