Perform Bulk Delete

The following code example demonstrates how to delete bulk data from the Microsoft CRM 3.0 database. If you need to delete a very large amount of data, bulk delete may require a long period of time to complete. The main reason for that is cascading, which is triggered by the delete operation. If the entity instance that you are deleting has a system or parental relationship with other entity instances, the parent and all its children entity instances are deleted according to the cascading rules.

[C#]

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using DeleteAllCompetitors.CrmSdk;

namespace DeleteAllCompetitors
{
    class BulkDelete
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Set up the CRM Service.
            CrmService service = new CrmService();
            service.Credentials = 
                System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

            try
            {
                // Create the ColumnSet that indicates the fields to be retrieved.
                ColumnSet cols = new ColumnSet();

                // Set the properties of the ColumnSet.
                cols.Attributes = new string[] { "competitorid" };

                // Create the ConditionExpression.
                ConditionExpression condition = new ConditionExpression();

                // Create the query expression.
                QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression();

                // Set the query to retrieve accounts.
                query.EntityName = EntityName.competitor.ToString();

                // Create the request object.
                RetrieveMultipleRequest retrieve = new RetrieveMultipleRequest();

                // Set the properties of the request object.
                retrieve.Query = query;

                // Execute the request.
                RetrieveMultipleResponse retrieved = 
                    (RetrieveMultipleResponse)service.Execute(retrieve);
                BusinessEntityCollection competitors = 
                    retrieved.BusinessEntityCollection;

                for (int i = 0; i < competitors.BusinessEntities.Length; i++)
                {
                    competitor entity = (competitor)competitors.BusinessEntities[i];

                    // The EntityName indicates the EntityType 
                    // of the object being deleted.
                    service.Delete(EntityName.competitor.ToString(), 
                                   entity.competitorid.Value);

                }
            }  
            catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message + "." + ex.Detail.InnerText);
            }
        }
    }
}

[Visual Basic .NET]

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Text
Imports BulkDelete_VB.CrmSdk

Namespace DeleteAllCompetitors
    Class BulkDelete
        Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
            ' Set up the CRM Service.
            Dim service As New CrmService()
            service.Credentials = _
                System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

            Try
                ' Create the ColumnSet that indicates 
                ' the fields to be retrieved.
                Dim cols As New ColumnSet()

                ' Set the properties of the ColumnSet.
                cols.Attributes = New String() {"competitorid"}

                ' Create the ConditionExpression.
                Dim condition As New ConditionExpression()

                ' Create the query expression.
                Dim query As New QueryExpression()

                ' Set the query to retrieve accounts.
                query.EntityName = EntityName.competitor.ToString()

                ' Create the request object.
                Dim retrieve As New RetrieveMultipleRequest()

                ' Set the properties of the request object.
                retrieve.Query = query

                ' Execute the request.
                Dim retrieved As RetrieveMultipleResponse = _
                    DirectCast(service.Execute(retrieve), _
                               RetrieveMultipleResponse)
                Dim competitors As BusinessEntityCollection = _
                    retrieved.BusinessEntityCollection
                For i As Integer = 0 To competitors.BusinessEntities.Length - 1

                    Dim entity As competitor = _
                        DirectCast(competitors.BusinessEntities(i), competitor)

                    ' The EntityName indicates the EntityType 
                    ' of the object being deleted.
                    service.Delete(EntityName.competitor.ToString(), _
                                   entity.competitorid.Value)
                Next
            Catch ex As System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message + "." + ex.Detail.InnerText)
            End Try
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

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