Deleting (cffile) files where the related id does not exist- Coldfusion

The basic steps are simple, but your approach will depends a lot on your current process, how the images are stored, total number of files, etc.. Conceptually:

1. before the records are purged, run a query to grab properties that will be deleted.
2. Loop through the property id's. For each one, use <cfdirectory> with a filter ie  filter="IMG_#currentPropertyID#*" to locate the associated files. Then loop through the results and delete each file. Something along these lines (not tested)

          <cfloop query="deletedProperties" ...>
                 <cfdirectory action="list"
                        directory="..."
                        filter="IMG_#deletedProperties.propertyID#*"
                        type="file"
                        listinfo="name"
                        name="filesToDelete"  ...>
                 <cfloop query="filesToDelete">
                       <cfset fullPath = filesToDelete.directory &"/"& filesToDelete.name>
                       <cffile action="delete" file="#fullPath#"
                 </cfloop>
          </cfloop>

Keep in mind it won't scale well if you have a large number of images to delete OR a bunch of images all stored in a single directory.  If that's the case, you may want to offload the cleanup process to a scheduled task. Run every X minutes and have the script process a batch of N items at a time (50,100, whatever...). That approach is more scalable and ensures the script won't timeout due to processing a massive number of files.

Before you purge the properties, move the id's to a separate table, say PropertiesToDelete. When the script runs, grab the first N items:

              SELECT PropertyID FROM PropertiesToDelete LIMIT 50

The loop through the id's and find the files (just like above). Only add a step - After the physical files are deleted - delete the propertyID record from the table - so it won't be processed again.

HTH

Thanks, I like this approach.
My problem is I do not know  when these records will be deleted.
The data is fed to my server and updated every 20 min.

That is my challenge.. I need to:
match the ID from the table to the file names,
where  'no matching ID'  action  delete file

Does this make sense?
Thanks!

(Method 1)
Well ideally you want to compare the old and new data feeds to determine which property id's were deleted.  Rather than just truncating and repopulating the table. Once you identify the deleted id's, the rest is simple. Example:

Current Data ID's: 1,2,3,5,6,7
New Data  ID's:     1,5,6,8,14
Deleted ID's:         2,3,7    <=== removed

I don't know how you're processing the new data, but typically you feed new data into a temp table. Then use JOIN's to identify new-changed-or deleted records. I remember posting an answer about something similar.. let me see if I can find it...

(Method 2)
Failing that, the only way to figure out which files to delete would be to compare all records in the db with all files on disk, and figure out what's missing.  That could be Very time consuming since you have to examine *everything*. Best not to do that if you can avoid it. That sounds like what you're talking about below. ie Check all the files against all db records - and figure out which files to delete, ie

That is my challenge.. I need to:
match the ID from the table to the file names,
where  'no matching ID'  action  delete file

Keep in mind you might need to do that once - just to get the ball rolling, but going forward it's better to do the detection - when the properties are removed ie Method 1. , instead of after the fact.

@izweig - Why the  "B" grade? A "B" means the answer was incomplete. The answers provided above were very thorough given you only provided a general outline of your process.  As I mentioned several times, to provide specific code - we need specific information about your process. ie "How is your new data is imported, how many images, how they're stored etc.... ".  You should not assign B grades unless you've provided all of the necessary information and responded to all of the questions.

Does B mean incomplete?
B means Good, according to the form, I thought your solution was good.
Would you like an A?

It's more of an FYI. It may not very clear from the "answer" screen but generally

"A" means => answered well
"B" means => incomplete/partially answered
"C" means => poorly answered.

With most experts its a point of pride to provide solid and thorough answers. So a "B" grade is often seen as indicating they didn't fully answer the question. Sometimes it happens, but usually asker and expert exchange more questions until the expert has given them a complete answer they were satisfied with.

(Edit) Again, it's a matter of perception ... (yes, we experts do take our fields seriously ;-) So just an FYI for future grading.

I see what you are saying. This is not clear in the grading form.

Yes, I spend more time answering than asking, so I'm not as familiar w/the answer form, but figured it's probably not as clear as it could be.  (Edit) There used to be an FAQ on it. Not sure if it's still around after the redesign.  Just figured I'd give you a heads up for the future. Anyway, thanks for responding :)  Well back to the grind for me...