Removing and restoring a field

A conversation field is never deleted, because the values already written in chats still name it. It is removed, and it can be brought back at any time.

What removing does

In the field's menu (…) choose Remove. Talemo first asks "Remove the field …?" and explains:

• Messages stops showing the field: in About the conversation, in the filter and in the export.
• Nobody fills it in any more, neither the online admin nor the team.
• What is already written in it stays. Bring back returns the field together with those values.

Removed fields are listed under Removed, with the date of removal.

What stays the same

• A removed field keeps its key. A new field cannot take the same key.
• A removed field cannot be changed and cannot get new values. To fill it in or edit it, bring it back first.
• Removing a field changes no chat and no client data. The values stay where they were written.

A field that a step asks for cannot be removed

If a step of the conversation script writes its answer into the field, the field cannot be removed. Talemo names the step: "Step 2 of the chat asks for this field. Take it out of the step first." The check covers the script of the whole business and the own scripts of branches (see Conversation script and Script of a branch).

In the other direction, a script cannot be saved with a step that points to a removed field. The step shows "removed" next to the field, and saving is refused with "Step N writes into a field that isn't there anymore. Choose another field for it."

Bringing a field back

Bring back in the Removed list puts the field on its former place with its options and values. Restoring a field that is already live changes nothing.

Who can do it

Removing and restoring change the business's setup, so they belong to a role that covers the whole business. A tool call can ask for a dry run first, which shows the result without changing anything.

Related

• Conversation fields
• Value of a field in a conversation

Tools and refusals

• talemo_remove_conversation_field removes a field: no new values, the ones set stay, but it leaves the list, the filters and the export. A field a step of the conversation script asks for is refused with status 409, code conversation_field.in_script, params.step (from 1) and, for a script of a branch, params.branch_id: take the step out of the script first. Ask the person before you remove a field.
• talemo_restore_conversation_field returns a removed field with its values, to its old place. A removed field takes no new values: setting one is refused with conversation_field.retired.