What is a Bulk Update Action?

The  Bulk Update action updates records in bulk in a table, including saving new records. Only records which satisfy the specified filter criteria set on the node will be updated. 

Note: Bulk Update actions will only update records in tables with the Period of Transactional.

 Save vs  Bulk Update 

The key difference between  Bulk Update and  Save is that the Bulk Update action will not update the audit history of records where Audit Manual Changes has been enabled.

To update records and persist the audit history of the record, see 1.09 Save Action Configuration.  

Creating Bulk Update Actions

1. Click the  Bulk Update icon in the toolbar to display any existing tables in the application
   1. Existing tables can be dragged from the Repository onto the canvas, then choose  Bulk Update to create a Bulk Update node
2. Alternatively, drag the  Bulk Update icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
3. In the Create Bulk Update Action window:
   1. Enter a Name
   2. Choose to Allow Audited Table to display tables with Audit Manual Changes enabled in the Table drop down
      1. By default, tables with Audit Manual Changes enabled are not shown in the Table drop down list
   3. Choose the Table from the drop down where the records will be updated
      1. Or click the table icon to display tables in the Repository
   4. Select Create Action

When creating update actions it can be useful to set up confirmation messages that allow users to confirm or cancel the update. See 1.13 Confirmation Message Configuration.

Setting Update Action Filter Criteria

A filter must be set for the Bulk Update action to run. Set this in the Data Retrieval Options section of the   Properties.

1. Choose a Data Range from:
   1. Latest: selects data from the latest recordsets
   2. All: selects data from all recordsets (default)
2. Set the Filter Criteria to specify which records will be selected for deletion. See Filter → Filter Details
   1. Incoming attributes mapped to the Bulk Update node can be referenced in the Data Retrieval Options using the syntax, ConnectorName.AttributeName, e.g. in.MyAttribute

Worked Example

Here's a worked example using the Company Data (available from the Learning Centre).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Company Rejected Companies screen containing three grids of the Companies, Orders and OrderLines data - this screen was created using the Multi-Tile template

Bulk Update Company Employees

In this example, a company is being taken over by another company and we need to update all employees to reflect their new CompanyID.

Actionflow Setup

1. Open the Company Management screen
2. Create an Actionflow on the Run Acquisition button
   1. Name: RunCompanyAcquisition
3. Configure the input connection point to the Companies data on the screen
4. On the Mappings window, ensure Page is selected for What data is being used?
   1. 
5. Map in CompanyID
6. Create   View actions for the Orders and OrderLines data

   1. These should contain filters so only the Orders and OrderLines for the companies with a Status of Rejected are mapped

       Checkpoint

      

      

Bulk Delete Action Setup

1. Create three Bulk Delete Actions for deleting from the three tables: Companies, Orders and OrderLines
2. Map the associated ID attribute into the relevant Bulk Delete node
3. Set up filters on each node in the Data Retrieval Options section to ensure only records associated with a rejected company are updated

Testing

1. Return to the Company Rejected Companies screen
2. Press Bulk Delete button
3. Refresh the data in each grid to see the results