Delete records

Overview
Syntax
Things to keep in mind
Examples

Note: This task is applicable only to Zoho Creator.

Overview

The delete record deluge task deletes a form's records which meet a given criteria.

The criteria is mandatory.

How to perform batch deletes

Set up a scheduled workflow that runs at regular intervals (for example, every 30 seconds or 1 minute). Each run deletes a fixed batch of records (such as 50,000) and automatically stops once there are no records left to delete.

Syntax

delete from <form_link_name> [<criteria>];

Parameter	Description
<form_link_name>	Link name of the form from which the records will be deleted.
<criteria>	Criteria based on which the records will be deleted.

Things to keep in mind

Deleting a child form's record added as a subform entry from a parent form, will empty that subform entry in the parent form as well, even if the subform field is marked as mandatory.
Deleting a parent form record only delinks the subform fields connected to the parent form record. In order to delete all the linked subform records when a parent form record is deleted, use Delete records task on Delete on validation workflow of the parent form. (Refer Example 4)
Deleting a record in a lookup form will empty the corresponding lookup field's value in the related form, even if the lookup field is marked as mandatory.
If you wish to delete all records in the specified form, use the following script as criteria:
[ID != 0]

It is advisable to fetch all records only when absolutely needed. Fetching all records generates a load resulting in performance issues.

This task can be used in the following events

When a record is Created
On Load	Yes
On Validate	Yes
On Success	Yes
On User input	Yes
Subform on add row	Yes
Subform on delete row	Yes
When a record is Created or Edited
On Load	Yes
On Validate	Yes
On Success	Yes
On User input	Yes
Subform on add row	Yes
Subform on delete row	Yes
When a record is Edited
On Load	Yes
On Validate	Yes
On Success	Yes
On User input	Yes
Subform on add row	Yes
Subform on delete row	Yes
When a record is Deleted
On Validate	Yes
On Success	Yes
Other workflow events
On a scheduled date	Yes
During approval process	Yes
During payment process	Yes
In a Custom Function	Yes
In an Action item in report	Yes

Examples

The following script deletes all records with "Status" field value as "Resigned".
```
 delete from Employees[Status == "Resigned"];	
```

The following script deletes all records of members who are above 65 years of age.

 delete from Employee[DOB <= zoho.currentDate.subYear(65)];
 //subYear is a which subtracts given number of years, which in this case is 65.
 //zoho.currentDate is a which holds current(today) date value.

The following script deletes all records which have null value for "Name" field.
```
delete from Employee[Name == null];  
```
The following script deletes all suform records linked to the current parent form record.
Note: Write this script in On Delete On Validate workflow event of parent form to delete all the linked subform records whenever a parent form record is deleted.
```
 subforms_ids = parentForm_linkname[ID == input.ID].subForm_fieldname; 
 for each sub in subforms_ids 
 { 
 delete from subForm_linkname[ID == sub]; 
 } 
```