Magento - Query for Product Options - magento

Question

I want to write a controller that finds the different options for a given product (eg. Large, Medium, Small, Red, Blue etc...).
Can anyone show me the code I would write into my controller?
Additional details
I'm getting closer, but I still can't figure it out. Here's the code I wrote in my controller
$db = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($productId);
print_r($db->getOptions()); // returns an empty array
echo $db->getHasOptions(); // echos 1
But when I do the print_r() on the second line, the getOptions returns an empty array. The third line echo's the value 1, which means there SHOULD BE options.
Additional Details
I tried clockworkgeek's solution of $db->getProductOptions(), that returned nothing. I tried $db->getProductOptionsCollection(), and got this output
Array
(
[totalRecords] => 0
[items] => Array
(
)
)
What's wrong with my code such that it is not returning the allowable product options?

Answer 1

Instead of getOptions() please try getCustomOptions() or getProductOptionsCollection() or getProductOptionsCollection()->load().
Edit
I tried this on a product I knew had options.
<?php
require 'app/Mage.php';
Mage::app();
$product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($productId);
foreach ($product->getProductOptions() as $option) {
print_r($option->debug());
}
And got something like this:
Array
(
[option_id] => 37
[product_id] => 8
[type] => multidate
[is_require] => 1
[sku] =>
[image_size_x] => 0
[image_size_y] => 0
[sort_order] => 1
[default_title] => Dates
[title] => Dates
)
However, getOptions() also worked for me so I don't know what's going on.
Post-edit
The confusion was one of semantics. A simple product can have "custom options", they allow creation of a few form fields which are recorded as part of the order. A configurable product uses "associated products" to create a form with conditional fields.
For example you might be selling socks that are large-green, small-green or large-blue - but no small-blue ones. With a simple product you would have a field for large/small and a field for blue/green - which allows the customer to select small-blue and that is wrong.
So to find the component parts of a configurable you might do something like this:
if ($product->isConfigurable()) {
$configurable = $product->getTypeInstance();
$childProducts = $product->getUsedProducts($product);
foreach ($childProducts as $child) {
// You have a $child now
}
}
To find the equivalent of getOptions() you need this:
if ($product->isConfigurable()) {
$configurable = $product->getTypeInstance();
$attributes = $configurable->getConfigurableAttributes($product);
// $attributes is a Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Mysql4_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
foreach ($attributes as $attribute) {
// $attribute is a Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute
print $attribute->getLabel();
}
}
Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute doesn't have much to reveal about itself.

Answer 2

The above solution is perfect and I solved my problem using it. I was
trying to display the colors on the list. Here is my solution
if ($_product->isConfigurable()) {
$configurable = $_product->getTypeInstance();
$childProducts = $configurable->getUsedProducts($_product);
foreach ($childProducts as $child) {
$sku = $child->getSku();
$skuarr = explode('-',$sku);
$col = trim($skuarr[1]);
?>
<span class="colorbar" style="background:<?php echo $col?>;" title="<?php echo $col?>"> </span>
}
}