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I have one object, for example Area. It has two lookup relationships to itself, Parent__c, Child__c. In result I can create record with Parent and Child parameters. I am trying build hierarchy.

And when I delete a record, I want delete all of its children, and children of its children, ad infinitum. Long story short, imitation of Master Detail relationship. Why don't I use Master Detail? Because a Master Detail relationship cannot refer an object to itself.

How can I resolve?

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I've only done this for immediate children (admittedly for separate parent/child SObjects - see Dmitriy's comment), but assume this trigger approach will work:

trigger AreaTrigger on Area__c (before delete) {
    Set<Id> ids = Trigger.oldMap.keySet();
    delete [
            select Id from Area__c
            where Parent__c in :ids
            or Parent__r.Parent__c in :ids
            or Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__c in :ids
            or Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__c in :ids
            or Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__r.Parent__c in :ids
            ]);
}

Only up to 5 levels of parent relationship can be traversed in the above manner, so if you need to support arbitrary depth, a looped solution where multiple queries are done will be needed.

See e.g. A Deeper look at SOQL and Relationship Queries on Force.com for more explanation about relationships (__r values).

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  • 1
    You could also create an Ultimate Parent formula. – Adrian Larson♦ Jul 9 '16 at 22:28
  • Its bad solution because, triggerrs not allow recursively delete itself records. – Leroy Jul 10 '16 at 9:24
  • @Dmitriy OK. If you have a solution yourself now add it - you can accept your own answer - or if not someone else will hopefully answer. – Keith C Jul 10 '16 at 9:27
  • Wow that's rude...and doesn't even seem like a valid objection. – Adrian Larson♦ Jul 10 '16 at 14:01
  • @Dmitriy You can write the delete code in a separate class which will be called multiple times as the trigger delete each child records – maniac coder Jul 10 '16 at 18:35

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