ServiceNow Glide Record deleteRecord vs deleteMultiple method

[Amit Gujarathi]

Hi All,

Hope you are doing great.

In this article I will try to answer the most commonly asked question which is when and what should be used deleteRecord or deleteMultiple.

deleteRecord() and deleteMultiple

• These two method are for the deletion of one or more records from database.
• you should always make one thing clear in  mind that deletion of records in ServiceNow should be always be a rare scenario where deactivation is not an option.
• Wherever deactivation is option you should go for the same.
• Non of this function ask for any arguments as both of the record acts on the GlideRecord object.
• deleteRecord deletes single record wehereas deleteMultiple delete all the records for the passed query
• You should not use deleteMultiple when your table contains currency field instead you should loop through the records one by one to support deleteRecord(). 

Performance:

• The difference is mainly in performance.

• This has to do with the underlying SQL operations.

• In SQL, when you want to change a record (including delete operations), the database does some commit checks on every record you make. If you run the operation on multiple records in a sequence, SQL will perform the same commit check but save time only once.

  So if you need to delete 5-10 records, it doesn't matter, if you need to delete 20000 records, deleteMultiple can save you a lot of time.

deleteRecord() vs deleteMultiple()

Entity	deleteRecord()	deleteMultiple()
Part of API	Gliderecord	GlideRecord
Arguments	No	No
Supports	One record	Multiple record matching passed query
ddot walking support	Yes	No
Exclude criteria	NA	If table contains currency
prior calls to setWorkflow()	No	Yes
Returns	Flag that indicates whether the record was successfully deleted. Possible values: true: Record was deleted. false: No record was found to delete.	Method does not return a value

Examples

deleteMultiple()

function deleteIncidents() {
var callerSysId = '<user sys id>'
  var gr = new GlideRecord('sc_cart_item');
  gr .addQuery('caller_id', callerSysId );
  gr .query();
  gr .deleteMultiple();
}

deleteRecord()

var rec = new GlideRecord('incident');
rec.addQuery('active',false);
rec.query();
while (rec.next()) { 
 gs.print('Inactive incident ' + rec.number + ' deleted');
 rec.deleteRecord();
}

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Regards,

Amit Gujarathi

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[Daniel Oderbolz]

Dear @Amit Gujarathi 
Thanks a lot for this valuable article. It's great that you mention the limitiation about Currency Field for deleteMultiple.

The performance difference has little to do with the database, it has to do with the architecture of ServiceNow.

The Loop you use when using deleteRecord Runs far away from the database (in a Java program that runs a Rhino instance, so at least two layers aboe the DB).

The checks you mention are also run there (if they are Business Rules).

So if you want to have a fast deletion (and you can "afford" integrity issues), you may turn off these checks by

// Turn off Business Rules 
rec.setWorkflow(false);
// Turn off Data Policies
rec.setUseEngines(false);

Best
Daniel

[gustavo_and]

Hi @Daniel Oderbolz @Amit Gujarathi,

Could you explain why there is a limitation with the deleteMultiple() method on records with currency fields?

I have a use case where the client wants to delete some of data in the CMDB since the data accuracy is questionnable and they want to start new processes with a clean CMDB.

I have tested deleting with a script initiating the cmdb_ci table and adding the encoded query corresponding what the client wants and then used deleteMultiple() method and there seems to be no issues. I may have missed something?

Can you please advise?

Thanks so much,

Gustavo

[BalaK5]

Hi @gustavo_and 

• Currency fields in ServiceNow are complex and involve multiple related fields, such as the base currency, conversion rates, and potentially numerous currency amounts. deleteMultiple() does not handle the intricacies of these fields properly.
• If there are any triggers, business rules, or logic that depend on the currency conversion or specific fields related to currency, deleteMultiple() might bypass these, leading to potential data integrity issues.