How do I add a metafield to liquid in Shopify? - shopify

Question

I'm trying to edit a section in my Shopify theme which displays a video. I'm using the section on product pages and the URL for the video is inserted by using the theme editor tool. As such the same video inserted will show on every product page using that template. However, I would like to use a different video on each product page. I can't see a way to do this through the theme editor unless I duplicate the template for each and every product that needs its own video URL (seems a bit overkill).
I found this code which controls the video section, and the bit I'm trying to figure out is how I can change the 'assign video_id' to use a metafield so that I can add this per product by simply adding the video URL on a specific product page. I can't think of an easier way to achieve what I need, but thought changing a metafield for each product that needs a custom video URL would be the best way to do it, working possibly similar to this:
{% if template.name == 'product' %}
{% if product.metafields.my_fields.product_video_url %}
{{ product.metafields.my_fields.product_video_url }}
{% endif %}
{% endif %}
If anyone had an idea of how I can do this using the code below and inserting a metafield (and even better, a metafield IF it's filled, otherwise default back to video_url.id) I would really appreciate it.
{%- liquid
assign bg_color = section.settings.background-color
assign button_text = section.settings.button-text | escape | truncate: 30
assign button_url = section.settings.button-url | url_escape
assign full_width = section.settings.full-width
assign heading = section.settings.heading | escape
assign darken_video = section.settings.darken-video
assign light_text = section.settings.light-text
assign section_height = section.settings.section-height
assign sub_heading = section.settings.sub-heading | escape
assign thumbnail = section.settings.image
assign video_url = section.settings.video-url
if video_url.id
assign video_id = video_url.id
else
assign video_id = '_9VUPq3SxOc'
endif
assign cover_link = false
if button_text == blank and button_url != blank
assign cover_link = true
endif
assign button_type = 'button'
if light_text
assign button_type = 'inverted-secondary-button'
endif
-%}
Thank you for any help at all.

Answer 1

Metafields are pretty simple, and very useful. First off, you can set them in the Admin. Create one with a description.
Note the concept of my_fields is really dumb, instead, think of it as "context", the "what am I in all this". So you might use a namespace here, like "product_videos". Hence, at this point, think of it as a box named, with whatever is inside the box, still a mystery!
product.metafields.product_videos
Or your company name. Or your cat's name. Or whatever turns your crank. my_fields is just generic filler. Means nothing.
Once you get over that hump, that you've now got a namespace, you can actually get down to the nitty-gritty. Anything of value to you is likely to be a string here, a string representing a video. So you want to make the type of the Metafield to be text. A string of text.
To be of much use, you need a key. You want to grab onto the key! So if a product has a special movie, let the key guide you right to it! The key is going to be something brilliant like; video_id! So now you have a product, with a Metafield resource, in your namespace, product_videos, with a key! Namely video_id. And you can then go to that product in your Shopify Admin, and at the bottom of the details page, fill in the answer to the question of video_id. Give it some info. Where to find the video. What it is called. Anything useful to you.
Now in your theme, just reference {{ product.metafields.product_videos.video_id }} when you need it.