Shopify Transmitter

We provide a full configured station template with the necessary datamap and jobs for the Dynamic JSON Transmitter!

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Setup the transmitter

In the transmitter settings you need to setup the following things:

1. The URL to the Shopify Shop
2. The custom Metafield Identifier
3. The Shopify API Version
4. The Shopify Admin API Token
5. The Shopify Storefront API Token

There is no need to install importer plugins in Shopify, as the SAWSConnector seamlessly integrates with Shopify’s HTTP Web API using GraphQL.

Custom Metafield Identifier

To create the custom Metafield for the identifier in the Shopify backend, set the name as you like and copy the name with the namespace after creation.

The custom metafield identifier is used to identify the product in Shopify with a value stored in Contentserv. The metafield identifier needs to be configured in the datamap to add, update or delete products or collections. In the transmitter configuration the identifier is set with <namespace>.<key>.

Shopify Backend	Shopify Transmitter

e.g. productsUpdateCreate-Datamap

 
Version 1.20. and higher:
You can activate the checkbox for the proxy cache. If the checkbox is activated, all product ids will be cached so the initial loading time is reduced.
By deactivating the checkbox the cache gets cleared.

API Tokens

To use the Shopify transmitter set the “App Secret” and the “Client ID” in the Transmitter settings

 

Install Custom API App and generate Token
1. Go to the Developer Dashboard in the top right settings
2. Create an app using the “Create App”-Button
3. Give the app a name and click “Create”
4. Add the right access scope to the app so the transmitter will work as expected. Important: You need to grant access to all the Endpoints from the Admin API and the Storefront API Click on “Done” when all the necessary rights are selected
5. If the “Access” Field looks similar to the example one, click on “Release”. It is optional to set a version name
6. When your app is created, you need to install the App on your Shop. Go to “Home” in your App to select the distribution method and gernerate the installation link. Otherwise you can’t install the app.
7. Select “Custom distribution” so the App doesn’t get shared to the Shopify App Store
8. Insert your store domain This is necessary so the app can only be installed on your shop. Copy the URL from your dashboard like in the example below, insert it and click “Generate Link”
9. Copy the generated Link and open it up in a new Tab After opening the link, select the Shop where you want to install the app. (Only if you have multple stores)
10. In your store, you should then see the install configuration. Click “Install” to install the app
If everything worked, you should see the app in the left navigation
11. In the Developer Dashboard get Client ID and Secret In the dashboard will now be 1 Installation visible of the created app (probably you need to refresh the page). Click on Settings, there you can Copy the “Client ID” and the “Secret” which are the values you need for the transmitter settings.

After configuring the tokens save them in Contentserv and select them in the Shopify Transmitter configuration.

Contentserv configuration

 

Node Mappings

Please ensure that the nodemap settings are set correctly to identify products and variants and to differentiate if the record needs to be created/updated or deleted.

Configuring the datamaps

Every datamap (except for the variant datamap) needs the custom identifier metafield. Also Shopify needs at least a title to create a resource, the other rows are optional. The last row in the datamaps is always called ‘additionalInformation’. This row is ignored by Shopify but is necessary for the connector to work. In this row the csrecordid and the csrecordclass are stored.

 

If you export products with variants you need to configure the row called ‘variants’ in the ‘productUpdateCreate’ datamap, in which an array of the skus from the variants is stored. To connect the variants correctly to the product, you need to setup the sku for the variant in the ‘variants’ datamap.

 

If you export simple products you need to configure the simple product datamap rows.

 

Bundles

The transmitter can also create “Bundles” in Shopify. This only works for bundles of simple products. To implement bundles you need to configure the datamap row “bundleInput”.
You can also import the datamap row into an existing datamap.
There are two options for the configuration, bundles with an attribute of PIM references or bundles with the complex article table.
 

This row is used to set the structure of the bundle. All the other values are set with the product datamap, similar to a simple product.

 

Metafields

If the metafield is language dependent, you need to set |{StoreView} behind the name.
In the datamap you always configure the metafield with the following key:

 

metafields|your-name

 

Version 1.20. and higher:
We provide a Format Plugin for Shopify Metafields as easier way to configure metafields.

You can find a detailed guide on how to use the Format Plugin here.

 
Legacy:
Every metafield gets configured as an array and needs the namespace, the key and its value. You can see the namespace and the key in your Shopify backend.

The value needs to be a string.

 

To fill a metafield with multiple values (List) you need to send an Array containing all the values which is encoded as a JSON-string.

Metafield References

This is only necessary when creating Metafields without the “Metafield Formal Plugin”
We also provide the following reference types for metafields:

• products (e.g @productRef:{PIM_IDENTIFIER} )
• variants (e.g. @variantRef:{SKU} )
• collections (e.g. @collectionRef:{PIM_IDENTIFIER} )
• media files (e.g. @mediaRef:{FILENAME} )
• meta objects (e.g. @metaobjectRef:{METAOBJECT_DEFINITION_TYPE}|{METAOBJECT_HANDLE} )

To use these reference values, the result value has to contain the key from the examples as prefix of the value.
This is a way to dynamically add the value, but you can also provide the Shopify ID.

 

Handle Metaobject Entries

The Transmitter can create, update or delete entries for existing metaobjects. Therefore we provide a configured datamap template which is also included in the Shopify Station template. A metaobject entry is always identified with the metaobject definition type and its unique handle.
 

 
In Shopify you can find the values for the type and the field keys in the Metaobject Definition
(Settings > Custom Data > Metaobject definitions)
 

 
You can use references the same way as in the metafields.
Create for each field that you want to fill a row in the datamap with a key and a value. There are some examples for different types already configured in the template.

You can also set the status of the entry (ACTIVE or DRAFT) and a template suffix.
 

Media to upload

Media can be uploaded in two different ways.
The datamap export column is “mediaUpload|[]” or “upload|[]”
 

mediaUpload	This is used for images or videos which are part of the product like product pictures. Also, with this key you can create the media for variants in Shopify Types: IMAGE, VIDEO, EXTERNAL_VIDEO, MODEL_3D
upload	This is used for just uploading files to Shopify – the files are not connected to a product or variant but then e.g. can be referenced by metafields. Types: FILE, IMAGE, VIDEO, EXTERNAL_VIDEO, MODEL_3D

The media for variants and products gets uploaded via the ‘productUpdateCreate’ datamap. You can send only 1 image per variant but multiple media files per product.

To connect the media files to a variant you also need to maintain the datamap row ‘additionalInformation’.
 
Version 1.20. and higher:
We provide a Format Plugin for Shopify Media as easier way to send media to Shopify.

You can find a detailed guide on how to use the Format Plugin here.

 
Legacy:

Every media upload needs the following keys:

Note: for collections you also need to maintain the collectionInformation|image row in the datamap, otherwise the image can’t be connected to the collection.

 

(Deprecated) API Tokens

Deprecated since 01.01.2026

To use the Shopify Transmitter set the API Key for the Storefront API and the Admin API in the Contentserv credentials and select them in the transmitter settings.

First you need to generate these tokens, therefore you can follow this guideline

Shopify generate Tokens
Go to the configuration tab and select the Admin API Integration. Please select every point in the Admin Api access scope
After the access scope please select the API version e.g. 2024-07
Now that the Admin API is configured correct, go to the configuration of the Storefront API and select every point of the access scope In the Storefront API you can’t set a version for the API
With both APIs setup, click on “Install” and install the app
Important: Copy the Admin API key now and save them, because you can only reveal the admin API key once!

 

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