Kaizen #117 - Mass Delete Records Across Modules (Part I)

Kaizen #117 - Mass Delete Records Across Modules (Part I)

Season's greetings to our coding enthusiasts! 

Let us code our way into the festive spirit with another insightful post in our Kaizen series!

In this post, we will explore the process of creating a custom button using functions on the records' detail page. This enables the deletion of all associated child records when the current record is deleted. To fulfill this requirement, we will leverage APIs like COQL API, Records API, and Mass Delete API.

Currently, Zoho CRM provides the delete action exclusively for a specific related list modules when the parent record is deleted. Here are the specifics of ZOHO CRM's default support for deleting related list modules:

Record Module
Related List Module
Leads
Activities, Visits and Email Drafts
ContactsActivities, Visits, Appointments and Email Drafts
Accounts
Activities, Contacts, Deals, Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices, Cases, Appointments and Email Drafts
Deals
Activities, Cases, Competitors and Email Drafts
Campaigns
Activities, Email Drafts and Child Campaigns 
Cases
Activities and Email Drafts
Products
Activities, Solutions, Cases and Email Drafts
Vendors
Activities and Email Drafts
Quotes
Activities and Email Drafts
Sales Orders
Activities and Email Drafts
Purchase Orders
Activities and Email Drafts
Invoices
Activities and Email Drafts
Services
Appointments and Email Drafts
Custom
Activities and Email Drafts

Perform Mass Delete Across Modules

Assume that you are the Manager of Zylker, an educational institution utilizing ZOHO CRM for customer relationship management. You have implemented custom modules, namely Training Program and Participants in your organization. 

Now, you aim to streamline record management by creating a custom button on the Training Program module's records detail page. On triggering, this button should delete all associated participants of a specific program along with the program itself. 

Let us guide you through the step-by-step process of fulfilling this requirement using ZOHO CRM functions.

Prerequisites

Achieving this requirement is versatile, applicable to both records with a single child module as well as records with multiple child modules. 

A lookup field serves to establish a connection between two modules, designating the module where the lookup field is employed as the child module. The module that the lookup field points to is referred to as the parent module.

To keep it simple, let us consider Participants as the child module with a lookup relationship to the Training Program parent module. 

The knowledge of COQL, Records and Mass Delete Records APIs, Deluge Script and ZOHO CRM Functions ensure effective execution of our outlined process.

Creating a Custom Button

Step 1: Begin by navigating to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Training Program > Links and Buttons > New Button within your ZOHO CRM interface.

Step 2: Provide a name and description for the button. Next, select the Details Page as the designated location for the button from the drop-down menu.



Refer to this document to learn more on creating and using custom buttons.

Step 3: Configure the button's action by selecting Writing Function from the menu.



Step 4: Fill in the basic details for creating a new function. 

Step 5: After clicking the create button, you will be directed to an editor interface, as depicted in this image.



You have to code your function logic in this editor and click the Save button on the top right corner. 

For the scenario discussed, we have attached the function code in a zip file with this post. Download and explore the code to gain hands-on experience in this use case. 

Step 6: Next, you will be redirected to the Links and Buttons page, where you need to configure the visibility of the button based on profiles. Afterward, click on the Save button to confirm your settings.


Flow of the function

The function should initially make a COQL API call to retrieve the participant records that correspond to the record ID of the training program from which the button is triggered. This API can fetch up to 2000 related child records in a single API call.

queryMap = Map();
queryMap.put("select_query","select id from Participants where Training_Program =" + id + "Limit 2000");
response = invokeurl
[
type :POST
parameters:queryMap.toString()
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];

Here, connections are used to make ZOHO CRM API calls. To get the current record ID, you have to configure it in function arguments. 

Click Edit Arguments from the top of the page and associate the Training Program ID as shown in this image. 



Before proceeding to the next step, it's crucial to be aware of the following constraints associated with the APIs:
  • COQL API: It can retrieve a maximum of 2000 records per API call.
  • Delete Records API: It has the capability to delete up to 100 records in a single API call.
  • Mass Delete Records API: By utilizing record IDs, it can delete a maximum of 500 records per API call.
Given these constraints, the following logic has been devised to address our specified requirement:

--->  If the participant count is 0, the system should proceed to delete the current record exclusively. 
--->  Incases where the record count is below 100, the Delete Record API must be employed to eliminate records from the Participants module.
--->  If the participant count exceeds 100, the Mass Delete Records API should be used for deleting records within the child module. For scenarios where more than 500 records need deletion, it is necessary to execute this in a loop for four iterations with each deleting 500 records.

Let us execute this logic in Deluge script,

if(!isNull(response))
{
response = response.toMap();
count = response.getJSON("info").get("count").toNumber();
has_more = response.getJSON("info").get("more_records");
id_list = List();
itr_list = {0,1,2,3};
response = response.getJSON("data");
result = List();
if(count > 0)
{
for each  item in response
{
id_list.add(item.getJSON("id"));
}
if(count > 100)
{
end = 0;
start = 0;
for each  itr in itr_list
{
if(count / 500 - itr > 0)
{
idMap = Map();
if(count - end > 500)
{
end = end + 500;
}
else
{
end = count;
}
idMap.put("ids",id_list.subList(start,end));
response = invokeurl
[
type :POST
parameters:idMap.toString()
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
start = end;
}
}
}
else
{
response = invokeurl
[
type :DELETE
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
}
}
}

Now, let us address the scenario of a training program with over 2000 participants. Following the logic outlined above, our custom button will handle the deletion of only 2000 records. 

To manage this, after successfully deleting the initial 2000 records, the record from the Training Program module should not be deleted. Here, we have to configure a pop-up message signaling that additional records require deletion. To proceed, users must click the same button to eliminate the remaining records along with the current one.

After deleting all records from the child modules, the custom button will proceed to remove the current Training Program record, as shown in the following Deluge code.

if(isNull(response) || !has_more)
{
response = invokeurl
[
type :DELETE
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
return "Deleted Successfully";
}
return "Over 2000 related records were detected. Click 'Cascade Delete' again to delete the remaining and this training program. ";

Let us now check our custom button from the details page of the Training Programs module. 



To prevent additional clicks for deleting the remaining records, we will circle back to you on next Friday with a solution that incorporates the looping mechanism. 
 
We have also brought you a wave of innovation and enhanced features in our V6 APIs. Take a look at them and empower your coding journey with us. 

If you have any queries, feel free to drop them in the comments section below or reach out to us directly at support@zohocrm.com. We eagerly await your thoughts and feedback on this!

Cheers to a productive and joyful season!

Additional Reading
ZOHO CRM Functions: An Overview and setting up functions
Deluge Script: Introduction to Deluge
Records API: Delete Records 



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