Refreshing External Object Types

There are two types of refresh operations for external object types:
  • full refresh
  • quick refresh

A full refresh detects new items, compares and updates existing items, and deletes items that have disappeared from the external database. A quick refresh, by default, only detects new items in the external database. It does not compare existing items. It does not delete items, either, because undeleting them would require a full refresh.

The quick refresh operation is notably quicker than the full refresh operation. For reference, the full refresh operation for 120,000 items takes about two minutes, while the quick refresh operation finishes in about seven seconds. For simple value lists, refreshing data is fast even with large amounts of data and therefore a full refresh is always used. This guarantees up-to-date data.

Refreshing external object types manually

External object types can be refreshed in the classic M-Files Desktop by pressing Alt and selecting Settings > Refresh External Objects and then by selecting a suitable external object type from the submenu. You can select either the Quick Refresh or the Full Refresh operation.

If you try to refresh an external object type at the same time with M-Files Server, the operation started by you begins after the one started by M-Files Server.

Refreshing external object types with M-Files Admin

To start or stop the full refresh operation for an external object type in M-Files Admin, right-click the object type in Metadata Structure (Flat View) and click Refresh Now. This gets the up-to-date column data from the external database.

The full refresh operation is also started when you edit the object type definitions in M-Files Admin. If you update the object type definition before the previous refresh operation has completed, M-Files starts the operation again.

Automatic refresh operations and configuration options

The quick refresh operation is started automatically if an external object type is requested by a client (for instance, the metadata card containing a property that uses an external object type is viewed) and if the latest refresh was executed more than 15 minutes ago.

A full refresh operation is initiated for all external object types at 4:30 AM server time every night. This operation is executed as one part of the nightly maintenance routine.

A full refresh operation is automatically triggered instead of a quick refresh operation if an external object type is requested by the client and if a full refresh has not been performed within the last 25 hours.

For configuration options available for refreshing external object types automatically, see the document Default Refresh Logic and Configuration Options for External Value Lists and Object Types.

Automatic property values ignored during refresh operations

When M-Files updates objects to and from an external database, it compares object properties in the external database to the ones in the vault. If M-Files finds differences in the properties, it updates the objects. During the comparison, properties with an automatically calculated value are ignored, which causes these scenarios:

  • If all the object's property values to be updated to or from an external database are set to have an automatically calculated value in M-Files, the object is not updated.
  • If the refresh operation creates an object in M-Files, all property values of the object are filled with the values from the external database. This includes properties that are set to have an automatically calculated value.
  • If the refresh operation updates the object's properties in M-Files, all the object's property values to be updated get their value from the external database. This includes properties that are set to have an automatically calculated value.