is it possible to import a saved search object with the actual field detail instead of the generated XML that includes the encoding for the definition

Nope.

that's what I was afraid of. Thanks for confirming.

Thanks @michoel, I had found that as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't let you directly edit the metadata. Hopefully, in a future release it will.

I mean, you could edit the metadata then just re-encode it for the SDF xml file, no?

Not recommended by netsuite and I suspect they must hash the original definition and block edits, never tried though

I haven't looked at in a while, but I recall they did not protect the input from change. I don't like editing the SDF XML at all if I can help it, but if you have no other choice it's what you do.

If you're curious about viewing the content, it's Base64-encoded gzip string, I was able to view the content through this tool: https://blog.kostic.dev/posts/tool-to-read-gzip-strings-to-decompress-entity-framework-migration-history-edmx/ To successfully do it, you need capture the string after the last "@" in the string as highlighted in the attached image and paste it in the page. One might be able to modify the suitecloud.config.js file to decode the XML when the "object:import" action is occurring on import and then run an encode when a "project:deploy" is happening. I think I might see if something like that can be done in my spare time.