Set up Featured products in homepage in magento 1.9

This tutorial to show you how to Set up Featured products in homepage in magento 1.9 but you can use for other version of magento without any problem.

1. Create new Featured attribute

Create a new attribute by going to Catalog > Attributes > Manage Attributes > Add New Attribute.

Attribute Properties

Attribute Identifier: featured

• Scope: Store View
• Catalog Input Type for Store Owner: Yes/No
• Unique Value (not shared with other products): No
• Values Required: No
• Input Validation for Store Owner: None
• Apply To: All Product Types

Front End Properties

• Use in quick search: No
• Use in advanced search: Yes
• Comparable on Front-end: No
• Use In Layered Navigation (Can be used only with catalog input type ‘Dropdown’): No
• Visible on Catalog Pages on Front-end: Yes

Manage Label/Options

• Default: Featured Product
• English: Featured Product

Save the new attribute and go to Catalog ? Attributes ? Manage Attributes Sets to add the attribute to the default feature set.

2. Create new block class that will instantiate the featured product

Create a new file, and directories: app/code/local/MyCompany/Catalog/Block/Product/Featured.php

<?php
class MyCompany_Catalog_Block_Product_Featured extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_Abstract
{
	public function getFeaturedProducts() {
		$resource = Mage::getSingleton('core/resource');
		$read = $resource->getConnection('catalog_read');
		$productEntityIntTable = (string)Mage::getConfig()->getTablePrefix() . 'catalog_product_entity_int';
		$eavAttributeTable = $resource->getTableName('eav/attribute');
		$categoryProductTable = $resource->getTableName('catalog/category_product');
 
		$select = $read->select()
						->distinct(true)
						->from(array('cp'=>$categoryProductTable), 'product_id')
						->join(array('pei'=>$productEntityIntTable), 'pei.entity_id=cp.product_id', array())
						->joinNatural(array('ea'=>$eavAttributeTable))
						->where('pei.value=1')
						->where('ea.attribute_code="featured"');
 
		$res = $read->fetchAll($select);
 
		return $res;
	}
}
?>

3. Extend Mage_Page_Block_Html

Create a new file, and directories: app/code/local/MyCompany/Page/Block/Html.php

<?php
 
class MyCompany_Mage_Page_Block_Html extends Mage_Page_Block_Html
{
	public function getFeaturedProductHtml()
	{
		return $this->getBlockHtml('product_featured');
	}
}

4. Add new blocks to the app/etc/local.xml

Add the following inside the config global tag:

<blocks>
	<catalog>
		<rewrite>
			<product_featured>MyCompany_Catalog_Block_Product_Featured</product_featured>
		</rewrite>
	</catalog>
</blocks>

5. echo featured products HTML

Place the following code to the file: app/design/frontend/default/default/template/catalog/product/featured.phtml

<?php $featured_products = $this->getFeaturedProducts(); ?>
	<?php shuffle($featured_products); ?>
	<div class="box recently" style="padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px;">
		<h3><?php echo $this->__('Featured Products') ?></h3>
		<div class="listing-type-grid  catalog-listing">
			<?php $_collectionSize = count($featured_products) ?>
			<table cellspacing="0" class="recently-list" id="product-list-table">
				<?php 
					$i=0; 
					foreach ($featured_products as $_res): ?>
						<?php $_product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($_res['product_id']); ?>
						<?php if ($i++%3==0): ?><tr><?php endif ?>
						<td>
							<div>
								<a href="<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?>">
									<img class="product-image" src="<?php echo $this-/>helper('catalog/image')->init($_product, 'small_image')->resize(135, 135); ?>" width="135" height="135" alt="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?>" />
								</a>
							</div>
							<p>
								<a class="product-name" href="<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?>)"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?></a>
							</p>
							<?php echo $this->getReviewsSummaryHtml($_product, 'short') ?>
						</td>
						<?php if ($i%3==0 && $i!=$_collectionSize): ?></tr><?php endif ?>
					<?php endforeach ?>
 
					<?php for($i;$i%3!=0;$i++): ?>
						<td class="empty-product">&nbsp;</td>
					<?php endfor ?>
					<?php if ($i%3==0): ?>&nbsp;<?php endif ?>
			</table>
			<script type="text/javascript">decorateTable('product-list-table')</script>
		</div>
	</div>

6. Add Featured Products block to the frontpage

As the last step, you have to place featured product box to the frontpage. So, go to Magento administration to CMS > Manage Pages and select home page (or any other if you wish to place featured products in separate page)

Place the following line in Content area:

{{block type="catalog/product_featured" name="product_featured" as="product_featured" template="catalog/product/featured.phtml}}