In this episode, we're focusing on adding images to our product variations so that each variation can have its own picture. This is super helpful since we want to show a small image next to products in our cart and orders pages, making things much clearer for users.
We start by discussing which variations actually need images (those with distinct SKUs) and why it might be useful to support different images for different sizes or other attributes. Then, we modify our variation model to support media attachments using the HasMedia interface and InteractsWithMedia trait. With that set up, we make sure we can handle image uploads, generate thumbnails, and set a fallback image just in case.
After setting up the backend, we use some simple artisan commands to attach images to several variations in our database. We walk through doing this with both the black and white shoe variations, confirming everything works as expected in the media table. As a quick note, if you prefer a more user-friendly approach, you can use something like Laravel Nova and Media Library to do this via an interface instead of commands.
By the end, we've successfully attached images to all our variations, so next time we see them in the cart, those little images will show up nicely! In the next episode, we'll actually dig into building the cart and displaying these images there.