ARSperl Manual - ars

`ars_MergeEntry(ctrl, schema, mergeType, ...)`

Merge an entry into the schema. This routine allows you to arbitrarily alter fields (diary, entry-id, etc) that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to alter. All it requires is permissions to write to the particular field that you wish to alter. The ellipses represent alternating fieldId/fieldValue pairs.

There are three conditions to detect after ars_MergeEntry(...).

A non-null value returned means that a new entry was created.
A null value returned, plus $ars_errstr empty, means that an existing entry was replaced.
A null value returned, plus $ars_errstr non-empty, means there was some error.

Here's some sample code that demonstrates how to evaluate the outcome of this function:

foreach $RPTID (sort keys %RPTEntryList) {
        undef @Report;
        ( @Report = ars_GetEntry($ctrl1, $ISS_RPT_SCHEMA, $RPTID) )
                || arsdie("GetEntry $RPTID");
        if ( $ret = ars_MergeEntry($ctrl2, $ISS_RPT_SCHEMA,
                                   3075, @Report) ) {
                print "$RPTID -> new $ret\n";
        } else {
                arsdie("MergeEntry $RPTID $ret") if $ars_errstr;
                print "$RPTID replaced\n";
        }
}

Note the value "3075" for mergeType. That translates to

           2048: skip field pattern checking
           1024: allow NULL in required fields
         +    3: delete existing entry and create new in its place
         -------
           3075

On success: If a NEW entry was created: returns the entry-id of the merged entry.
If an EXISTING entry was over-written: returns "" and $ars_errstr will be "" (or, more correctly, %ARS::ars_errhash will not contain any FATAL or ERROR messages - but might contains WARNINGs or NOTICEs).
Note that this is how the C API behaves - this isn't something that is unique to ARSperl.
See examples below.
On failure: Returns "" (an empty string) and sets $ars_errstr

Example:

	# note that "4" means "overwrite existing"
	$a = ars_MergeEntry($ctrl, "HD:HelpDesk", 4, 
		   1 , "00000000012345",
		   2 , "FOOBAR");
	if(($a eq "") && ($ars_errstr eq "")) {
		print "entry successfully over-written\n";
	} 
	else {
		print "failed to merge - $ars_errstr\n";
	}


	# note that "2" means "create a new entry"
	$a = ars_MergeEntry($ctrl, "HD:HelpDesk", 2, 
		            2 , "FOOBAR");
	if(($a ne "") && ($ars_errstr eq "")) {
		print "entry successfully created - $a\n";
	} 
	else {
		print "failed to merge - $ars_errstr\n";
	}

Notes

Note: If you try to merge a diary field (to alter existing diary entries) you need to pass the encoded diary to this routine. See ars_EncodeDiary.

mergeType defines how the merge will happen if special field (ie. Entry-Id) already exists:

Code Meaning

1 Generate an error

2 Create a new entry with the new entry id

3 Delete the existing entry and create a new on in its place

4 Update fields specified in the fieldlist in existing entry

1024+num above Allow NULL in required fields (not applicable for Submitter, Status or Short-Description)

2048+num above Skip field pattern checking

Code	Meaning
1	Generate an error
2	Create a new entry with the new entry id
3	Delete the existing entry and create a new on in its place
4	Update fields specified in the fieldlist in existing entry
1024+num above	Allow NULL in required fields (not applicable for Submitter, Status or Short-Description)
2048+num above	Skip field pattern checking

Refer to the Remedy Programmers Manual for further details.

The Object Oriented ARSperl layer tries to be a little easier to use.

ars_MergeEntry was introduced in version 1.46 of ARSperl

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