Attributes & Tags Management (Admin)

Flow ID: AD-15 Module(s): eshop, attributes Complexity: Medium Last Updated: 2026-09-14

Business Context

The platform uses two distinct faceted systems for product classification and storefront filtering:

• Attributes define product-code-level properties (color, size, material) linked to individual SKUs via the product_code_attributes junction table. They drive variant selection on product detail pages.
• Product Tags are product-level labels organized into tag categories (groups). They power sidebar/URL-based faceted filtering on category listing pages and also serve as targeting criteria for coupons (CF-13) and feeds.
• Order Tags are a separate flat tag system for internal order classification (AD-28, covered briefly here for completeness).

Both attributes and product tags have full CRUD in the legacy admin panel and modern REST API with OpenAPI documentation.

---

1. Product Attributes

1.1 Data Model

Table	Purpose	Key Columns
attribute_groups	Attribute group (e.g., "Color", "Size")	id, display_type
attribute_groups_mui	MUI translations per group	attribute_group_id, name, lang
attribute_values	Individual values within a group	id, attribute_group_id, display_value, active
attribute_values_mui	MUI translations per value	attribute_value_id, name, lang
product_code_attributes	Junction: product code to attribute value	product_code_id, attribute_value_id

Display types (defined in ecommercen/helpers/shopmodule_helper.php:857):

• text -- plain text display value
• hex-color -- CSS hex color code (rendered as color swatch)
• image -- uploaded image file (stored in files/product_attributes/)

1.2 Admin Controller (Legacy)

Controller: ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_attributes_admin.php (438 lines) Auth: AUTH_ROLE_ADVISABLE, AUTH_ROLE_ADMIN, AUTH_ROLE_PRODUCTSRoute: /eshop/attributes_admin (aliased to /attributes_admin)

This is a Vue 2 SPA -- unlike most admin controllers, it does NOT use server-rendered views for CRUD. Instead:

1. index() renders a single Vue mount point (#attribute-page) and injects all data as a JSON blob (jsonState) containing: attribute groups, groups MUI, attribute values, values MUI, display types, languages, user roles, and translations.
2. All CRUD operations are AJAX JSON endpoints consumed by the Vue components:
   • add() -- create attribute group (POST, JSON response)
   • edit() -- update attribute group (POST, JSON response)
   • addValue() -- create attribute value within a group (POST, supports multipart for image type)
   • editValue() -- update attribute value (POST, supports multipart for image type)
   • getPageData() -- reload all state after mutations (GET, returns full JSON blob)

Validation rules:

• Group: display_type required; name_{lang} required per admin language
• Value: name_{lang} required per admin language; display_value optional; active optional; id required for update
• Image upload validation delegated to advuploader library (image type values only)

Deletion guards:

• attribute_groups_model->canDelete($id): blocked if any attribute_values reference the group (and currently hardcoded to false via TODO)
• attribute_values_model->canDelete($id): blocked if any product_code_attributes reference the value (also hardcoded to false)

1.3 Vue SPA Components

Entry point: assets/admin/js/attributes-page.js -- mounts AdminAttributesPage component.

Component	File	Purpose
AdminAttributesPage	assets/admin/js/attributes/AdminAttributesPage.vue	Root component: state management, API calls, view routing
AttributeGroupList	assets/admin/js/attributes/AttributeGroupList.vue	Table of groups with edit/values actions
AttributeGroupForm	assets/admin/js/attributes/AttributeGroupForm.vue	Create/edit group with MUI tabs and type dropdown
AttributeValuesList	assets/admin/js/attributes/AttributeValuesList.vue	Table of values within a group, color swatch display
AttributeValuesForm	assets/admin/js/attributes/AttributeValuesForm.vue	Create/edit value with MUI tabs, image upload/preview, hex input, active toggle

Navigation flow: Group List --> (edit) Group Form | (values) Values List --> (add/edit) Values Form. The showValues and isGroupFormOpen/isValuesFormOpen flags control which panel is visible. Data is reloaded from getPageData after every mutation.

1.4 DTO Layer

ecommercen/attributes/DTO/ contains two DTOs used by the product model for structured attribute data:

• AttributeProductDTO -- represents an attribute group with its values and display type, used when loading attributes for product admin forms and storefront rendering
• AttributeValueDTO -- represents a single attribute value (id, name, display value)

These are consumed by Adv_attribute_groups_model::getAttributeGroupsWithValues() and getAttributeGroupCombosForProductCodeIds().

