Creating a custom variation attribute in SFCC

Question

I'm trying to create a custom variation attribute for products in Salesforce Commerce Cloud. There are already attributes like "color", "size", "batteryLife", etc. I want to add a completely new one called "productVariation" or something like that.

I set-up a new sandbox with SFRA, and the default product catalog. If I go to Merchant Tools > Products and Catalogs > Products then select my product, and open the variations tab, there's a section where I can add shared variation attributes:

In this case I've already added color, which was a pre-defined variation attribute. It works correctly. If I click new the attribute definition ID isn't a free-form field:

After clicking the ellipsis (...) the list looks like this:

There's no option to "create new" there.

What I've Tried

I tried going to Merchant Tools > Products and Catalogs > Shared Variation Attributes > Apparel Master Catalog. But again, if I try to add a new attribute there, it requires me to select from the same list of existing variation attributes:

I also tried going to Administration > Site Development > Custom Object Types, and tried to create a new "object type", hoping that might appear in the list of variation attributes, but it did not.

Answer 1

I believe that the proper steps you need to display a new Object type attribute need to add a custom property to the product.

Here are the steps:

• go to Administration > Site Development > System Object Types
• Click on product on the list.
• Go to Attribute Definitions tab
• Select New.
• Create the attribute with the desired id and names and Save it.
• Then go to the Attribute Grouping tab
• Click edit on the storefrontAttributes
• Click on the ellipsis to see the list of all product attributes
• Select your newly created attribute, check the select box, then click select.

With that, you will see the new custom attribute on your product, allowing you to use it as a new Object type attribute.

Answer 2

I believe you can check for attribute Manager and add new attributes there.

Creating Custom Attributes

To create a custom attribute, follow these steps:

1. In Order Management Administration: click Settings > Attributes.
2. From the Attribute Manager, select an attribute group in the list on the left side of the page. The new attribute belongs to the selected group. To not assign the attribute to any group, select Ungrouped.
3. Enter a name for the attribute in the text box above the Attribute Group list.
4. Select Attribute from the list next to the text box.
5. Click Add. A new Edit Legacy Attribute Information page opens.
6. Edit the various fields on the page as described in Editing Custom Attributes.
7. To save the new attribute, click Update. (Clicking Cancel discards changes to the attribute fields, but does not delete the attribute itself.)
8. Create the value, such as string, dropdown list, number for the Choice Values attribute.

Refrence Documentation