Single dropdown custom field in product listings

-- url of the page with the problem -- : localhost
-- HikaShop version -- : 2.3.2
-- Joomla version -- : 3.3.3
-- PHP version -- : 5.4
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : Firefox

Hi Hika team,

I am having trouble adding a single drop down menu with 4 options to my product listings view.

I would like to give my customers the option to be able to choose allergy free food (has been requested a lot).

In custom fields I added a field to the product table with column name allergy. Field type is "single drop down" with my options in it.

The display options are set to:
Front end - no
Back end form - no
Back end listing - yes

In the product listing_image_title I have the following:
<?php echo $this->row->allergy ; ?>

The above usually displays my custom field but not in this case.

I checked in the database and the table row "allergy" is set to NULL.
This explains why the drop down does not appear but why is it set to NULL?

Attached is a screenshot with the full config of the custom field.

Hello again,

After reading your comment, I believe what I thought was going to be a simple point and click action is going to be way more complicated.

What I am trying to do is, display a drop down with four options in the product listing and product page. Customers should be able to select one of the options and place an order.

The selected option should appear in the shopping cart overview step and also in the email sent to the customer and admin.

Getting the custom field to appear in the required places should be no problem.

At this point the output of the custom field is one of the options chosen when editing a product. Ultimately my idea was that the custom field would appear only in the front end as a drop down and the option chosen would display in the checkout and emails.

What direction should I take in order to achieve this?

One more additional question. What do you mean by

(or if you display the custom field using the custom field system)