Echo short description for related products - php

Question

Is there a way to echo the short description foreach related product?
I've tried to use this code but it doesn't display the description of each product:
<?php echo nl2br($this->getProduct()->getDescription()) ?>
also
<?php echo $_helper->productAttribute($_item, nl2br($_item->getShortDescription()), 'short_description') ?>
Is there a way to do this for related products? If anyone knows please point me in the right direction.
<?php if($this->getItems()->getSize()): ?>
<div class="block block-related">
<div class="block-title">
<strong><span><?php echo $this->__('Related Products') ?></span></strong>
</div>
<div class="block-content">
<p class="block-subtitle"><?php echo $this->__('Check items to add to the cart or add to your wishlist') ?> <br /></p>
<div class="form-horizontal">
<?php foreach($this->getItems() as $_item): ?>
<div class="control-group">
<label for="related-checkbox<?php echo $_item->getId() ?>" class="control-label">
<a class="fancybox static-thumbs pull-left" href="<?php echo $this->helper('catalog/image')->init($_item, 'small_image')->resize(500, 450); ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_item->getName()) ?>" ><img src="<?php echo $this->helper('catalog/image')->init($_item, 'small_image')->resize(135, 135) ?>" width="135" height="135" alt="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_item->getName()) ?>" /></a>
</label>
<div class="controls">
<label class="checkbox">
<?php if(!$_item->isComposite() && $_item->isSaleable()): ?>
<?php if (!$_item->getRequiredOptions()): ?>
<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox related-checkbox" id="related-checkbox<?php echo $_item->getId() ?>" name="related_products[]" value="<?php echo $_item->getId() ?>" />
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php if ($this->helper('wishlist')->isAllow()) : ?>
<span class="icon-check"></span>
<p class="product-name span6">
<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_item->getName()) ?>
<br />
<?php echo nl2br($this->getProduct($_item)->getDescription()) ?>
</p>
<form action="<?php echo $this->getAddToCartUrl($_item) ?>" method="post">
<fieldset>
<label class="product-name"><?php echo $this->__('Quantity:'); ?></label>
<select name="qty" class="span1">
<?php $i = 1 ?>
<?php do { ?>
<option value="<?php echo $i?>">
<?php echo $i?>
<?php $i++ ?>
</option>
<?php } while ($i <= (int)Mage::getModel('cataloginventory/stock_item')->loadByProduct($_item)->getMaxSaleQty()) ?>
</select>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
<button class="btn btn-danger" data-loading-text="PLease wait..."><span><?php echo $this->__('Add to Cart') ?></span></button>
<span id='ajax_loader' style='display:none'><img src='<?php echo $this->getSkinUrl('images/opc-ajax-loader.gif')?>'/></span>
</fieldset>
</form>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php echo $this->getPriceHtml($_item, true, '-related') ?>
</label>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<?php endforeach ?>
</div>
</div>

Answer 1

Have you tried nl2br($this->getProduct($_item)->getShortDescription()) ?
It might be that the value for short description isn't loaded for related products by default. You could try to do a $_item->load($_item->getId()) and then use $_item->getShortDescription().

Answer 2

after TRYING $_item->load($_item->getId()) and echoing the shortDescription, you should look for the Collection where the related products are loaded. In this collection the attribute short_description is not loaded with.
If you load every product, you make a lot of queries to the database which will cost a lot of performance. This is not needed. The alternative is:
$relatedProductCollection->addAttributeToSelect('short_description');
The question is to find the $relatedProductCollection.
UPDATE:
I dug into the code (Reference is v. 1.7.0.2):
// app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Product/List/Related.php:61
$this->_addProductAttributesAndPrices($this->_itemCollection);
// app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Product/Abstract.php:410
$collection
->addAttributeToSelect(Mage::getSingleton('catalog/config')->getProductAttributes())
// app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Config.php:260
$this->getAttributesUsedInProductListing()
This should be interpreted as: When the "related products" are loaded, all attributes are loaded, which are used in the product listing as well. The problem might be: short_desciption is loaded by default. So remove the load() call and check, wether the attribute short_description is "Used in Product Listing". If this is set to yes, My interpretation is wrong.
None the less, the solution by loading every product is crap.
EDIT:
I have added the following line to Related.php
$this->_itemCollection = $product->getRelatedProductCollection()
->addAttributeToSelect('required_options')
->addAttributeToSelect('short_description')
->setPositionOrder()
->addStoreFilter()
And using this line does echo a descrtiption foreach product but it is the Same description getProduct()->getDescription()) ?>
You need to <?php echo ($this->getProduct()->getShortDescription()) ?>
But editing the core code is a bad way to change the magento behaviour as well. Here is described how to rewrite a block, but I don't think this is necessary. http://prattski.com/2010/06/24/magento-overriding-core-files-blocks-models-resources-controllers/