Why are objects not removed when importing from csv in Assets?

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

I'm updating objects from a csv file.

In my import config I have:

Missing objects = Remove

However, when I run the import it doesn't remove any of the objects I've removed from the csv file. Those objects are kept in Assets and import status says:

Missing objects deleted = 0

Am I missing something?

I've tried deleting the import completely and created it again from scratch, with same result.

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Marc -Devoteam- @Valerie Knapp 

I continued my work trying to get the import to work properly.

This included copying the object type, all the objects and triple-checking that the configs were identical. I found it working in the copy, but not in the original object type..

Finally, I managed to get it working; objects are now deleted as expected when removed from the csv file.

I suspect something in the specific object type was acting up and preventing the correct behaviour. But I honestly can't say how I fixed it or that I've gotten any wiser :D

[Marc -Devoteam-]

HI @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom 

Nice.

I hope my guidance provided som help.

[Valerie Knapp]

Hmmm, let me try again too and see if maybe it was some kind of temporary issue.

Glad it working now, @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom !

Cheers, as always, to @Marc -Devoteam- !

[Shalini Pradhan]

Hello @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom ,

Good day! Please share us your cloud URL so that we can go ahead and create a support ticket with the respective team to look into it.

Thank you

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Shalini Pradhan 

The issue for me was resolved and I got the csv file import to work eventually (with a new object type), but can't really put my finger on what the root cause actually was.

[Shalini Pradhan]

@Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom 

Thank you for updating :)

You can reach out to Atlassian cloud support incase issue resurfaces.

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Not in thread

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Marc -Devoteam- 

"First when setting the Missing Object option to Remove, you need to set a threshold."

Yes, I did that too. Also set it to 1 and running it 3 times actually, but still no objects were removed.

"Then when editing your CSV, you need to then edit your import and re-add the CSV file (even if it has the same name)"

Yes, for every csv file edit, I re-uploaded the file before importing. No effect either.

I did all this before submitting my question here. Still haven't managed to find out why it's not working for me.

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Hi @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom 

What is the type of the objects, are the simple attributes of the object or references?

References are not removed, is there a specific object ype mentioned or a object AQL filter used?

But still I think this isn't the point, read carefully and it states IMPORT STRUCTURE, not the CSV file, If you make changes to the import structure all objects are removed that are not in the current import structure.

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Marc -Devoteam- 

Thanks for your answer. Unfortunately, I don't really understand the questions you're asking me:

"What is the type of the objects, are the simple attributes of the object or references?"

The objects I'm trying to update, have Default attributes and one Object reference, like a City linked to a Country. I'm trying to delete a City. It should be pretty simple.

"References are not removed, is there a specific object ype mentioned or a object AQL filter used?"

I don't expect references to be removed. I expect the object itself to be removed. There is no AQL filtering involved.

"But still I think this isn't the point, read carefully and it states IMPORT STRUCTURE, not the CSV file, If you make changes to the import structure all objects are removed that are not in the current import structure."

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you are saying here. I'm not making any changes to the structure. I don't think that what I'm doing is very complex:

1) I maintain a csv file by adding and removing objects in here as needed.

2) I want to run the import of this csv file on a regular basis and make sure the same objects are added or removed in Assets.

I've followed the documentation. But can't get it to work. Do you know how I should do it?

[Valerie Knapp]

Hi @Marc -Devoteam- , I believe how @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom and I read the documentation, we thought if you import a shorter list of objects to a schema, that there is a configuration possible for the import that says,
'Check the list I am importing with the objects already present. Where there are objects in the schema that aren't in my import file, remove / delete the objects.'

I am happy to accept that I am misreading the documentation, but, for me / us it would be helpful to clarify if that isn't what the documentation means, what it does want to say...

https://support.atlassian.com/assets/docs/create-objects-from-data-using-object-type-mapping/

Missing objects - select from:

Remove - remove the objects that aren't found in the current import structure, but were previously created using this import structure. You would use this option to cleanse your data by removing objects that weren’t found in the last import.

Cheers

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Hi @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom and @Valerie Knapp 

This does work, but there are some steps to take.

First when setting the Missing Object option to Remove, you need to set a threshold.

E.g. I have set this to 1 in my test.

Then when editing your CSV, you need to then edit your import and re-add the CSV file (even if it has the same name)

Then run the import again, twice in my case because my threshold was set to 1

The option I removed from the CSV was removed no after importing the file twice.

[Valerie Knapp]

Hi @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom , thanks for your post.

I cannot find any documentation for how to do this.

Your expectation is to import an updated csv file with the objects to be deleted indicated and that the import process would eliminate the objects?

What should work is to import the csv, updating the objects to be flagged for deletion, with a status or label, and then you should be able to filter for the objects to delete and then bulk delete them.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira/kb/how-to-update-the-existing-objects-using-the-csv-import-in-jsm-assets-cloud/ 

Have you been able to delete objects from an import before and it stopped working? or you are asking how to do this?

I think it is unlikely to be possible to delete objects from a csv but I am happy to be wrong if someone has an idea for how to do this.

Best wishes

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Valerie Knapp 

Thanks for your reply.

What I want to do, is to import a csv file where objects have been removed from the file, compared to the last version, which should remove the objects in Assets as well during the import process.

According to documentation,  this should also be the way to do it:

https://support.atlassian.com/assets/docs/create-objects-from-data-using-object-type-mapping/

Missing objects - select from:

Remove - remove the objects that aren't found in the current import structure, but were previously created using this import structure. You would use this option to cleanse your data by removing objects that weren’t found in the last import.

But it's just being ignored and no objects in Assets are deleted, when I run my import. I simply can't find the reason.

It should work automatically without any manual interaction.

[Valerie Knapp]

Hi @Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom , thanks for your feedback. I have tested this in one my instances and I don't see that the objects are being deleted either, even with that configuration.

I exported a list of 65 objects. I removed 3 rows / 3 objects and then when I import, with the configuration of missing to remove the objects, the file is read correctly, in the sense that it sees there are only 62 objects but, as we can see here, no objects are deleted.

Please open a ticket to ask about this, if we are misreading / misunderstanding this documentation - https://support.atlassian.com/contact/ 

I can also tag Atlassian into this post but I think they will reply faster to a ticket.

Best wishes

[Thomas Pedersen Ljungstrom]

Hi @Valerie Knapp 

Thanks - it's the exact same thing that I'm seeing.

I'll report this within my organisation, as I'm not a site admin and not allowed to open tickets.