Record keys

Every record a channel exports carries keys of its own next to your custom attributes: up to fourteen on a product row and six on a custom entity record. A few product keys are only on some rows; the table says which. The tables below list each key, the field name the Mapping step shows for it, and what it holds.

Three words are used on this page:

Term	Meaning
Field	Any piece of data a product or a custom entity carries. Everything on this page is a field.
Custom attribute	A field you define yourself. Its key is data. followed by the attribute code, for example data.color.
System field	A field the platform records for its own bookkeeping: the ID, the created date and the updated date.

Categories, prices, delivery windows and the product type are neither a custom attribute nor a system field. They are part of what a product is, so they are simply fields.

One key, two spellings

The Mapping step and a template read the same record, but they spell its keys differently. The Mapping step shows the key as the record stores it. A template puts an underscore in front of it:

In the record	In a template
meta.created	_meta.created, for example record._meta.created
id.entityid	_id.entityid
meta.producttype.key	_meta.producttype.key
prices	_prices
deliverywindows	_deliverywindows
categories	_categories
data.color	color — a custom attribute loses its data. prefix instead

The rule: a key that starts with id. or meta., and the three keys prices, deliverywindows and categories, get an underscore in a template. For categories the underscore also keeps the product’s categories apart from a custom attribute you may have coded categories: the attribute stays record.categories, and the product’s categories are record._categories. Don’t give a custom attribute the code prices or deliverywindows — in a template it takes the place of the product’s own list.

The dots in a key are levels in a template: _meta.producttype.key is read as record._meta.producttype.key.

In a Text template node of a field processing pipeline, record._categories is not available — see the data in a template.

Product keys

A product feed writes one row per product variant, and one row for a product that has no product variants. A template channel also sees the levels above the product variants. These fourteen keys can be on the row as well as your custom attributes. Two of them are in the record but not offered as a source field on the Mapping step; a template can still read both.

Key	Field on the Mapping step	Group	What it holds
id.entityid	Variant ID	Identifiers	The ID of the product variant this row is. On a product’s top level — the only row of a product without product variants — it is the product’s own ID, the same as meta.rootid.
meta.rootid	Product ID	Identifiers	The ID of the product the row belongs to. The same on every row of one product.
meta.parentid	Parent variant ID	Identifiers	The ID of the level above this row in the product’s variants — the product itself, or an intermediate level for a product with several variant levels. Not on the product’s top level.
meta.created	Created on	Dates	When the product was created. The same on every row of one product.
meta.updated	Last updated	Dates	When the product was last changed. The same on every row of one product.
meta.producttype.key	Product type key	Classification	The key of the product’s product type, for example shirt.
meta.producttype.name	Product type name	Classification	The display name of the product’s product type, for example Shirt.
categories	Not offered	—	The categories the row is in, as a list of objects with key, name, sort_index, parent_key and path. Always present, and an empty list when there are none. How to read it in a template: Categories.
meta.variantdimensions	Variant dimensions	Product variants	The attribute codes that split the product into product variants, one list per level from the top, for example [["color"], ["size"]]. Taken from the product’s variant configuration, so the same on every row of one product.
meta.dimensionpath	Variant path	Product variants	This row’s values for those attributes, one entry per level from the top, for example ["red", "M"]. Where one level splits on several attributes, its values are joined by commas. Not on the product’s top level.
meta.isvirtual	Has product variants	Product variants	true on a row that has product variants below it, false on the lowest level. A feed mapped on the Mapping step writes the lowest level only, so there it is always false.
prices	Prices	Prices and availability	The row’s prices, as a list. Only on rows that have prices.
deliverywindows	Delivery windows	Prices and availability	The row’s delivery windows, as a list: named periods, each with an optional from and until date. An import sets them; the product editor does not. Only on rows that have delivery windows.
id.stage	Not offered	—	draft or live — which version of the products the run exported. The same on every row of one run.

A column mapped from a key a row does not carry is empty on that row.

Two further fields appear on the Mapping step of an import but are not in an exported record: Variant space ID and Language code. See which fields an import can set.

Custom entity keys

A custom entity channel writes one row per record. These six keys are on the row as well as the custom entity’s custom attributes. Two of them are in the record but not offered as a source field on the Mapping step; a template can still read both.

Key	Field on the Mapping step	Group	What it holds
id.entityid	Record ID	Identifiers	The ID of the record.
meta.typekey	Custom entity key	Classification	The key of the custom entity the record belongs to, as set in its settings.
meta.created	Created on	Dates	When the record was created.
meta.updated	Last updated	Dates	When the record was last changed.
meta.name	Not offered	—	The value of the custom entity’s label attribute. To map it, pick that attribute itself under Attributes.
meta.identifier	Not offered	—	The value of the custom entity’s identifier attribute. To map it, pick that attribute itself under Attributes.

meta.name and meta.identifier are left out of the Mapping step because they are the same values as two of your own custom attributes: the one you chose as the label attribute and the one you chose as the identifier attribute. See custom entity settings.

In a template the two are _meta.name and _meta.identifier; reading them on a linked record is covered in custom entities in a template.

Related

• Custom product feeds → Mapping — picking these fields as sources
• The data in a template — record, variants and attribute values
• Product variants — how a product type splits a product into product variants