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GeoffBarrenger's avatar
GeoffBarrenger
Qrew Trainee
4 years ago

Clear out all Data in a Field - without deleting the field itself

Hello,

I feel as though I'm overlooking something very simple here.

Is there any way to clear out all data in a specific field, without deleting the field itself?  Or even better - clear out all data in a specific field - if certain parameters are met?

Example:
I'm keeping track of the status of images in another system ( available / unavailable, etc ).  If an image is unpublished, it is generally moved out of the library, and that status in QB should be null.  Unfortunately, the library can only report on what's in it - not what's NOT in it.  So how do we wipe out all of the other data? 

I do not want to do this every week - most of the time, just loading new published dates is OK, but once a month or so - I'd like to wipe the "Publish Status" and start from scratch.  A full report every week is too time consuming and the difference is more efficient.

Any ideas?



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Geoff Barrenger
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Tables and fields

4 Replies

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  • AndrewNelson's avatar
    AndrewNelson
    Qrew Cadet
    4 years ago
    I find that the easiest way to handle this sort of thing is to just export the table as a CSV (including the Record ID) and then add a blank column in Excel and re-import it.

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    Andrew Nelson
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    • GeoffBarrenger's avatar
      GeoffBarrenger
      Qrew Trainee
      4 years ago
      I appreciate this cheap and cheerful suggestion! It works - not ideal once our image count goes up but works as expected.  I think eventually I will just move this to another table and do a table to table lookup as Mike and Mark have suggested - i can keep the publish data in a separate table and just wipe the table out monthly.  Thanks all for the great suggestions.

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      Geoff Barrenger
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  • MichaelTamoush's avatar
    MichaelTamoush
    Qrew Captain
    4 years ago
    Can you make a formula field with the parameters?

    If([My Field] = true, [My Field], "")

    This creates a mirrored field that is either blank or filled in depending on your parameters. Then every day or week or month run a table to table import overwriting that My field with the mirrored field.

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    Mike Tamoush
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    • MarkShnier__You's avatar
      MarkShnier__You
      Qrew Champion
      4 years ago
      You can make a saved table to table copy to copy the table into itself MERGING on Record ID#, so no new records are created.  Create a dummy formula field call field called [Blank].

      For the mapping, you will map the [Blank] field into the field you want cleared out.

      Then you can either run the save T2T manually if you are the admin, or else make a formula URL button to run the API_RunImport.

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      Mark Shnier (YQC)
      Quick Base Solution Provider
      Your Quick Base Coach
      http://QuickBaseCoach.com
      mark.shnier@gmail.com
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