Magento 2 - Adding Customer Attributes

In the following steps, we will create a small module that adds a customer attribute: loyaltynumber

Create a module Jeff_CustomerAttribute by creating files module.xml and registraction.php:

#app/code/Jeff/CustomerAttribute/etc/module.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../../../lib/internal/Magento/Framework/Module/etc/module.xsd">
    <module name="Jeff_CustomerAttribute" setup_version="1.0.0">
        <sequence>
            <module name="Magento_Customer"/>
        </sequence>
    </module>
</config>

Registration.php:

#app/code/Jeff/CustomerAttribute/Registration.php

<?php
\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register(
\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,
'Jeff_CustomerAttribute',
__DIR__
);

Create a data installtion script: InstallData.php

#app/code/Jeff/CustomerAttribute/Setup/InstallData.php

<?php
namespace Jeff\CustomerAttribute\Setup;

use Magento\Framework\Setup\InstallDataInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleContextInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;

class InstallData implements InstallDataInterface {
    private $customerSetupFactory;

    public function __construct(
        \Magento\Customer\Setup\CustomerSetupFactory $customerSetupFactory
    ) {
        $this->customerSetupFactory = $customerSetupFactory;
    }

    public function install(ModuleDataSetupInterface $setup, ModuleContextInterface $context) {
        $customerSetup =$this->customerSetupFactory->create(['setup'=>$setup]);

        $setup->startSetup();

        $customerSetup->addAttribute('customer', 'loyaltynumber', [
            'label'=>'Loyaltynumber',
            'type'=>'static',
            'frontend_input'=>'text',
            'required'=>false,
            'visible'=>true,
            'position'=>105,
        ]);

        $loyaltyAttribute = $customerSetup->getEavConfig()->getAttribute('customer', 'loyaltynumber');

        $loyaltyAttribute->setData('used_in_forms', ['adminhtml_customer']);

        $loyaltyAttribute->save();

        $setup->endSetup();
    }
}

Add the attribute to the backend, we have to create a ui_component XML file

#app/code/Jeff/CustomerAttribute/view/base/ui_component/customer_form.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Ui:etc/ui_configuration.xsd">
    <fieldset name="customer">
        <field name="loyaltynumber">
            <argument name="data" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="config" xsi:type="array">
                    <item name="dataType" xsi:type="string">text</item>
                    <item name="formElement" xsi:type="string">input</item>
                    <item name="source" xsi:type="string">customer</item>
                </item>
            </argument>
        </field>
    </fieldset>
</form>

To install the attribute in the database, run the command php bin/magento setup:upgrade in the Magento 2 root folder.

The required step is to add the attribute in the ui_component xml configuration. This configuration works like the layout XML files. When you look in the file app/code/Magento/Customer/view/adminhtml/layout/customer_index_edit.xml, you will set the following code that initializes the layout update of the ui_component:

<uiComponent name="customer_form"/>

In the backend, create a new customer. You will wee the Loyaltynumber attribute in the form like in the following screenshot: