[SFDX-Develop-Against-Any-Org Projects] "Retrieve Metadata" dialog to update manifest/package.xml

[Doug Ayers]

Hi Scott, since we last chatted on now resolved issue 1184, I've converted my project over to source format. My IC2 project is configured as "sfdx-develop-against-any-org" as it contains both a sfdx-project.json file and a manifest/package.xml file.

Deploying to any connection works great, though I have a request for enhancing the retrieve process.

Per the 2.0.5.7 release notes, “Subscription management is based mostly on manual package.xml authoring”. However, manual management of the package.xml is tedious and requires me to look up the API names of the pieces of metadata I want and muck with the XML.

I’ve been spoiled by the ease of the “Retrieve Metadata” dialog for other projects, and I’d love to be able to use it to manage the metadata subscription for my “sfdx-develop-against-any-org” projects, too.

Thanks!

[Scott Wells]

If you mean using the Selected metadata subscription tree to manage your subscription, that's probably not coming anytime soon. I have ideas for consolidating all of that so that it can be used to manage a package.xml file, but I don't expect to get to them soon. However, right now you can use the existing retrieval dialog to do this for the most part by configuring it as follows:

• Connection - select the connection from which you want to retrieve metadata
• Contents - select Custom so that you can create an ad hoc selection
• Server Only - should be the only selected filter because you want to see things you don't have yet, and you want to see things not in your current subscription/package.xml

Then use the checkbox tree to explicitly select the additions to the metadata subscription, e.g.:

Then use either Retrieve or Retrieve for Merge to pull the server-only metadata into your local project. IC will then prompt you to add it to your metadata subscription:

which in an SFDX-develop-against-any-org project means that the manifest/package.xml file is updated:

It makes for very quick updates to your package.xml for the metadata objects you wish to include in your subscription/project.

[Scott Wells]

FYI, metadata management--both subscription management and deployment/retrieval/removal--is the next major topic for the new User Guide. I'm reviewing the tech writer's latest work on new project creation now, and once that's published we'll be tackling that big beast of a topic. Things like this will be included in it for sure.

[Doug Ayers]

Thanks for the quick follow up, Scott! What you described is exactly what I needed to do! I had never used “Custom” before, and now feel sheepish for not having tried out more of the options to figure this out. I’m cooking with gas again!

[Scott Wells]

Issue tracker grooming. If this is still an issue, please feel free to reopen, ideally with a concrete reproduction scenario.