How To Get Min & Max Attribute Values From Database to Link to Price Slider

Question

I have implemented this jQuery Slider on my Advanced Search form.

Currently, I have arbitrary min and max values.

How would I set the min value as the minimum value of my database, and vice versa for the max?

var slider = {
   $: jQuery,
   initSpace: function (el) {
       slider.el = slider.$(el);
       slider.el.children().hide();
       slider.el.append('<span class="search-min">Start</span>' +
           '&nbsp; to &nbsp; <span class="search-max">End</span>' +
           '<br><div class="slider"></div>').width('400px');
   },
   initSlider: function () {
       var params = {
           range: true,
           min: 11,  //--------------arbitrary
           max: 240,  //---------------arbitrary
           values: [11, 240],
           slide: function (event, ui) {
               slider.el.find('.search-min').html(Math.floor(ui.values[0] / 12) + '\' ' + (ui.values[0] - (12 * Math.floor(ui.values[0] / 12))) + '"');
               slider.el.find('.search-max').html(Math.floor(ui.values[1] / 12) + '\' ' + (ui.values[1] - (12 * Math.floor(ui.values[1] / 12))) + '"');

               slider.$(slider.el.children('input')[0]).val(ui.values[0]);
               slider.$(slider.el.children('input')[1]).val(ui.values[1]);
           }
       };
       slider.$('.slider').slider(params);
   }
};

Answer 1

You can get the minimum an maximum price like this:

$minCollection = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection()
    ->addMinimalPrice()
    ->addFinalPrice()
    ->setPage(1,1)
    ->addAttributeToSort('price', 'asc');
Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_status')->addVisibleFilterToCollection($minCollection);
Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_visibility')->addVisibleInCatalogFilterToCollection($minCollection);
$minPrice = $minCollection->getFirstItem()->getFinalPrice();


$maxCollection = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection()
    ->addMinimalPrice()
    ->addFinalPrice()
    ->setPage(1,1)
    ->addAttributeToSort('price', 'desc');
Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_status')->addVisibleFilterToCollection($maxCollection);
Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_visibility')->addVisibleInCatalogFilterToCollection($maxCollection);
$maxPrice = $maxCollection->getFirstItem()->getFinalPrice();

I recommend that instead of minimum price to use 0 (zero). Looks nicer for the customers. And for the max value do not use the one you get from your database (something like 455.95). Round it up to a multiple of 10 at least (so it could be 460.00 instead of 455.95). Again for marketing purposes.