1.5 Product Integration

When creating or editing a product, attributes are assigned at the product-code level:

• Adv_products_admin::manageProductAttributes() calls processProductCodes() which writes to the product_code_attributes junction table
• Adv_attribute_values_model::getAttributesValuesGroupsCombo() provides the attribute group/value dropdown for the product form
• Attribute filtering on category pages is handled by Adv_product_model::queryForListingAttributeFilters() which JOINs product_code_attributes per group

1.6 REST API (Modern Layer)

Domain: src/Domains/Product/Attribute/

Entity	Table	Key Properties
Group\Repository\Entity	attribute_groups	id, display_type
Group\Repository\MuiEntity	attribute_groups_mui	attribute_group_id, name, lang
Attribute\Repository\Entity	attribute_values	id, attribute_group_id, display_value, active
Attribute\Repository\MuiEntity	attribute_values_mui	attribute_value_id, name, lang

REST Controllers: src/Rest/Product/Controllers/

Controller	Endpoint	Methods
AttributeGroup	/rest/product/attribute-group	GET (index, show, item), POST (store, update), DELETE (destroy)
Attribute	/rest/product/attribute	GET (index, show, item), POST (store, update), DELETE (destroy)

Filters: id, displayType (groups); id, attributeGroupId, active, name.{locale} (values) Relations: translations, attributes (group has many); translations, group (value belongs to)

DI registration: src/Rest/Product/container.php lines 45-57

---

2. Product Tags

2.1 Data Model

Table	Purpose	Key Columns
shop_product_tag_categories	Tag group/category	id, tag_category_image, tag_category_behavior, tag_values_behavior, order
shop_product_tag_categories_mui	MUI for tag categories	tag_cat_id, slug, name, content, lang
shop_product_tags	Individual tags	id, tag_cat_id, tag_image, order
shop_product_tags_mui	MUI for tags	tag_id, slug, name, content, lang
shop_product_product_tags	Junction: product to tag	id, product_id, tag_id
shop_product_category_group_tags_lp	Junction: product category to tag group	category_id, group_tag_id

2.2 Behavior Operators

Each tag category has two behavior flags controlling how tags within it combine during storefront filtering (defined in ecommercen/helpers/theme_helper.php:118):

Field	Value 0	Value 1	Effect on Filtering
tag_category_behavior	AND	OR	How this category combines with OTHER tag categories
tag_values_behavior	AND	OR	How tags WITHIN this category combine with each other

These behaviors drive Adv_product_model::queryForListingTagFilters() which constructs dynamic JOINs: AND categories use INNER JOIN, OR categories use LEFT JOIN. The tagFiltersPrepare() method resolves tag slugs (format: category-slug/tag-slug) into structured filter objects with behavior metadata.

2.3 Tag Categories Admin Controller

Controller: ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tag_categories_admin.php (255 lines) Auth: AUTH_ROLE_ADVISABLE, AUTH_ROLE_ADMIN, AUTH_ROLE_PRODUCTSRoute: /product_tag_categories_admin

Method	Purpose
index()	List with search by behavior type; drag-and-drop ordering
add()	Create with image upload, MUI (slug, name, content), behavior selectors
edit($id)	Update all fields; slug editable only by ADVISABLE role; auto-generates slug from name if missing
delete($id)	Blocked if tag category has any child tags
updateOrder()	AJAX drag-and-drop reorder

Validation: name_{lang} required per language; content_{lang} optional; slug_{lang} required on update for ADVISABLE role.

Deletion guard: product_tag_categories_model->delete() checks for child records in shop_product_tags; sets session error if tags exist.

