Longtime listener, first time caller, finally over my head.

I've set up a self-join relationship, created a portal and scripted to delete dupes, as outlined here for FMP 6.

Yet no records are deleted.

My script:

Go to layout ["de-dupe"(LegacyTest)]

Loop

Loop

Exit loop if [ "Count ( LegacyTest 2::unique ) = 1"]

Go to portal row [select, First]

Delete portal row [No dialog]

End loop

Go to Record/Request/Page [Next; exit after last]

End loop

I'm hopeful that the problem is something that is new in 7 and only I don't know it. Any thoughts?

Check the Portal Setup. Is 'allow deletion of portal records' selected?

Sadly, yes. Wish it were that simple.

In fact, since the odds are that it IS exactly that simple, I'm attaching a sample file.

legacyTest.zip

Edited July 18, 200520 yr by Guest

Try zipping or stuffing it. Then put it in place of the original attachment.

Change your layout to View as Form or List. Portals do not work well on Table layouts. Then remove the quotes surrounding Count(legacyTest 2::unique) = 1, so that you are not testing with text, which will always be false. Then, change your 'unique' field to be a calculation with a text result; as an auto-enter calculation it has no value, until you modify one of the fields it references. Then, remove the 'delete related records' option from BOTH sides of your self-relationship; otherwise, deleting one record deletes all its duplicates as well. Lastly, add a Commit Records step before the Exit Loop If step, so that the record updates Count(legacyTest 2::unique) correctly and does not delete the first record's duplicate and then itself, putting FM into an infinite loop.

I would also add a Freeze Window step to the beginning, and a Go to Record/Request/Page [First] step before entering the first loop.

Thanks! the problem I knew I had was the one having to do with committing the changes, so fixing that got it moving.

The Freeze Window script step seemed to stop it completely, though I may have put it in the wrong place. I don't want to evaluate from the first record forward every time (because it's a slow process with 25K records) so I took those suggestions as extras. The frosting, if you will.

The cake was pretty good--I still have a job!

Freeze Window will not stop the script; it will only keep the window in a constant state so that you do not see it flashing during the loops, which in turn will speed up the process.

I can understand why you would not want to loop through 25K records each time, but you should be able to limit the found count significantly by first performing a find with ! in the Unique field. This will find records where the value in Unique is not unique throughout the table, i.e. an original and its duplicates; any records without duplicates will be ignored.