How To Create a Featured Product?

Create  a new featured product in admin panel with below properties

    Attribute Identifier: featuredproduct
    Scope: Store View
    Catalog Input Type for Store Owner: Yes/No
    Unique Value: No
    Values Required: No
    Apply To: All Product Types
    Use in quick search: No
    Use in advanced search: Yes
    Comparable on Front-end: No
    Visible on Catalog Pages on Front-end: Yes


Save the attribute and set it to default Attributes Sets.

Then,Create new block class that will instantiate the featured product
  

Create a new file, and directories: app/code/local/Companyname/Catalog/Block/Product/Featured.php

    <?php
    class Companyname_Catalog_Block_Product_Featured extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_Abstract
          {
              public function getFeaturedProduct()
              {
   
                  // instantiate database connection object
                  $storeId = Mage::app()->getStore()->getId(); 
                  $categoryId = $this->getRequest()->getParam('id', false);
                  $resource = Mage::getSingleton('core/resource');
                  $read = $resource->getConnection('catalog_read');
                  $categoryProductTable = $resource->getTableName('catalog/category_product');
                  //$productEntityIntTable = $resource->getTableName('catalog/product_entity_int'); // doesn't work :(
                  $productEntityIntTable = (string)Mage::getConfig()->getTablePrefix() . 'catalog_product_entity_int';
                  $eavAttributeTable = $resource->getTableName('eav/attribute');
                  // Query database for featured product
                  if ($categoryId){
                  $select = $read->select()
                                 ->from(array('cp'=>$categoryProductTable))
                                 ->join(array('pei'=>$productEntityIntTable), 'pei.entity_id=cp.product_id', array())
                                 ->joinNatural(array('ea'=>$eavAttributeTable))
                                 ->where('cp.category_id=?', $categoryId)
                                 ->where('pei.value=1')
                                 ->where('ea.attribute_code="featured"');}
                    else {
                 
                      $select = $read->select()
                                 ->from(array('cp'=>$categoryProductTable))
                                 ->join(array('pei'=>$productEntityIntTable), 'pei.entity_id=cp.product_id', array())
                                 ->joinNatural(array('ea'=>$eavAttributeTable))
                                 ->where('pei.value=1')
                                 ->where('ea.attribute_code="featuredproduct"');
                    }
                 $featuredProductData = $read->fetchAll($select);
                 $i=0;
                 $product=array();
                 $productid=array();
                 foreach ($featuredProductData as $row) {
             
                    // instantiate the product object
                    //$productid[$i] = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($row['product_id']);
                    $productid[$i] = $row['product_id'];
             
                    // if the product is a featured product, return the object
                    // if ($product->getData('featuredproduct')) {
                 
                    //}
                    $i++;
                }
            $productid=array_unique($productid);
            $i=0;
            foreach($productid as $id){
                $product[$i] = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($id);
                $i++;
            }
            return $product;
            }
    }
    ?>

Extend Mage_Catalog_Block_Category_View

Create a new file, and directories, called app/code/local/MyCompany/Catalog/Block/Category/View.php.
    <?php
        class MyCompany_Catalog_Block_Category_View extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Category_View
        {
            public function getFeaturedProductHtml()
            {
                return $this->getBlockHtml('product_featured');
            }
        }
    ?>  

then edit app/design/frontend/default/default/template/catalog/category/view.phtml.

        <?=$this->getFeaturedProductHtml()?>

right above this line:

        <?=$this->getProductListHtml()?>

Create app/design/frontend/default/default/template/catalog/product/featured.phtml and add some product info HTML to show the featured product. Here is an example that simply displays a link to the product:

    <?php $_product=$this->getFeaturedProduct() ?>
    Check this out: <a href="<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?></a>

Add new blocks to the app/etc/local.xml
  

Add the following inside the config global tag:

        <blocks>
            <catalog>
                <rewrite>
             <product_featured>MyCompany_Catalog_Block_Product_Featured</product_featured>
               </rewrite>
                <rewrite>
               <category_view>MyCompany_Catalog_Block_Category_View</category_view>
                </rewrite>
             </catalog>
        </blocks>