Unable to see customised managed package objects in the metadata org browser tab

[az-oolloow]

Summary

If a user has customised an object shipped in Managed Package vscode metadata org browser should let them download that custom object.

Steps To Reproduce:

1. Find a managed package that contains an object
2. Create a sandbox (e.g. dev sandbox off of production)
3. Install the managed package
4. Create a new field in the object in this package (such that the object has a prefix e.g. myprefix__My_Object__c but your NEW field does not (myprefix__My_Object__c.Our_Field__c)
5. Refresh 'custom objects' in metadata org browser in VS Code

Expected result

myprefix__My_Object__c is listed

Actual result

myprefix__My_Object__c is NOT listed

Additional information

Workaround: create the myprefix__My_Object__c folder under objects, add the corresponding xml file (even empty), right-click -> Retrieve source from org.

The fact that the workaround works suggests that there is no API limitation on downloading this data, it's just the SFDX extension chooses not to show it to users.

VS Code Version:
Version: 1.44.2
Commit: ff915844119ce9485abfe8aa9076ec76b5300ddd
Date: 2020-04-16T17:07:18.473Z (1 wk ago)
Electron: 7.1.11
Chrome: 78.0.3904.130
Node.js: 12.8.1
V8: 7.8.279.23-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 19.3.0

SFDX CLI Version: 48.11.0

OS and version: macOS Catalina 10.15.3

[smaddox-sf]

Hi @az-oolloow - The org browser does not display metadata inside of managed packages because that metadata cannot be retrieved (metadata retrieve) by a subscriber. We have an open issue on this - #1998. If you get a chance, please add any other use cases you have to that issue. I'm going to close this one as a duplicate to keep one place to track on this.

[az-oolloow]

@smaddox-sf That's very strange. How was i able to retrieve it then as described in my workaround?