Custom product attribute storefront property 'Used for Sorting in Product Listing' is disabled

Question

Stores > Attributes > Product > My Custom Attribute > Storefront Properties tab

I'm not able to change the Storefront Properties 'Used for Sorting in Product Listing', since it is disabled or grayed out.

What is the reason behind it ? How can I fix this ?

Updated

Script used below and version is Magento Commerce 2.4.0

          $attributeData  = [
            'attribute_code'                => $formattedCode,
            'is_global'                     => 1,
            'frontend_label'                => $replAttribute->getDescription() ?: $replAttribute->getCode(),
            'frontend_input'                => $frontendInput,
            'is_unique'                     => 0,
            'apply_to'                      => 0,
            'is_required'                   => 0,
            'is_configurable'               => 0,
            'is_searchable'                 => 1,
            'is_comparable'                 => 1,
            'is_user_defined'               => 1,
            'is_visible_in_advanced_search' => 0,
            'is_used_for_price_rules'       => 0,
            'is_wysiwyg_enabled'            => 0,
            'is_html_allowed_on_front'      => 1,
            'is_visible_on_front'           => 1,
            'used_in_product_listing'       => 0,
            'used_for_sort_by'              => 1,
            'backend_type'                  => 'varchar',
            'backend_model'                 => ArrayBackend::class,
            'is_filterable'                 => ($frontendInput === 'multiselect') ? 1 : 0,
            'is_filterable_in_search'       => ($frontendInput === 'multiselect') ? 1 : 0
        ];

Answer 1

It's disabled because it is a multiselect attribute. I don't believe core Magento allows this attribute type for sorting.

It's disabled by following js code line 115 - 122 in vendor/magento/module-swatches/view/adminhtml/web/js/product-attribute.js

                if (this.frontendInput.val() === 'multiselect' ||
                    this.frontendInput.val() === 'gallery' ||
                    this.frontendInput.val() === 'textarea'
                ) {
                    this._disable(this.usedForSortBy);
                } else {
                    this._enable(this.usedForSortBy);
                }

I assume the reason is because if a product has more than one option selected, how will Magento/Elasticsearch know where to place it in the results? If you need sorting for multiselect, you would need to create a custom module to handle it.

Answer 2

Create using this below way and update value based on your requirement. It's working fine in M2.4.0

app/code/RH/Helloworld/Setup/Patch/Data/CreateCustomAttr.php

<?php
/**
 * Copyright © Magento, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
/**
 * Created By : Rohan Hapani
 */
declare (strict_types = 1);
namespace RH\Helloworld\Setup\Patch\Data;
use Magento\Eav\Model\Entity\Attribute\ScopedAttributeInterface;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetup;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetupFactory;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\Patch\DataPatchInterface;
/**
 * Class CreateCustomAttr for Create Custom Product Attribute using Data Patch.
 */
class CreateCustomAttr implements DataPatchInterface {
    /**
     * ModuleDataSetupInterface
     *
     * @var ModuleDataSetupInterface
     */
    private $moduleDataSetup;
    /**
     * EavSetupFactory
     *
     * @var EavSetupFactory
     */
    private $eavSetupFactory;
    /**
     * @param ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup
     * @param EavSetupFactory          $eavSetupFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup,
        EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory
    ) {
        $this->moduleDataSetup = $moduleDataSetup;
        $this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
    }
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function apply() {
        /** @var EavSetup $eavSetup */
        $eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $this->moduleDataSetup]);
        $eavSetup->addAttribute('catalog_product', 'product_temp_attribute', [
            'type' => 'text',
            'backend' => '',
            'frontend' => '',
            'label' => 'Product Temp Atrribute',
            'input' => 'text',
            'class' => '',
            'source' => '',
            'global' => ScopedAttributeInterface::SCOPE_GLOBAL,
            'visible' => true,
            'required' => true,
            'user_defined' => false,
            'default' => '',
            'searchable' => false,
            'filterable' => false,
            'comparable' => false,
            'visible_on_front' => false,
            'used_in_product_listing' => true,
            'unique' => false,
            'apply_to' => '',
        ]);
    }
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public static function getDependencies() {
        return [];
    }
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function getAliases() {
        return [];
    }
}

Reference : Click here