Unable to delete Structure Group in Tridion 2009

Question

This is a repeat of a question in the (restricted) Tridion Forum about the inability to delete a structure group. However, since it didn't get a proper answer or solution by the person reporting the question I am re-asking it here.

I am stuck with a structure group, which I can't delete either. It is not localized, only blueprinted to one other Publication and does not have any pages in it. The contents have been migrated from a presentation environment, perhaps an old target stuck somewhere?

Deleting it directly in the database is not an option. Any other solutions?

Lavinialavinie

"Unable to delete Structure Group, This item is in use." – Lavinialavinie

What do you see in the list of WhereUsed items on this structure group? – Unprincipled

It's empty, so it's not the stuck-in-an-old version issue that sometimes happens. – Lavinialavinie

Are you sure you are not trying to delete root structure group? And that you child structure group is not localized? – Raymonraymond

100% sure, the only reason I can think of it giving an issue is that in the DB maybe in the past it had contained pages related to a no longer existing publishing target. But there are no longer pages in it. And as far as I know Organization Items like SG's are not publishable by themselves, so won't end up in some publish table. – Lavinialavinie

Answer 1

We came across similar issues at a customer. Our initial analysis was to examine the stored procedures that do the delete, and to see what constraints were enforced. On examining the data, we could see records that would not show up in the user interface, but which would prevent the deletion.

We raised a ticket with SDL Tridion customer support, and were able to agree with them which records should be modified in the database.

So that's the take-away from this: you aren't allowed to modify the database, but SDL Tridion customer support can sanction it, but only once they have checked that the changes are correct and necessary. Obviously, if you were to attempt to do such things without the co-operation of support, you'd end up with an unsupported system.

Calia

I think what we need for this issue to be solved (yes, they are still there) is to find a query or method that can discover orphanages in the Tridion database. It seems there is something hidden still claiming these SG's – Lavinialavinie

Even though the problem isn't solved yet, this is the correct way to fix it. – Lavinialavinie

Answer 2

It is possible you have multimedia components rendered using that Structure Group? This may cause some kind of lock. You might try changing the Set Publish States PowerTool for 2009 to set everything to UnPublished in that pub and see if it helps.

Jedidiah

I am very sure that there aren't any images being published to this folder. Setting the whole publication to unpublish seems a bit harsh at this moment. – Lavinialavinie

So just to be clear - there is nowhere in your code where you use AddBinary() where you specify a SG? I agree setting everything to be unpublished is a bit extreme, but it was not clear if this is in Dev or Prod. Sounds like it must be a Prod System. – Jedidiah

Publishing a binary to a given SG will NOT lock the Structure Group. Not sure if this is good or bad... – Headrail

Answer 3

Brute force: Start a DB trace, try and delete the Structure Group via the GUI, look for the items it is finding when checking for dependencies.

Or

Open a support ticket, send them the DB, let them take a look at it.

Baily

Brute force is NOT an option if you want to keep your support... and believe me, you DO want to keep your support :) – Keele

Edited to clarify Brute Force method would be supported - you're attempting the delete via the GUI, and using the SQL trace to identify the dependencies preventing the delete of the SG. You can then delete / unpublish those dependencies via the GUI. – Baily