Custom Metadata Object Import/Export

When using the system meta data import functionality, the entire definition is replaced. If you have a custom group with three attribute groups and you want to add another attribute group to make four attribute groups, you must specify all four attribute group definitions in the import file.

This section describes the elements in the metadata.xsd and considerations when creating values for them.

The custom-attribute-definitions, attribute-definitions, and attribute-definition elements use the complexType.CustomAttributeDefinition type, which allows you to set the externally-managed-flag and externally-defined-flag. However, the externally-managed-flag and externally-defined-flag elements can only be imported via the ImportCatalog and don't import if the import is done manually in Business Manager.

Granularity: organization's custom object type definitions.

Deleting Existing Attribute Definitions and Attribute Groups

1. Select Administration > Site Development > Import/Export.
2. In the Import/Export page, in the Meta Data section, click Import.
3. Select the file to import.
4. Check the Delete existing attribute definitions and attribute groups not contained in the import file box to use this feature.

   For custom and system object types that are specified in the import file, this updates all existing custom attribute definitions and custom attribute groups before removing the definitions and groups not specified in the import file. The option is useful if you want to replace all your existing attribute and group definitions with what is defined in your import file and remove obsolete groups and definitions.

Deleting Existing Attribute Definitions via Pipeline

You can use the ImportMetaData pipelet input parameter ImportConfiguration to delete attribute definitions or attribute group definitions.

For attribute definitions, use the following:

key=cleanupAttributeDefinitions; value=true | false

If set to true, existing attribute definitions are deleted if they are not contained in the import file. If not specified or set to false, such attribute definitions are not deleted.

key=cleanupAttributeGroupDefinitions; value=true | false

Site-Specific Attributes

The complex type CustomAttributeDefinition supports the site-specific-flag attribute. Because you can't change the site-specific-flag of system attributes, you can't use this system-object-flag with the complex type SystemAttributeDefinition.