2.4 Tags Admin Controller

Controller: ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tags_admin.php (326 lines) Auth: AUTH_ROLE_ADVISABLE, AUTH_ROLE_ADMIN, AUTH_ROLE_PRODUCTSRoute: /product_tags_admin

Method	Purpose
index()	List with session-persisted search (filter by tag group); shows category name, slug, image
add()	Create: image upload to files/product_tag/, MUI (slug auto-generated from name, name, content), tag category assignment
edit($id)	Update; slug editable only by ADVISABLE role; auto-fills slug from name if blank
delete($id)	Blocked if products are assigned to the tag
products($tagId)	View products assigned to a tag with their other tag assignments
product_delete($lookUpId, $tagId)	Remove single product-tag association
batchRemoveFromTag($tagId)	Bulk remove selected products from a tag
updateOrder()	AJAX drag-and-drop reorder
resetIndex()	Clear search session data

Validation: tag_cat_id must be > 0; name_{lang} required; content_{lang} optional; slug_{lang} required on update for ADVISABLE role.

Deletion guard: product_tags_model->delete() checks shop_product_product_tags for assigned products; sets session error if found.

2.5 Product Integration

Tags are assigned to products in two ways:

Individual product edit (Adv_products_admin):

• manageProductTags() (line 581-586) calls product_tag_lp_model->update($productId, $tagIds) which performs a diff-based sync: inserts new tags, removes unselected tags.

Batch operations (Adv_products_admin::batch_action()):

• set_tags action: product_tags_model->assignProductsToTags($products, $tagIds) -- adds tags without removing existing ones, deduplicating against current assignments
• delete_tag action: product_tags_model->deleteProductsFromTag($products, $tagId) -- removes specific tag from selected products

2.6 Category-Tag Group Filtering

Tag groups can be assigned to product categories to limit which filter groups appear on category pages:

• Adv_product_tag_categories_model::getCategoryGroupTags($categoryId) returns assigned tag group IDs from shop_product_category_group_tags_lp
• getCategoriesTagGroups($categoryId) walks up the category tree to inherit parent assignments if none are set at the current level
• Adv_product_category_model line 1910+ manages the CRUD for this junction via diff-based batch insert/delete
• Feature gated by registry setting eshop.admin.only_for_advisable.filter_category_group_tags

2.7 Storefront Tag Pages

Controller: ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tags.php (183 lines, Front_c) Routes: /tag/{category-slug} resolves to tag_cat(), /tag/{category-slug}/{tag-slug} resolves to tag().

• tag_cat($slug): Displays list of tags within a tag category (uses PSCache)
• tag($catSlug, $tagSlug): Displays product listing for a specific tag with breadcrumbs (category > tag)

Routing logic in application/config/routes.php:85-99 uses a closure to determine whether a /tag/ URL has one segment (category) or two (category/tag).

2.8 REST API (Modern Layer)

Domain: src/Domains/Product/Tag/

Entity	Table	Key Properties
Category\Repository\Entity	shop_product_tag_categories	id, tag_category_image, tag_category_behavior, tag_values_behavior, order
Category\Repository\MuiEntity	shop_product_tag_categories_mui	tag_cat_id, slug, name, content, lang
Tag\Repository\Entity	shop_product_tags	id, tag_cat_id, tag_image, order
Tag\Repository\MuiEntity	shop_product_tags_mui	tag_id, slug, name, content, lang

REST Controllers: src/Rest/Product/Controllers/

Controller	Endpoint	Methods	Upload Support
TagCategory	/rest/product/tag-category	GET, POST, DELETE	Yes (tag_category_image to files/product_tag_category/)
Tag	/rest/product/tag	GET, POST, DELETE	Yes (tag_image to files/product_tag/)

Both controllers use HandlesUploadActions trait, accepting application/json or multipart/form-data.

Tag Category relations: translations (one-to-many), tags (one-to-many) Tag relations: translations (one-to-many), category (belongs-to) Tag Category filters: id, order, name.{locale}, slug.{locale}Tag filters: id, priority, name.{locale}, slug.{locale}

DI registration: src/Rest/Product/container.php lines 66-80

---

3. Order Tags

3.1 Data Model

Table	Purpose	Key Columns
shop_order_tags	Flat tag list	id, title, slug
shop_order_tags_lp	Junction: order to tag	order_id, tag_id

3.2 Admin Controller

Controller: ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_order_tags_admin.php (143 lines) Auth: AUTH_ROLE_ADVISABLE, AUTH_ROLE_ADMIN, AUTH_ROLE_ORDERSFeature gate: Registry OTHER.ORDER_TAGS_ENABLED must be truthy Route: /order_tags

Method	Purpose
index($offset)	Paginated list with keyword search
add()	Create: title (max 25 chars), auto-slug generation
edit($id)	Update title and slug
delete($id)	Deletes tag and all order associations (transactional)

Uniqueness: titleExists() prevents duplicate titles (excluding current record on update).

