Configure metafields using the NetSuite saved search

Metafields in Shopify allows you to store additional information for product and their variants, collections, orders, blogs, pages, and your shop that cannot be managed within the native fields. If you want to maintain additional description fields for your catalogs such as the featured description, you can do this in NetSuite by creating custom fields. But in Shopify, you can do this by leveraging the metafields functionality. A metafield in Shopify consists of a namespace, a key, a value, and a description (optional). For more information about metafields and their different parts, refer to Metafields.

Note: Celigo supports all the metafield types mentioned in the Shopify metafields except the List types.

The NetSuite’s saved search allows you to configure metafields at the variant level in Shopify, from the data or value provided in the NetSuite standard or custom field. This approach is recommended only if a meta field value cannot be written directly from a single field. Use the NetSuite saved search that is being used for exporting Items from NetSuite to Shopify. If you are using the saved search that comes from the bundle, the name of the search should start like "Celigo Shopify Item Export [your store name]".

For more information about metafields, refer to Support metafields at the variant level.

Scenario to configure metafields

In this scenario, let’s configure metafields to provide additional information about a mobile camera. In NetSuite, for the matrix item named “Mobile”, create two custom fields as “camera details” and “dual camera details”. In the NetSuite saved search, in the Results tab, add new rows for the newly added custom columns as “Mobile Details:Camera:value (Variant Meta)” and  “Mobile Details:Camera:description (Variant Meta)” to configure the metafields. After you save the saved search and run the “NetSuite Matrix Item to Shopify Product” flow, the metafields are configured for the product named “Mobile”.

Configure metafields

Step 1: In NetSuite

1. Open the saved search “Celigo Shopify Matrix Item Export [US Store]:” in the edit mode.
2. Click Results. 
3. To map a NetSuite field to a corresponding Shopify metafield, add an additional row and search for the appropriate NetSuite standard or custom field. 
4. Click Add.
5. In the Custom Label column, enter the metafield details in the following format: 
   
   • <Namespace>:<key>:value (Variant Meta) 
     • Example: Mobile Details:Camera:value (Variant Meta)
   • <Namespace>:<key>:description (Variant Meta)
     • Example: Mobile Details:Camera:description (Variant Meta)
   • Notes:
     • Namespace, Key, and value or description are colon-separated.
     • Important: The label name must be suffixed with (Variant Meta) to be identified as a metafield by the Integration App (see above image).
     • For the steps, 2-5, refer to the screenshot above.
6. Click Save.

Step 2: In Integrator.io

1. Click Shopify - NetSuite Integration App tile.
2. Go to Settings > Product.
3. Ensure that the saved search edited in NetSuite is selected in the NetSuite Saved Search for syncing Matrix Item details option.
• Prerequisite: Before you perform the next step, ensure to select the currency and price level as mentioned in the article.
4. Click Save.
5. Run the “NetSuite Matrix Item to Shopify Product” flow.

Verify metafields

As the metafields are not directly available on the Shopify store’s user interface, you can verify the metafields as follows:

1. Open the appropriate product in Shopify and in the browser address bar (URL), after the Shopify product ID, enter /variants.json to see the variants.
• Example: https://usstore.myshopify.com/admin/products/3870307156050/variants.json
2. Click Enter.
3. Copy the variant ID and in the browser address bar (URL), after variants, enter /<variantID>/metafields.json
4. Click Enter.