Order Item Attribute Rendering

J2Commerce stores product option selections (size, color, bundle children, box contents) per order item in the #__j2commerce_orderitemattributes table and the orderitem_attributes column. A single shared layout renders these attributes consistently across every view. Plugins can override the rendering of specific attribute groups using the onJ2CommerceRenderOrderItemAttributes event.

Architecture Overview

Shared Layout

File: components/com_j2commerce/layouts/orderitem/attributes.php

This layout is the single entry point for all attribute rendering in J2Commerce. Every view passes its context and variant to the same file.

View	Context value	Variant
Admin order view	admin_order	full
Admin order edit	admin_edit	compact
Cart page	cart	full
Checkout sidecart	checkout	compact
Checkout cart summary	checkout_summary	compact
Confirmation page	confirmation	compact
My Profile order history	myprofile	compact
Advanced cart drawer	drawer	compact
Email templates	email	inline

OrderItemAttributeHelper

Namespace: J2Commerce\Component\J2commerce\Administrator\Helper\OrderItemAttributeHelper

File: administrator/components/com_j2commerce/src/Helper/OrderItemAttributeHelper.php

A final static utility class. Do not subclass it.

parseRawAttributes(string $raw, int $productId = 0): array

Parses the raw orderitem_attributes column into a normalized array of attribute objects. Handles three stored formats transparently:

1. JSON array — Written by CartOrder::saveOrderItems() in the current format.
2. Pre-resolved base64 — Used by bundle and box builder products. Contains associative arrays with a name key.
3. Legacy option-ID base64 — Written by J2Store v4. Contains {optionId => valueId} maps that are resolved against #__j2commerce_product_options and #__j2commerce_optionvalues.

use J2Commerce\Component\J2commerce\Administrator\Helper\OrderItemAttributeHelper;

$attributes = OrderItemAttributeHelper::parseRawAttributes(
    $item->orderitem_attributes ?? '',
    (int) $item->product_id
);
// Returns array of stdObject with properties:
//   orderitemattribute_name, orderitemattribute_value, orderitemattribute_type

groupAndDeduplicate(array $attributes): array

Groups attributes by type and deduplicates child-product entries by name, summing their quantities. Returns an array of group arrays:

$grouped = OrderItemAttributeHelper::groupAndDeduplicate($attributes);
// [
//     [
//         'type'  => 'product_children',
//         'items' => [
//             ['name' => 'Milk Me Daddy', 'value' => '', 'qty' => 2, 'type' => 'bundleproduct'],
//             ['name' => 'Blonde Bombshell', 'value' => '', 'qty' => 1, 'type' => 'bundleproduct'],
//         ],
//     ],
//     [
//         'type'  => 'standard',
//         'items' => [
//             ['type' => 'select', 'name' => 'Size', 'value' => 'Large'],
//             ['type' => 'radio', 'name' => 'Color', 'value' => 'Red'],
//         ],
//     ],
// ]

formatForEmail(array $attributes): string

Returns a plain HTML string with <br> separators, suitable for inclusion in email bodies without CSS. Calls groupAndDeduplicate() internally.

$html = OrderItemAttributeHelper::formatForEmail($attributes);
// "(2) Milk Me Daddy<br>Blonde Bombshell<br>Size: Large<br>Color: Red"

Attribute Types

Type	Group	Description
select	standard	Dropdown option selection
radio	standard	Radio button option selection
checkbox	standard	Checkbox option selection
text	standard	Free-text option entry
bundleproduct	product_children	Bundle product child item
bundle	product_children	Alias for bundleproduct
boxbuilderproduct	product_children	Box builder child item
boxbuilder	product_children	Alias for boxbuilderproduct
boxbuilder_selections	(skipped)	Internal metadata — never rendered

Display Variants

full

Used in the admin order view and the cart page. Wraps each attribute in a flex row:

<div class="cart-item-options">
    <div class="small d-flex align-items-center">
        <div class="item-option item-option-name">Size:</div>
        <div class="item-option item-option-value fw-bold ms-1">Large</div>
    </div>
</div>

compact

Used in the sidecart, checkout summary, confirmation page, my profile, and the advanced cart drawer. Each attribute is a truncating inline label:

<small class="text-muted d-block text-truncate">Size: Large</small>

inline

Used in email templates. Produces plain HTML with <br> separators and no CSS classes, so it renders correctly in email clients.

Event: onJ2CommerceRenderOrderItemAttributes

The layout dispatches this event after calling groupAndDeduplicate() and before rendering any output. Plugins respond by setting a typeRenderers map on the event object, where each key is a group type value and each value is the complete HTML string to render for that group.

