Trigger After update after insert error message

Question

I am getting an error message when trying to use an after update, after insert trigger, the code exists within another class

Trigger:

trigger Identity_Set_Contact_Name_Text on Identity__c (after insert,after update) {


IdentityTriggerHandler ith = new IdentityTriggerHandler();
ith.setContactSearchFieldText(trigger.new);
}

Class

public void setContactSearchFieldText(list<Identity__c> records)
{

 list<Identity__c> contactIds22= new list<Identity__c>([select id,name,Search_Contact__c ,Contact__r.name,
 Contact__r.phone, Contact__r.Secondary_Phone__c,Last_4_digits_of_Identity__c, Last_4_digits_of_Phone__c,
 Last_4_digits_of_Secondary_Phone__c
  from Identity__c where id in: records ]);
   list<Identity__c> idttupins= new list<Identity__c>();                                                                   

  for(Identity__c idtt : contactIds22)
  {

  if(idtt.name.length()>=4)
  { 
  idtt.Last_4_digits_of_Identity__c=string.valueOf(idtt.name).right(4);
  }

  if(idtt.Contact__r.phone.length()>=4) {
  idtt.Last_4_digits_of_Phone__c=string.valueOf(idtt.Contact__r.phone).right(4);
  }
  if(idtt.Contact__r.Secondary_Phone__c.length()>=4){
  idtt.Last_4_digits_of_Secondary_Phone__c=string.valueOf(idtt.Contact__r.Secondary_Phone__c).right(4);  
  }    
  idtt.Search_Contact__c=string.valueOf(idtt.Contact__r.name);

  idttupins.add(idtt);=
  }

 update idttupins;

}

When update the indentity Record, I get the following error message (see below)

My second question, is it possible to run this trigger before insert/before update, if yes, how can we write the trigger ?

Update failed. First exception on row 0 with id a023C000001D8SgQAK; first error: CANNOT_INSERT_UPDATE_ACTIVATE_ENTITY, Identity_Set_Contact_Name_Text: execution of AfterUpdate caused by: System.DmlException: Update failed. First exception on row 0 with id a023C000001D8SgQAK; first error: CANNOT_INSERT_UPDATE_ACTIVATE_ENTITY, Identity_Set_Contact_Name_Text: maximum trigger depth exceeded Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg] Identity trigger event AfterUpdate for [a023C000001D8Sg]: [] Class.IdentityTriggerHandler.setContactSearchFieldText: line 123, column 1 Trigger.Identity_Set_Contact_Name_Text: line 7, column 1: []

Answer 1

Your code is a typical example of infinite loop in your trigger. In your update trigger code, you updated a list of Identity records - idttupins. This update will fire the trigger again. Then the trigger will update the records again. So it will become a recursive loop here.

There are multiple ways to resolve this. One easy way is to set a static variable.

In your Util class you can have:

public static inIdentityTrigger = false;

And in your trigger code, update it into:

trigger Identity_Set_Contact_Name_Text on Identity__c (after insert,after update) {
  if(Util.inIdentityTrigger) {
    return;
  }

  Util.inIdentityTrigger = true;
  IdentityTriggerHandler ith = new IdentityTriggerHandler();
  ith.setContactSearchFieldText(trigger.new);
}

As Adrian Larson has mentioned that this pattern can be an anti-pattern due to the abuse of Util class. You might want to change it into TriggerUtil or something like that. A even better way can be employing a TriggerHandler framework. But hopefully this give you a direction.

As for the before trigger, usually it could be done. I am not quite sure what your trigger is trying to achieve. So I am not sure. But your issue is not related to after trigger.