Product Status is Not a Boolean

Magento Version: 1.5.0.1

Let’s say you have a product object

$p = Mage::getProduct('catalog/product')->load(3425);

You can get the value of the product’s status with the magic getter method or the getData method.

$p->getStatus()
$p->getData('status');

However, the return value of this method is not a boolean. The value of a product object’s status (Enabled, Disable by default) is the numerical value of the select in the admin. A false status means a status value isn’t set. It doesn’t mean that the status is disabled

if(!$p->getStatus())
{
    echo "No Status Set";
}
else if($p->getStatus() == 1)
{
    echo "Status: Enabled";
}
else if($p->getStatus() == 2)
{
    echo "Status: Disabled";
}

Not rocket science, but one of those little gotchas that can easily trip you up.

Update: Fabian over on the twitters points out that there’s class constants for the various status values.

Mage_Catalog_Model_Product_Status::STATUS_ENABLED

Shame on me