Delete Tab, Archive Request Editor

Use this tab to specify a Control File name and parameters for deleting archived data.

Note: If you select Defer Delete after Archive on the General tab, the Delete tab is not shown.
Archive Request Editor with Delete as the active tab. The elements of the Delete tab are described as follows.

Control File

Enter the name of a Control File. During the process, this file is used to track the deletion process and record the success or failure for each row in the Archive File. Control Files have a .cf extension by default. If you do not specify a path for the Control File, the process uses the drive and directory defined in Personal Options as the default Data Directory. Refer to the Common Elements Manual .

If you specify the name of a Control File that already exists, a dialog prompts you to confirm that you want to overwrite the file when you run the Archive Request. Use a Personal Option to disable this feature.

Note: You can browse the contents of an Archive File or Control File by clicking Utilities > Browse from the menu or by right‑clicking and clicking Browse in the shortcut menu. See the Common Elements Manual for details on the Browse Utility.

Delete Options

Lock Tables
Select this check box to lock database tables during processing. A table is locked until all rows for that table in the Archive File are processed. Lock tables to ensure that the other database activity does not interfere with the Delete Process. Locking, however, prevents other users from accessing tables involved in the Delete Process. If a site option prevents you from locking tables, this option is disabled.
Compare Row Contents
Select this check box to compare rows of data in the Archive File with rows in the database prior to deletion. Rows are deleted from the database that exactly match rows in the Archive File, and rows that do not exactly match are discarded and noted in the Control File. If you clear this check box, the row comparison is not performed, and rows can be deleted from the database that do not exactly match rows in the Archive File. (This check box is selected by default.)
Include LOB columns in row comparison
This option is available only if Compare Row Contents is selected. Select this check box to include LOB columns in the row comparison. Clear this check box to exclude LOB columns from the row comparison. (This check box is selected by default.)
Note: Clearing these check boxes may improve performance significantly; however, you risk losing any updates to the data in the database since the Archive was performed. Also, you will not receive any warning messages (for example, a warning of a “not found” condition if a row in the Archive File does not exist in the DBMS).
Commit Frequency
Number of rows to delete before committing the changes to the database. Frequent commits keep locking to a minimum, but may slow the process. If the process ends abnormally, click Utilities > Restart/Retry from the menu to resume processing from the last commit point. The Commit Frequency is a number from 1 to the maximum limit specified in Product Options. To use the maximum Product Options limit, clear this box.
Generate Statistical Report
Select this check box to include statistical information for the Delete Process in the Archive Process Report. (For details, see Statistical Information.)
Note: Statistical information may indicate whether you can improve performance by overriding the default method (scan or key lookup) of accessing a table. (For details, see Table Access Strategy.)
Discard Row Limit
Enter the number of rows that can be discarded while deleting rows during an Archive Process. The process stops after the specified number is reached and all rows in the array are processed. To allow an unlimited number of rows to be discarded, specify zero (0) or leave blank.
Note: Discard Row Limit is an approximate value due to array processing for the Delete Process. For example, assume the discard limit is set to 50 and the array supports 200 rows for a given table. If the first 50 rows fail, the DBMS continues to process the other 150 rows in the array, before evaluating the discard limit. (The number of rows that can be deleted in one call to the DBMS depends on the size of the row.)
Database Connections
Increase the number of concurrent database connections for the Archive Process. Increasing database connections improves performance by allowing multiple threads to archive rows concurrently.

To increase the maximum number of connections, select an even number from 2 to the site maximum as specified on the Product Options dialog.

Notes:
  • Option is available only if Maximum Database Connections on the Database tab of Product Options is 2 or greater. (Refer to the Common Elements Manual.)
  • You can select only an even number of database connections.