Event Arguments

The event receives four positional arguments (accessed by numeric index):

Index	Description
0	The order/cart item object ($item)
1	Grouped attributes array from groupAndDeduplicate()
2	Context string (e.g., 'cart', 'admin_order', 'drawer')
3	Variant string ('full', 'compact', or 'inline')

public function onRenderOrderItemAttributes(PluginEvent $event): void
{
    $item    = $event->getArgument(0);
    $grouped = $event->getArgument(1);
    $context = $event->getArgument(2);
    $variant = $event->getArgument(3);
}

Returning Output

Set the typeRenderers argument on the event with an associative array. Each key must match a group type from the $grouped array. The layout replaces the default rendering for that group with the provided HTML string.

$event->setArgument('typeRenderers', [
    'product_children' => '<ul>...</ul>',
    // 'standard' could also be overridden
]);

Only the groups you add to typeRenderers are overridden. Groups without a matching key render using the default layout logic.

Complete Plugin Example

This example shows a plugin that overrides the product_children group to render bundle/box-builder child items as a bulleted list.

<?php
// File: plugins/j2commerce/app_mybundlerenderer/src/Extension/AppMybundlerenderer.php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace J2Commerce\Plugin\J2Commerce\AppMybundlerenderer\Extension;

\defined('_JEXEC') or die;

use J2Commerce\Component\J2commerce\Administrator\Event\PluginEvent;
use Joomla\CMS\Plugin\CMSPlugin;
use Joomla\Event\SubscriberInterface;

final class AppMybundlerenderer extends CMSPlugin implements SubscriberInterface
{
    protected $autoloadLanguage = true;

    public static function getSubscribedEvents(): array
    {
        return [
            'onJ2CommerceRenderOrderItemAttributes' => 'onRenderOrderItemAttributes',
        ];
    }

    public function onRenderOrderItemAttributes(PluginEvent $event): void
    {
        $grouped = $event->getArgument(1);
        $variant = $event->getArgument(3);

        // Find the product_children group
        $childGroup = null;
        foreach ($grouped as $group) {
            if ($group['type'] === 'product_children') {
                $childGroup = $group;
                break;
            }
        }

        if ($childGroup === null) {
            return;
        }

        $html = $this->renderChildList($childGroup['items'], $variant);

        $event->setArgument('typeRenderers', ['product_children' => $html]);
    }

    private function renderChildList(array $items, string $variant): string
    {
        if ($variant === 'inline') {
            $parts = [];
            foreach ($items as $item) {
                $qty   = (int) ($item['qty'] ?? 1);
                $name  = htmlspecialchars($item['name'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
                $parts[] = $qty > 1 ? "({$qty}) {$name}" : $name;
            }
            return implode('<br>', $parts);
        }

        $out = '<ul class="list-unstyled mb-0 small">';
        foreach ($items as $item) {
            $qty  = (int) ($item['qty'] ?? 1);
            $name = htmlspecialchars($item['name'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
            $out .= '<li>';
            if ($qty > 1) {
                $out .= '<span class="badge bg-secondary me-1">' . $qty . '</span>';
            }
            $out .= $name . '</li>';
        }
        $out .= '</ul>';

        return $out;
    }
}

The plugin manifest registers it in the j2commerce group:

<!-- File: plugins/j2commerce/app_mybundlerenderer/app_mybundlerenderer.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<extension type="plugin" group="j2commerce" method="upgrade">
    <name>PLG_J2COMMERCE_APP_MYBUNDLERENDERER</name>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <namespace path="src">J2Commerce\Plugin\J2Commerce\AppMybundlerenderer</namespace>
    <files>
        <folder plugin="app_mybundlerenderer">services</folder>
        <folder>src</folder>
        <folder>language</folder>
    </files>
</extension>

Calling the Layout Directly

Any custom template or module can invoke the shared layout directly:

use Joomla\CMS\Layout\LayoutHelper;

echo LayoutHelper::render(
    'orderitem.attributes',
    [
        'attributes' => $item->orderitemattributes,
        'item'       => $item,
        'context'    => 'my_custom_view',
        'variant'    => 'compact',
    ],
    JPATH_ROOT . '/components/com_j2commerce/layouts'
);

$item->orderitemattributes must be an array of attribute objects produced by OrderItemAttributeHelper::parseRawAttributes(). Raw strings from the database column are not accepted by the layout.

Template Override

Override the layout via the standard Joomla template override path:

templates/{your_template}/html/layouts/com_j2commerce/orderitem/attributes.php

The override receives the same $displayData array:

$attributes = $displayData['attributes']; // array of stdObject
$item       = $displayData['item'];       // order/cart item object
$context    = $displayData['context'];    // string
$variant    = $displayData['variant'];    // 'full' | 'compact' | 'inline'

Call OrderItemAttributeHelper::groupAndDeduplicate($attributes) in your override to get the same normalized group structure the default layout uses.

Related

• Order Item Attributes Database Table
• App Plugin Development
• Bundle Product Plugin
• Box Builder Plugin