Remove store level value for category attribute

Question

On our shop we have a customer category attribute that has been set against each store. Now we want to remove the store level values and replace it with one global level. Now I know how to do this via the admin but is there a way of sorting this via a setup script.

Answer 1

I think you can replicate the behavior from the admin category controller, saveAction.

if ($useDefaults = $this->getRequest()->getPost('use_default')) {
    foreach ($useDefaults as $attributeCode) {
        $category->setData($attributeCode, false);
    }
}

But this requires a load in a loop. Actually 2 loops.
Something like this (untested code)

$attributeCode  = 'attribute_code_here';
$collection = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection()->addLevelFilter(2); //exclude the root of all roots and the root catalog.
$stores = Mage::getModel('core/store')->getCollection()->setWithoutDefaultFilter();

foreach ($collection as $category) {
    foreach ($stores as $store) {
         $_category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->setStoreId($store->getId())->load($category->getId());
         $_category->setData($attributeCode, false);
         $_category->save();
    }
}

I know it's not the best solution but since this will run only once it shouldn't be that much trouble.
I still say you should use a query. It's way faster.