Not sure why it took so long to figure out, but adding a YES/NO attribute to categories actually turned out to be pretty easy.

I wanted a quick way to set a category as “featured”.

So, I created a quick setup script to build it.

Option.php

class Branded3_Addattribute_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Option extends Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Abstract
{
    /**
     * Retrieve all options array
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function getAllOptions()
    {
        if (is_null($this->_options)) {
            $this->_options = array(
                array(
                    'label' => Mage::helper('eav')->__('Yes'),
                    'value' =>  1
                ),
                array(
                    'label' => Mage::helper('eav')->__('No'),
                    'value' =>  0
                ),
            );
        }
        return $this->_options;
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve option array
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function getOptionArray()
    {
        $_options = array();
        foreach ($this->getAllOptions() as $option) {
            $_options[$option['value']] = $option['label'];
        }
        return $_options;
    }

    /**
     * Get a text for option value
     *
     * @param string|integer $value
     * @return string
     */
    public function getOptionText($value)
    {
        $options = $this->getAllOptions();
        foreach ($options as $option) {
            if ($option['value'] == $value) {
                return $option['label'];
            }
        }
        return false;
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve flat column definition
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function getFlatColums()
    {
        $attributeCode = $this->getAttribute()->getAttributeCode();
        $column = array(
            'unsigned'  => false,
            'default'   => null,
            'extra'     => null
        );

        if (Mage::helper('core')->useDbCompatibleMode()) {
            $column['type']     = 'tinyint(1)';
            $column['is_null']  = true;
        } else {
            $column['type']     = Varien_Db_Ddl_Table::TYPE_SMALLINT;
            $column['length']   = 1;
            $column['nullable'] = true;
            $column['comment']  = $attributeCode . ' column';
        }

        return array($attributeCode => $column);
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve Indexes(s) for Flat
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function getFlatIndexes()
    {
        $indexes = array();

        $index = 'IDX_' . strtoupper($this->getAttribute()->getAttributeCode());
        $indexes[$index] = array(
            'type'      => 'index',
            'fields'    => array($this->getAttribute()->getAttributeCode())
        );

        return $indexes;
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve Select For Flat Attribute update
     *
     * @param int $store
     * @return Varien_Db_Select|null
     */
    public function getFlatUpdateSelect($store)
    {
        return Mage::getResourceModel('eav/entity_attribute')
            ->getFlatUpdateSelect($this->getAttribute(), $store);
    }
}

Setup.php

/**
 * Setup
 */
class Branded3_Addattribute_Model_Resource_Mysql4_Setup extends Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Setup {
}

Config.xml

< ?xml version="1.0"?>
    
    
        
            1.0
        
    
    
        
            
                standard
                
                    Branded3_Addattribute
                    addattribute
                
            
          
     
    
        
            
                
                    Branded3_Addattribute
                    Branded3_Addattribute_Model_Resource_Mysql4_Setup
                
                
                    core_setup

mysql4-install-1.0.php


$installer = $this;
$installer->startSetup();

$setup = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Setup('core_setup');

$entityTypeId     = $setup->getEntityTypeId('catalog_product');
$attributeSetId   = $setup->getDefaultAttributeSetId($entityTypeId);
$attributeGroupId = $setup->getDefaultAttributeGroupId($entityTypeId, $attributeSetId);

$setup->addAttribute('catalog_category', 'highlighted_category', array(
    'type' => 'int',
    'group'     => 'General Information',
    'backend' => '',
    'frontend' => '',
    'label' => 'Highlighted Category',
    'input' => 'select',
    'class' => '',
    'source' => 'eav/entity_attribute_source_boolean',
    'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL,
    'visible' => true,
    'required' => false,
    'user_defined' => false,
    'default' => '0',
    'searchable' => false,
    'filterable' => false,
    'comparable' => false,
    'visible_on_front' => false,
    'unique' => false,
));

$setup->addAttributeToGroup(
    $entityTypeId,
    $attributeSetId,
    $attributeGroupId,
    'highlighted_category',
    '11'
);

$installer->endSetup();

Image Credit: Aristocrats-hat