Magento get category attribute value in Topmenu.php

Question

I have created a custom category attribute. Now i need to access it's value in the _getHtml() function from Topmenu.php.

Can anyone tell me how to do this?:)

Any help is appreciated :)

Answer 1

Andrew's answer is the way i usually do it. However, it is important to note that if you are adding a custom attribute and if you want your store to work with and without the category flat tables enabled you need to make sure you have the following added to your code:

On your module's config.xml:

...
<frontend>
    <category>
        <collection>
            <attributes>
                <my_attribute /><!-- your attribute code here -->
            </attributes>
        </collection>
    </category>
</frontend>
...

That will make sure your attribute is loaded when the default category collection is created on Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Tree::_getDefaultCollection(). Now, that works great when the store is set NOT to use the category flat tables. In case you want to use the flat tables, you will also need to add your attributes in Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Flat::_loadNodes. Find the code below, where the select is created, and also add your attribute code there:

$select = $_conn->select()
    ->from(
        array('main_table' => $this->getMainStoreTable($storeId)),
        array('entity_id',
            new Zend_Db_Expr('main_table.' . $_conn->quoteIdentifier('name')),
            new Zend_Db_Expr('main_table.' . $_conn->quoteIdentifier('path')),
            'is_active',
            'is_anchor',
            'my_attribute')) /* add your attribute code here */

Only after that your attribute will show up on the Observer. Needless to say, do it using overwriting, never change the core code.