Altering OOTB Choice fields isn't replicated across environments

[RMD211]

Hello!

Hoping someone can advise on a (potential!) bug that I've come across while developing a bespoke CRM system.  When I edit choices in an out-of-the-box choice field, say to remove an option we don't need, when I import the solution into another environment the changes are not transferring over. 

Is this normal??  I can easily create custom choice fields for what I want but this seems a bit silly when an existing field is there that I can edit!

For example:

In development I changed the Preferred Method of Contact field to remove Fax:

But after importing into my Test environment, the same field shows all options (annoyingly with Fax now appearing at the top):

[gulshankhurana]

Hi @RMD211 

When importing solution, if you choose the 'Upgrade Solution' option then this should remove the unwanted choice options.

Kind regards 

Gulshan 

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[RMD211]

Ok thanks! I should have said I'm using a DevOps pipeline for the export/import, is that something I can change in there?

[gulshankhurana]

Hi @RMD211 

I'm not a DevOps expert but I found the following article that may give you some idea (although the article is a bit old now):

https://benediktbergmann.eu/2020/09/20/apply-solution-upgrade-in-pipeline/

If you need further help regarding pipelines then you could post that request in the Power Apps Pro Dev & ISV forum.

Kind regards 

Gulshan

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[gulshankhurana]

Hi @RMD211 

My friend  @parvezghumra who's an ALM champion has suggested the following:

Solution Upgrade = 

1. Either use "Stage and Upgrade" option on the 'Import Solution' task.

2. Alternative use "Import as a holding solution" option on the 'Import Solution' task and then follow it up with a 'Apply Solution Upgrade' task

 i hope this information helps. Please give it a Thumbs Up if you appreciate my efforts and accept it as a solution if it helps with your query. Remember: you can mark more then one replies as solutions.

Kind regards 

Gulshan

[parvezghumra · Accepted solution]

@RMD211 Changes to an out of the box Choice column via a managed solution install (whether upgrade or update) are additive only unless the choice value you are removing is one of your own custom ones. You cannot delete a standard choice value from an out of the box Choice column. I think this is by design because otherwise it can cause data loss and can compromise data integrity (ie. if the target environment has records which use the choice value that is deleted)

My recommendation would to either use a custom Choice/Lookup column depending on your requirements instead. 

If you decide to persevere using the Out of the Box column, other semi workarounds you can consider are hiding the non-desired options using JavaScript on the form, if appropriate (only applicable to Model Driven Apps), and do similar for any Power Pages sites that use the column (if appropriate). Or prevent the selection of these options on the server side via a real-time workflow or synchronous plugin etc. Again, these are all sub-optimal workarounds and may not be applicable for your exact use case and requirements.

[RMD211]

Thank you for confirming! This makes sense, as I believe the Pipeline should by default Upgrade a solution as oppose to Update it.

[mjburley]

I've had this problem pop up twice recently, but both with custom choice fields, but exactly the behaviour you describe.

The only way I found to delete one of the options is to create an unmanaged solution in prod (using the default solution should work too), add in that one choice column, and then delete the unwanted choice.

Then you can delete this unmanaged solution.

Important, now you need to go back into the managed solution, find that column, and look at the solution layers. There will be an unmanaged layer over the managed. Delete this unmanaged layer and hey presto, all is as you want.

If the choice label is in use in existing records, it's best to migrate those (bulk edit) to something else first or they will be orphaned from a  choice.

This will only work in environments where the Allow Unmanaged Layers feature is on in PP admin.

You can argue this is not best practice, but it works.

I have seen ISVs simply alter the choice label field to e.g. "Fax - DO NOT USE"; is that best practice ?