Thread

I think I had some custom fields that were created and deleted some “unofficial” way so I end up with a quite annoying error when trying to delete the site with MSM.

A Database Error Occurred
Error Number: 1091

Can't DROP 'field_id_16'; check that column/key exists

ALTER TABLE exp_channel_data DROP COLUMN field_id_16

Filename: /var/lib/expressionengine/codeigniter/system/database/DB_driver.php

Line Number: 330

I tried going through and adding the column manually in the database but I think it’s dropping the column I manual created, and then hanging up on another column so I have to recreate all of the columns each time. It will go though 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and also toggle between _id_ and _ft_.

It’s rather tedious to explain further but MSM shouldn’t be failing if a column is already toast, just skip and continue with the deletion of the rest of the columns. Any ideas on how to work around this this one time? Should I submit a bug to MSM?

Hi BlendedByChris,

MSM is just going to delete all the fields that the system thinks are there, so this isn’t a bug per se. Let’s back up a second: when you say these fields were deleted in an unofficial way, what do you mean? How were these fields removed?

No idea how. I’ve most likely slept since the creation of this site. 😊

MSM should check for the existence of said column, drop if exists, otherwise why error out on something that doesn’t exist that’s about to be deleted. Granted we are indirectly erring on the side of caution here.

Maybe this is just a solution to a one time fix though.

MSM should check for the existence of said column, drop if exists, otherwise why error out on something that doesn’t exist that’s about to be deleted.

I understand what you’re saying here, but if you delete a field the way the CP provides for you, everything will be smooth sailing. If you use some other method, there’s a chance you will have caused a problem for yourself in the future. If you had fully removed all references to the field in the database (as the CP does when you delete a field there), MSM wouldn’t know of its existence and wouldn’t try to remove it. I suspect there’s something still lingering in your database that makes EE think the field is still intact.

I’d recommend checking out your database for any references to the fields in question.