Storing files with a managed package

Question

I've a managed package, and it needs to read some meta data (mostly list of values for some dropdown lists) from an external API. All lists may come around to ~100KB or so.

I was thinking if I could fetch this at the package installation, and save as a JSON file instead of using custom settings (With the option for users to re-fecth the file later as well). File should be private to the managed package.

1. Is it possible to do this?
2. Assuming yes, Are there any downsides to this approach?

Answer 1

I don't think Salesforce provides any support for such type of sensitive data management within Managed packages.

Answer 2

Your only option here is to use a protected custom setting. This is the only type of metadata that is hidden from subscribers. It might seem like a bit more work than simply storing JSON in a Document or similar file, but if you have a list of options as your data, converting this to a list of custom setting records should not be a considerable amount of work.