Logical Deletes

[Jalz]

Guys,

Almost finished building a system in 8, and was thinking about this. At present my users can add delete, duplicate records within my system. In the past I've has users that have deleted records and then wanted tghem back, and FileMaker tends to do physical deletes.

I am therefore considering incorporating a logical delete function in my solution, where I will add a delete flag to each table, and if the value is true, the user wont have access to that record (using privileges).

Just want to hear if any of you guys have used this kind of method for deletion or would like to suggest an alternative method for retrieving "deleted records".

Edited July 3, 2006 by Guest

[Razumovsky]

I would prefer to do this outside of privileges. You could add a 'Delete' text field (formatted, say, as a checkbox with 1) and a stored calc field cID which you would use as your key for relationships. cID would be:

case(Delete; ""; ID)

Now, when you marked the Delete box, the record would dissapear from the relational web, but could be viewed through a portal that was an all to all (X) relationship IDXDelete where it could be restored by merely unchecking the box.

You would of course have to account for this by scripting your find and show all records commands to add an Omit Delete request.

Alternatively, you could have a delete action import the record into a separate Deleted table.

I am sure other people will have some suggestions as well.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Guest
stored...

[Ender]

I use such a Delete flag in a couple of tables in my solution. Works great.

I'd stay away from the separate Delete table. It adds complexity and creates a situation where records could be gone for good if the import fails.