Will deleting values from enumeration type affect any current work item use this enumeration value?

Mohamed Abdel Hafeez (1●4) | asked Apr 20 '15, 12:22 a.m.

Hi,

I have attributes that uses enumeration values, and I need to shorten the list of enumeration values available for user. but I'm not sure if there are work items already using this enumeration values that I'm going to delete. Will this current work items affected if I delete this enumeration values that is used by them?
or it is OK to delete the values from the enumeration list?

Thank you.

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Don Yang (7.3k●21●94●128) | answered Apr 20 '15, 2:25 a.m.

If you delete the enumeration value(s) which the users are using, when open the affected workitems or the query which will show the value in the affected values, you will see the value field showing the literal id instead of value. In Workitem, the user will see the [red x]attaching to the enumeration field if the type is enumeration(Not enumeration list). The user needs to manually choose a new value(for Enumeration type) or delete the literal id and select a new value(Enumeration List). In either situation, the more impact to the end users if that the literal id value could confuse them if they see the unexpected literal id value due to the deletion.

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Mohamed Abdel Hafeez commented Apr 20 '15, 2:59 a.m.

Thank you Don Yang. I found a better option to "Archive" the value need to hide from the list. this will not show it again in the list and avoid showing literal id. it instead shows the same value but say that it is not applicable so give me option to select a new value for it. So this is better than removing it.

Thank you again.

Don Yang commented Apr 20 '15, 3:13 a.m. | edited Apr 20 '15, 3:14 a.m.

You are right, Archive the value can be a better option for the end users as the impact to them is that they may not really notice the backend change you have made. From business of view, as the value is no longer valid, you would expect the users to manually change the value. For those users who only have the new value list(for selection), when they view the workitems with the archived value, they may feel confused where the value is from if they don't know the history. Sometimes it is a dilemma. But if that is suitable option for your scenario, that's good to know. I think there is reason the tool provides both "delete" and "archive" options for different use cases.

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Will deleting values from enumeration type affect any current work item use this enumeration value?

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