Can you import/export meta data with a secure OAuth connection without having to use a Custom app?

[AlanFerris]

Hi,

We’re building a site for a customer that will replace an existing live website. We were creating a development site using a purchased theme that we were customising to provide the features they would like. To do that we need to use meta fields as the basic Shopify structure is too limiting (we require sub collections, parent collections, extra product information and options). We couldn’t find a way using the Shopify admin to import/export all the products and collections with the meta fields so we’ve created a tool that allows us to import and export the products ourselves but this needs a secure connection. The basic private app doesn’t let us use OAuth so we didn't feel it was secure enough for a site that would require regular imports. This means we either need a public app, or a custom app. Our app is just the authentication credentials, there’s nothing in it as we do all the work at our end and use the API to push the products in, so a public app is pointless which is why we chose a custom app.

We tested our custom app in our store which has locked it to us, and we've been told by support that there's no way to remove that which means we need to create a new store but we 're unsure of the best way to go.

It looks like properly installing a custom app into a development store locks the url to the development url assigned

'Custom apps can be installed on a single store without Shopify review. The store URL you choose can’t be edited or changed later.'

If we create another dev store and setup our custom app, does this mean that we wouldn’t then be able to add our customers real domain name at the point that we were ready to push the site live? We can’t do it before then as their current site must remain live until the new site is ready.

We will also now need to transfer the theme (which we have already extensively edited) onto any new development site to carry on work, although I think that is something that can be done by support?

We’re not really sure what the best way to progress is. We need the following.

- A development site, with our purchased theme installed
- The ability to connect to that store using OAuth to import/export products with meta data. We were planning to use our importer for multiple clients so we didn't want an extra monthly charge to use an app that provided this feature.
- The ability to add in the correct domain at a later date once the site is ready and transfer ownership to our customer

Can anyone help?