Removing event recurrence info from database

[sean]

Hi. Following up on …how can I manually remove the recurrence info for an event from our database? We have some events that were submitted as “recurring” but I’m unable to change them to single events until this bug is fixed. I’ve tried removing the _EventRecurrence row for the event from the _postmeta table, but that hasn’t produced any changes.

Thanks,
Sean

[Brook]

Howdy Sean!

It looks like this is the past topic you are referring to: https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/recurring-events-bugs-cant-be-changed-to-non-recurring-fields-can-be-blank/

That is a pain. Thanks again for reporting that. It looks like you found a way to prevent new events from having this problem, until a work around is made available. Excellent! So that must mean this topic is referring to old events in your database that were submitted before the work around. Assuming that:

There is no easy way to do what you want. Especially since the input data was malformed. You can not simply remove a post meta. The logic behind modify recurring events to be not recurring is rather complex, and not something that could easily be achieved with database edits. That pretty just leaves some alternate options, none of which are great but at least they are doable:

a) Delete each of those events, then readd them yourself. Drawback is that the user who added them won’t be able to edit these new events.

b) Delete each of those events, then email users asking them to readd them. Obviously a pain as well.

I wish there was a better method, but I’ve put some though into this and I just can’t think of one. Would that work?

Cheers!

– Brook

[sean]

Hi Brook,

Thanks for the quick response. That’s a bummer there isn’t an easy fix. Although the delete method is certainly doable, it definitely would add a lot of work on our end. We’re really hoping that a fix for this can make it into the 3.10 release, as we have a bunch (hundreds) of existing events that need to be corrected.

Thanks,
Sean

[Brook]

You are welcome Sean. Thank you very much for your understanding.

I checked on where the status of those. Your issue is split up into two parts. The problem where folks can submit events with malformed recurrences is slotted for a fic 3.10. Of course, as is the nature of software development you only truly know how complex something is once you’ve completely written all the code in your head, if not on the computer. So, that is why it is not uncommon for deadlines to shift. Point being, if something unexpected happens there is a possibility it won’t make it to 3.10.

The other issue which allows you to convert malformed recurring events to non recurring one’s is slotted as a higher priority for the release after 3.10. I will let the managers know there is continued interest in it, but in fairness so far you are the only one who has seen the problem. I doubt they will be able to slot it higher when we do have some other issues that affect multiple people and need to address those as well. I hate giving bad news, but if I were you I’d like to know what to expect. So there  you have it.

– Brook

[sean]

Appreciate the info Brook. Glad to hear these are on the road map and I completely understand the rational for the second part being slotted a bit lower on the priority ladder.

Thanks again,
Sean

[Brook]

You are quite welcome! – Brook

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