Run Trigger only when records inserted through dataloader

Question

I want to run the trigger only when the records are inserted through data loader not when records are created through UI or records are created through other trigger.Is there a way to do this

Answer 1

You could add a custom checkbox field which is hidden from the pagelayout.

• This field could be mapped to always insert as "true" with dataloader.
• Make your after insert trigger only execute conditionally on this field to be true.
• Optionally have your trigger set the field to false, or you could keep it as true to see that these records were imported through data loader.

Answer 2

The way we handled this recently was to set a boolean on the records called "From_Import__c" and only set that to true when loading in from the dataloader (in our case it was through Jitterbit ETL)

Answer 3

Through "other trigger" you can do by using a static variable:

public class PreventTrigger {
    public static Boolean forNow = false;
}

trigger A on A (after insert) {
    PreventTrigger.forNow = true;
    // logic to get to B trigger
    insert b;
}

trigger B on B (after insert) {
    if(PreventTrigger.forNow) {
        return;
    }
    // Rest of logic
}

For updating "only through the data loader", you need a field that you can specify as hidden to users, but available in the data loader, such as a checkbox field. There's no way accurately to detect if an action came from the UI or from the Data Loader otherwise.

Answer 4

The best way to handle this is to create a custom setting, name it background job and then enter a login account like [email protected]. Then in your trigger code check if the user executing matches the custom setting background job user.