Color switcher (improved) for Magento, part 1

/**
 * START Custom added code
 * Ads the extra info to gallery object (array) so we know which photo maps to which color attribute
 */
//$media_gallery['map2Color'] = 'my cool values here'; 
 
//Grab entire product gallery object
$media_gallery = $product->media_gallery;
//Grab images section of above gallery object
$mediaGalleryImages = $product->media_gallery['images'];
 
//Manipulate the $mediaGalleryImages var, add extra data to it
$mediaGalleryImageObjects = json_decode($mediaGalleryImages);
 
$map2Color = $this->getRequest()->getParam('map2Color');
if(isset($map2Color['__value_id__'])) { 
	unset($map2Color['__value_id__']); 
}
 
//We must create the 'internal_map2color' text attribute first and add it to attribute set
$product->setInternalMap2color(serialize($map2Color)); 
/**
 * END Custom added code
 */

<?php /* START Custom added */ ?>
<?php 
 
$map2ColorOptions = Mage::getResourceModel('eav/entity_attribute_option_collection')
		                ->setAttributeFilter(272)
		                ->setPositionOrder('desc', true)
		                ->load();
 
//foreach($map2ColorOptions as $optionItem) {
	/** @var $optionItem Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Option */
	//$optionItem = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Option();
 
	/**
	 * var_dump($optionItem->debug());
		array
		  'option_id' => string '60' (length=2)
		  'attribute_id' => string '272' (length=3)
		  'sort_order' => string '0' (length=1)
		  'value' => string 'White' (length=5)
 
		array
		  'option_id' => string '23' (length=2)
		  'attribute_id' => string '272' (length=3)
		  'sort_order' => string '0' (length=1)
		  'value' => string 'Silver' (length=6)
 
		array
		  'option_id' => string '26' (length=2)
		  'attribute_id' => string '272' (length=3)
		  'sort_order' => string '0' (length=1)
		  'value' => string 'Red' (length=3)
 
	 */
//}
 
$_product = Mage::helper('catalog')->getProduct();
$_internalMap2Color = unserialize($_product->getData('internal_map2color'));
 
?>
 
<td>
	<select class="map2ColorSelects" id="map2Color__value_id__" name="map2Color[__value_id__]" style="width:60px;">
		<option value=""><?php echo $this->__('') ?></option>
		<?php foreach($map2ColorOptions as $map2ColorItem): ?>
		<option value="<?php echo $map2ColorItem["value"] ?>"><?php echo $map2ColorItem["value"] ?></option>
		<?php endforeach; ?>
	</select>
</td>
<?php /* END Custom added */ ?>

<?php /* START Custom added */ ?>
&lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
//<![CDATA[
 
<?php if(!empty($_internalMap2Color)): ?>
var colorMap2ColorVarValue = new Array();
 
<?php foreach ($_internalMap2Color as $colorVarKey => $colorVarValue): ?>
colorMap2ColorVarValue[<?php echo $colorVarKey ?>] = "<?php echo $colorVarValue ?>";
<?php endforeach; ?>
 
<?php endif; ?>
 
var idNamePrefix = 'map2Color';
 
$$('select.map2ColorSelects').each(function(data) {
	if(data.id != 'map2Color__value_id__') {
		//"Select" element type and its id value
		var fullElementIdValue = String(data.id);
 
		if(idNamePrefix.indexOf(fullElementIdValue)) {
			var numericId = fullElementIdValue.substring(idNamePrefix.length);
			var options = data.options;
 
			for(i = 0; i < options.length; i++) {
				if(options[i].value == colorMap2ColorVarValue[numericId]) {
					$(fullElementIdValue).selectedIndex = i;
				}
				//console.log(options[i].value);
			}
 
			//console.log(options.length);
 
			//alert(fullElementIdValue);
			//alert(colorMap2ColorVarValue[numericId]);
 
			//$(fullElementIdValue).selectedIndex = activeIndex;
		}
	}
});
//]]>
&lt;/script&gt;
<?php /* END Custom added */ ?>

<th><?php echo Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Map2Color') ?></th>

//Fecth sthe assigned photo-colors relations from products
$_internalMap2Color = unserialize($_product->getData('internal_map2color'));
 
$_internalMap2ColorArray = array();
$_internalMap2ColorIds = array();
 
foreach($_internalMap2Color as $_internalMap2ColorKey => $_internalMap2ColorValue) {
	$_internalMap2ColorIds[$_internalMap2ColorValue][] = $_internalMap2ColorKey;
}
 
print_r($_internalMap2ColorIds);