A content type you define in Shopify, with its own fields, whose entries stand on their own or are linked from metafields: a designer, a size chart, a store review.
A metafield adds a field to something Shopify already has. A metaobject is a new kind of thing. You define it once, with its fields, in Shopify under Settings › Custom data › Metaobjects, and then create as many entries as you need, each with its own values.
Two examples:
- A designer, with a name, a portrait and a biography. Each product links to its designer through a metafield, and every product page shows the same entry.
- A review, with a rating, a text and the product it is about. Each entry is one review.
Like a metafield, a metaobject definition needs Storefront access for a headless storefront to read its entries.
In Webflow terms
A metaobject definition is like a Webflow CMS collection, and its entries are like the items: a type with fields, and as many entries as you need. The difference is where they live: in Shopify, next to the products and customers they belong to.
In Smootify
Smootify shows metaobjects on the page, in three ways:
A list of one type
- Needs
data-type, the definition's type.- Pages
- Yes:
data-limitentries at a time.
The metaobjects of a product
- Needs
data-type:metafield.and the metafield's namespace and key.data-product-id.- Pages
- Yes, like a list of one type.
One entry
- Needs
data-typeanddata-handle, ordata-id.- Pages
- No. When the entry does not exist, the element is removed.
On the Server plan, the metaobject creator turns a Webflow form into new entries: a review, a warranty claim, a back-in-stock request. Smootify also uses metaobjects of its own, such as the option entries that give swatches their colors and images.
More in Metaobjects and Metaobject creator.