How to BLANK an address field...

[alfred_nutile]

If you import contacts whose addresses have changes (so import update) there is a big problem with blanking lines.
For example
Contact X had address Main as
Address field 1 PO Box
Address field 2 Street name
Address field 3 APT 5
But now this Main Address area was update as
Address field 1 Street
Address field 2 and 3 blank cause they moved and the new address does not need these.
But when you import this new address it does not BLANK the other fields.
Almost like the code should consider if blank then blank the related field it was matched to in the imports?

[Dave Greenberg]

Are you using "Update" or "Fill" mode in the import? "Update" should do what you want - "Fill" only "adds data".

[alfred_nutile]

I've tested update on the sandbox and it does not work
http://sandbox.civicrm.org/civicrm/contact/view?reset=1&cid=103
This is the record I tested
I saved the import as a template called "Blanking Address"
And attached is the csv I tested with.
Thanks

[Donald Lobo]

I dont think import knows how to blank out various record lines. I think there is an issue for this.  We'll try to fix this when we work on import in a future release

lobo

[pat.gardner]

My apologies for reviving an otherwise dead topic, but this still seems to be an issue even in the current sandbox. I noticed that the associated bug described in the tracker here doesn't seem to have anything happening with it.

Is there any other related work happening on the import contact process that might be worth looking at if we were interested in having a look into this part of the code?

[Donald Lobo]

no major work is being done on import currently

I think to "force" the reset of an address explicitly, might be easier to pass it as an import option (and then send it all the way down to):

CRM/Core/BAO/Address.php

and basically modify the behavior of the function dataExists

basically depending on your use case in some scenarios, u do want it reset and in others u'll want tor retain the old address. hence the option. contact us on IRC if u'd like more help etc

lobo