EAV Entities

Entity Type Overview

SELECT entity_type_id, entity_type_code, entity_model, entity_table
FROM eav_entity_type;
+----------------+----------------------+-----------------------------+------------------------------+
| entity_type_id | entity_type_code     | entity_model                | entity_table                 |
+----------------+----------------------+-----------------------------+------------------------------+
|              1 | customer             | customer/entity             | customer_entity              |
|              2 | customer_address    | customer/entity             | customer_address_entity      |
|              3 | catalog_category    | catalog/category            | catalog_category_entity      |
|              4 | catalog_product     | catalog/product             | catalog_product_entity       |
|              5 | order               | sales/order                 | sales_order                  |
|              7 | invoice             | sales/order_invoice         | sales_invoice                |
|              8 | creditmemo          | sales/order_creditmemo      | sales_creditmemo             |
|              9 | shipment            | sales/order_shipment        | sales_shipment               |
+----------------+----------------------+-----------------------------+------------------------------+

Entity Type Configuration

<!-- Custom entity type in eav_entity_type.xml -->
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Eav/etc/eav_entity_type.xsd">
    <entity type="vendor_custom" 
            label="Custom Entity"
            entity_model="Vendor\Custom\Model\Entity"
            entity_table="vendor_custom_entity"
            value_table_prefix="vendor_custom_entity"/>
</config>

Entity ID Structure

-- Product entity ID
SELECT entity_id, sku, type_id, attribute_set_id
FROM catalog_product_entity
WHERE entity_id = 123;
+-----------+----------+-----------+------------------+
| entity_id | sku      | type_id   | attribute_set_id |
+-----------+----------+-----------+------------------+
|       123 | TSH-001  | simple    |                4 |
+-----------+----------+-----------+------------------+

-- Category entity ID
SELECT entity_id, parent_id, path, level
FROM catalog_category_entity
WHERE entity_id = 45;
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+
| entity_id | parent_id | path    | level |
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+
|        45 |         2 | 1/2/45  |     2 |
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+

Loading Entities in PHP

// Using repositories (recommended - inject via constructor)
class EntityLoader
{
    public function __construct(
        private \Magento\Catalog\Api\ProductRepositoryInterface $productRepository,
        private \Magento\Catalog\Api\CategoryRepositoryInterface $categoryRepository,
        private \Magento\Customer\Api\CustomerRepositoryInterface $customerRepository
    ) {}

    public function loadProduct(int $productId): void
    {
        $product = $this->productRepository->getById($productId);
        echo $product->getName();    // Loads from EAV value tables
        echo $product->getPrice();   // Loads from decimal value table
        echo $product->getSku();     // From varchar value table
    }

    public function loadBySku(string $sku): void
    {
        $product = $this->productRepository->get($sku);
    }

    public function loadCategory(int $categoryId): void
    {
        $category = $this->categoryRepository->get($categoryId);
    }

    public function loadCustomer(int $customerId): void
    {
        $customer = $this->customerRepository->getById($customerId);
    }
}

Entity Data Array

// Get all entity data
$product->getData(); // Returns array of all attributes

// Get specific attribute
$product->getData('name'); // Returns attribute value
$product->getAttributeCode(); // Returns attribute code

// Check if attribute exists
$product->hasData('custom_attribute');

Saving Entities

// Using factories (inject via constructor)
class ProductManager
{
    public function __construct(
        private \Magento\Catalog\Api\ProductRepositoryInterface $productRepository,
        private \Magento\Catalog\Api\CategoryRepositoryInterface $categoryRepository,
        private \Magento\Customer\Api\CustomerRepositoryInterface $customerRepository
    ) {}

    public function createProduct(): void
    {
        // Create via repository (handles factory internally)
        $product = $this->productRepository->create();
        $product->setName('New Product')
            ->setSku('NEW-001')
            ->setPrice(29.99)
            ->setStatus(1)
            ->setAttributeSetId(4)
            ->setTypeId('simple');
        $this->productRepository->save($product);
    }

    public function updateProduct(int $productId): void
    {
        $product = $this->productRepository->getById($productId);
        $product->setName('Updated Name');
        $this->productRepository->save($product);
    }
}

Deleting Entities

// Using repositories
public function deleteProduct(int $productId): void
{
    $product = $this->productRepository->getById($productId);
    $this->productRepository->delete($product);
}

public function deleteCategory(int $categoryId): void
{
    $category = $this->categoryRepository->get($categoryId);
    $this->categoryRepository->delete($category);
}

Entity Collection

// Using collection factory (inject via constructor)
class ProductLister
{
    public function __construct(
        private \Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Product\CollectionFactory $collectionFactory
    ) {}

    public function listProducts(): void
    {
        $collection = $this->collectionFactory->create();
        $collection->addAttributeToSelect(['name', 'price', 'sku'])
            ->addFieldToFilter('status', 1)
            ->setPageSize(20)
            ->setCurPage(1);

        foreach ($collection as $product) {
            echo $product->getName();
        }

        $count = $collection->count();
        $ids = $collection->getAllIds();
    }
}

Product Entity Specifics

// Product has type_id determining behavior
$product->getTypeId(); // simple, configurable, grouped, bundle, virtual, downloadable

// Product has attribute_set_id
$product->getAttributeSetId(); // Links to attribute set

// Product SKU is unique
$product->getSku(); // Must be unique across all products

Category Entity Specifics

// Category has hierarchy
$category->getParentId();     // Parent category ID
$category->getPath();         // Full path: 1/2/3/45
CATEGORY->getLevel();         // Depth level
$category->getChildrenCount(); // Number of children

// Category products
$category->getProductCollection(); // Products in category

Customer Entity Specifics

// Customer has addresses
$customer->getPrimaryBillingAddress();
$customer->getPrimaryShippingAddress();
$customer->getAddresses(); // All addresses

// Customer has group
$customer->getGroupId(); // Customer group ID

// Customer auth
$customer->authenticate($password);
$customer->changePassword($oldPassword, $newPassword);

Order Entity Specifics

// Order uses flat structure (not EAV)
$order->getState();        // new, processing, complete, closed
$order->getStatus();       // pending, processing, shipped
$order->getItems();        // Order items
$order->getPayment();      // Payment info
$order->getShippingAddress();
$order->getBillingAddress();

// Order is immutable after creation
// Status changes create history records