Weird issue with a custom field yes/no

[jkirsner]

Hello,

We have a custom field that is a yes/no select that we would like to be able to toggle between yes and no en masse using the import functionality. This has worked fantastically for the past 3 months when we have been only marking people as the Yes option: import works perfectly. However, when trying to mark contacts No, it completely ignores the import and keeps the contacts marked as yes. Does anyone have any solutions?

Thanks!
-Jessica

[petednz]

hi jessica - until some better suggestions come along the following might be worth trying

import a small test of new contacts, some with the Yes label, some with the 'yes' value (is this yes, y, 1 or something else - you can check by looking at the Field options - if you used standard civi yes/no i expect it would be a 1)
also some contacts with the No label and 'no' value

hope the above makes sense

also provide a bit more detail on your import settings ie is it FILL (which won't overwrite existing data) or UPDATE (which will overwrite)

[jkirsner]

I am using the update setting. I am using the standard Civi Yes/No, which imports/exports them as "Yes" and "No". When I try to import the fields using the "Update" setting, which should overwrite the data, the No will not overwrite the Yes.

[petednz]

have you tried importing using 0 and 1?

[JonGold]

I think Pete's right - using 1 for yes and 0 for no will probably resolve this.

[jkirsner]

I have tried using 0, and the boxes remain marked Yes.

[petednz]

nothing weird but obvious like the field is disabled?

[jkirsner]

Nothing like that, and as I said, it works fine to override either "No" or nothing selected with "Yes": it just won't let me override yes.

[Tiffani Chin]

I was just about to post about the same issue (which just appeared for us yesterday as well!).

We are using the standard civi yes/no in a custom field.

When I import (update), the import is working fine.  The changelog shows the times I import, and I can change any field, including changing yes/no fields from NULL or 0 to 1.  However, if a field is a 1 (yes), and I import a 0, it just ignores that part of the import.

I feel certain that we have done this before (as it is part of our normal workflow), but this may be the first time we've tried since updating (we just updated to 4.4.4 -- any point to jumping to 4.4.5 to try to resolve?).

I was thinking I was crazy again, but maybe not.

TIA for any thoughts.

[Tiffani Chin]

Also, I can't change a null field by importing a 0 either.

So, it seems like an "import 0" problem, rather than a change 1 to 0 problem, in case that matters.

[petednz]

so maybe a change in core means that a 0 is being treated as 'empty' - and empty means it won't update

i will try and catch someone from core on irc and flag

[Tiffani Chin]

petednz -

that makes sense... and i think it's a relatively recent change as our site is usually fairly up to date.

thanks!

[Tiffani Chin]

petendz-

any luck finding anyone with thoughts on this?  should I try to post somewhere else?

i can do a work around... essentially changing our binary system to 1/9 and recoding everything from 1/0 to 1/9, but it seems a little silly.  but, as i don't have the skills to actually fix anything, that may be where i'm headed.

appreciate any suggestions!
-tiffani

[JonGold]

Jessica,

I meant to mention in person today, but - jlacey and I are working on an extension for 4.5 to allow you to replace a value on a single field for all contacts in a found set.

That doesn't fix this bug, but presents a more elegant solution to your needs!

Jon

[Tiffani Chin]

JonGold,

Will you post the extension when you have it done?
I never realized how often I import zeros until it stopped working.

Thanks,
-tiffani