Question

I have created a custom tab in admin which I need to manage customer attributes.

I would like to load all customer attributes in that section and keep a check box against each attribute.

Such that when ever a check box is checked or unchecked, based on the selection, the columns will be displayed/hidden in Manage Customer Grid.

I would like to know how do I get to display all customer attributes in that section with a checkbox each?

Answer 1

You can use getAttributes() which returns an array of Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute.

<?php
$attributes = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')->getAttributes();
foreach ($attributes as $attr) :
?>
    <input type="checkbox" name="attributes[]" value="<?php echo $attr->getId() ?>" id="attribute-<?php echo $attr->getId() ?>" />
    <label for="attribute-<?php echo $attr->getId() ?>"><?php echo $attr->getStoreLabel() ?></label>
<?php endforeach; ?>

---

Much improved technique for config:

First we need to create a source model in your module, in the following you obviously have to rename it to match your actual module.

class Your_Module_Model_Source_Customer_Attribute
{
    public function toOptionArray()
    {
        $attributes = Mage::getModel('customer/entity_attribute_collection')
            // remove filter to allow default address ID, etc.
            ->addVisibleFilter();
        $result = array();
        foreach ($attributes as $attribute) {
            if (($label = $attribute->getFrontendLabel()))
                $result[$attribute->getId()] = $label;
        }
        return $result;
    }
}

Then we need a single new field in your module’s system.xml.

<fieldname translate="label">
    <label>Customer Attributes</label>
    <frontend_type>checkboxes</frontend_type>
    <source_model>yourmodule/source_customer_attribute</source_model>
    <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
</fieldname>

This works surprisingly well, surprising because these classes are not used in the core. Instead of checkboxes the type can also be radios, that works too.