Metadata & Generated Types

Your metadata is part of the editor's type model. The language server reads local SFCC metadata XML and generates declarations for system-object custom attributes, site preferences, and custom objects. The same definitions feed completion, hover, diagnostics, navigation, and attribute usage tracking

From Product XML to script completion

Add a custom attribute to a local metadata file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<metadata xmlns="http://www.demandware.com/xml/impex/metadata/2006-10-31">
    <type-extension type-id="Product">
        <custom-attribute-definitions>
            <attribute-definition attribute-id="badgeLabel">
                <display-name xml:lang="x-default">Badge label</display-name>
                <description xml:lang="x-default">Short label for the product tile.</description>
                <type>string</type>
                <mandatory-flag>false</mandatory-flag>
                <externally-managed-flag>false</externally-managed-flag>
            </attribute-definition>
        </custom-attribute-definitions>
    </type-extension>
</metadata>

var ProductMgr = require('dw/catalog/ProductMgr');

function getBadge(id) {
    var product = ProductMgr.getProduct(id);
    return product ? product.custom.badgeLabel || '' : '';
}

module.exports = { getBadge: getBadge };

Save the XML and allow metadata indexing to finish. In the script, invoke completion after product.custom.. Hover badgeLabel to see its generated type and metadata description. Go to Definition takes you back to the attribute's XML definition

Site preferences

Attributes declared on SitePreferences generate typed preference access. With a boolean attribute named showProductBadge, both the custom-preferences object and the preference getter become useful entry points:

var Site = require('dw/system/Site');
var site = Site.getCurrent();
var enabled = site.getCustomPreferenceValue('showProductBadge');
var samePreference = site.getPreferences().custom.showProductBadge;

The generator also contributes overloads for setCustomPreferenceValue. Completion and signatures use the locally defined preference names and their types. A generated declaration describes an attribute; it does not fetch the current preference value from a sandbox

Custom objects and typed keys

A custom-object type definition adds type-specific overloads to CustomObjectMgr. For a local StoreNotice type with a string key and a string message attribute:

var CustomObjectMgr = require('dw/object/CustomObjectMgr');
var notice = CustomObjectMgr.getCustomObject('StoreNotice', 'homepage');

if (notice) {
    var message = notice.custom.message;
}

The literal type ID selects the generated object shape, and the key definition contributes its accepted key type. The generator covers describe, createCustomObject, getCustomObject, getAllCustomObjects, queryCustomObject, queryCustomObjects, and remove

Iterators retain the custom-object shape for their elements. Keep ordinary SFCC iterator and transaction rules when using those APIs; generated types do not create data or execute transactions

Attribute types and documentation

Use the generated declaration to inspect the exact type, including nullability and SFCC wrappers. An enum attribute is not simply a JavaScript string because its XML values are strings

Trace types back to XML

In metadata XML, the first attribute definition shows Indexing usages… while usages are collected, then each definition gets an N usages lens. Click it to peek every reference to the attribute

The extension writes generated files under .intellij-sfcc/generated/ in the first workspace folder:

Edit the source XML rather than these generated declarations. They are regenerated as metadata changes; no separate generator command is needed

Metadata in VS Code

VS Code has no metadata design editor and no site archive tool window, so you edit metadata as XML. JetBrains IDEs have both: the Metadata Editor and the B2C Metadata tool window

When an attribute is missing

Check that its definition is available in local workspace XML, the object type-id and attribute-id match your code, and indexing has completed. Then inspect the generated declaration to distinguish a missing definition from an incorrectly typed receiver. For example, an arbitrary object named product does not acquire the dw.catalog.Product type from its variable name

Metadata available only in Business Manager must first be available to the local project workflow. The editor's type model is not a live guarantee of sandbox metadata. Configuration & troubleshooting covers the shared checks