Hi,
I want to remove all the questions and response scales from my application and import a new set of defined properties. When I try to delete the current questions or response scales I get the following error:
*This Question cannot be deleted because: *
Can’t delete questions that have answers.
Where can I manage the answers given to these questions? And will it be possible to delete these “old” questions?
@Kimberley, morning! The system makes sure that you won’t have answers linked to the questions that don’t exist anymore. So first you need to clean up answers table and then - delete questions.
@k.molokova Thank you. But the thing is, I can’t find the “answer table”. I have found the response scales, but not the actual answers to the questions. Could you tell me where to find it and how to clean it up?
@Kimberley, you can find Answers table (grid) within Overviews, but this grid doesn’t have the “Delete” button, so you can use a scheduled task to delete Answer records.
First decide which answers are linked to the question(s) you want to delete: go to the Overviews (1) > Answers grid (2) > add a column with id of the linked question (3):
Then make sure you have a process for deleting records: Settings (1) > process action definitions (2) > add a new > choose a process “delete_recordscontrollercomponent” (3) > save and determine params and return values (4) > they must be visible after the determonation:
Then create a scheduled task: Settings > scheduled tasks (1) > add a new > check the scheduling service (2) > set a schedule (3) > go to the process (4):
Inside the process (1) > set a value (process) to the “Delete helper” (delete process) you have just defined (2) > update parameters (3):
Check the process arguments: set which records you want to delete (1) > in my example I wanted to delete answers related to the questions with the id = 3 (2) > set interactive = false (3) > set auto_delete_all_casccades = true (4):
Go back to the scheduled task > click on the “Register” button (1) > as soon as 2 new buttons will appear (“Deregister” and “Run now”) > click on the “Run now” (2):
Check the Anwers grid > the answer records you filtered in the scheduled task must be removed.
Now you can go back to the Questions grid and delete a question with id you used for filtering answers.
If you want to delete all questions > you need to delete all answers where the question is not null. Frequently used expressions (for filtering too) are here:
Expressions: Frequently Used Functions
@k.molokova Thank you for the clear explanation. This fixed it 
@Kimberley, we with @Helena have found one more way to delete answers for question(s) > via exporting/importing answers table:
Export answers table.
Go to this import definition > set “Don’t add new records” = true (2) > go through the field (3) and empty them (BUT keep the GUID field, it is our key value (7)). To empty field > set “Use advanced expression” = true (4) and “Allow null value” = true (5) and advanced target expression = null (6) via the getnull() expression.
Validator will help you with the type that is wanted in the advance target expression field (1). Then remove source field (2).
Create an import record > set mode = import with an embedded definition and attach the file with answers you have just exported. Click import. The anwers will be emptied, and you can remove the question you wanted.