3.3 Order Integration

Order tags are assigned from the order management interface (AD-03):

• assignTagsToOrders() -- bulk assign, deduplicates
• unassignTagsFromOrders() -- bulk remove
• resetAndAssignTagsToOrders() -- replace all tags for orders (transactional)
• getOrderTags($orderId) -- returns [id => title] map
• getTagsForOrders($orders) -- enriches order objects with ->tags property

3.4 REST API

Domain: src/Domains/Order/OrderTag/Endpoint: /rest/order/order-tag (GET, POST, DELETE) DI: src/Rest/Order/container.php

---

Key Files Reference

Legacy Admin (Attributes)

• ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_attributes_admin.php
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_attribute_groups_model.php
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_attribute_values_model.php
• ecommercen/attributes/DTO/AttributeProductDTO.php
• ecommercen/attributes/DTO/AttributeValueDTO.php
• assets/admin/js/attributes-page.js
• assets/admin/js/attributes/AdminAttributesPage.vue

Legacy Admin (Tags)

• ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tag_categories_admin.php
• ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tags_admin.php
• ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_product_tags.php (storefront)
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_product_tag_categories_model.php
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_product_tags_model.php
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_product_tag_lp_model.php

Legacy Admin (Order Tags)

• ecommercen/eshop/controllers/Adv_order_tags_admin.php
• ecommercen/eshop/models/Adv_order_tags_model.php

Modern Domain Layer

• src/Domains/Product/Attribute/Group/ (Entity, Repository, Service, WriteService, ListRequest)
• src/Domains/Product/Attribute/Attribute/ (Entity, Repository, Service, WriteService, ListRequest)
• src/Domains/Product/Tag/Category/ (Entity, Repository, Service, WriteService, ListRequest)
• src/Domains/Product/Tag/Tag/ (Entity, Repository, Service, WriteService, ListRequest)
• src/Domains/Order/OrderTag/ (Entity, Repository, Service, WriteService)

Modern REST Layer

• src/Rest/Product/Controllers/AttributeGroup.php
• src/Rest/Product/Controllers/Attribute.php
• src/Rest/Product/Controllers/TagCategory.php
• src/Rest/Product/Controllers/Tag.php
• src/Rest/Order/Controllers/OrderTag.php
• src/Rest/Product/Resources/AttributeGroup/Resource.php
• src/Rest/Product/Resources/Attribute/Resource.php (not shown, same pattern)
• src/Rest/Product/Resources/TagCategory/Resource.php
• src/Rest/Product/Resources/Tag/Resource.php

Configuration

• application/config/routes.php (lines 348-351: attribute admin; lines 85-99: tag front; lines 742-746: order tags)
• application/config/rest_routes.php (lines 425-439: attribute REST; lines 465-477: tag REST; lines 801-815: order tag REST; lines 1442-1456: attribute write; lines 1650-1664: tag write)
• src/Rest/Product/container.php (DI for all attribute/tag REST controllers)
• ecommercen/helpers/shopmodule_helper.php:856 (getAttributeTypes())
• ecommercen/helpers/theme_helper.php:114 (tagBehaviorOperators())

---

Related Flows

• AD-02 Product Management -- product-level tag/attribute assignment
• AD-03 Order Management -- order tag assignment
• AD-05 Category Management -- category-to-tag-group filtering
• AD-16 Variations -- complementary dimension system (variations at product level vs. attributes at SKU level)
• AD-28 Order Tags -- order tag CRUD and assignment (detailed in dedicated flow)
• CF-01 Category Listing -- storefront tag/attribute filtering
• CF-13 Coupons -- tag-based coupon targeting
• CF-18 Product Tags -- storefront tag pages at /tag/{slug}
• SY-23 MUI Translation Pattern -- attribute_groups_mui, attribute_values_mui, shop_product_tags_mui, and shop_product_tag_categories_mui companion tables store per-language names and slugs
• SY-25 File Upload & Storage -- advuploader handles tag and attribute value image uploads to files/product_attributes/ and files/product_tag/