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I need to add a new required field to Contacts, and the table is already populated with contacts. However, the "New Field" page says: "Unique and/or Required are disabled because the Table already has records. To add a field with Required or Unique settings selected, please clear all records first."

Obviously, I do not want to "clear all records," so what is my alternative? Is there even a "clear all records" option? If so, can I reliably export Contacts, clear the table, add the new required field, update the export to include values for the new field, and then import the contacts back in, keeping all data, relationships, dependencies, links, etc., intact?

Hi There,

Unfortunately there isnt a way to retroactively make a field Required or Unique - This needs to be done the First Time the table is created, or on an empty table with no data. 

While Your suggestion to Export the data, Delete the Rows, and re-import is possible - Its certainly not the route I would recommend you take. A Much Simpler, quicker option would be to simply enforce this field as required using on screen validation to check if the user has entered information into this field.

For example - I have set up a simple Save button, which checks that an onscreen field has a value in it before it allows the user to Save the new record -

Let me know if you would like more clarification on this one. Perhaps we can build something out together.

Regards,

-Ben

Thanks for such a quick response, Ben, and I appreciate your offer to help work on this together! This is a perfect and understandable solution. 

My preference would always be to build constraints into the database, but the ability to build them into the UI through validation  shows the thought that went into the product. 

I have only worked with method:crm for a total of a few hours, and clearly there are a ton of capabilities I will discover as the needs arise. Kudos on the flexibility and configurability! 

Thanks again,

Larry