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Last modified: Sep 18, 2023

Automatic deletion

An application can be configured to delete all traces of it when the process is over.

On this page:

If you want to limit the end user’s access to an instance or data after submitting it can be done by configuring automatic deletion. Practically the resource will be made inaccessible to the user after submission, while the service owner still has access according to the application’s authorisation rules.

If the end user attempts to access a hard deleted resource with a direct link they will receive 404 - Not found in response. The resource will also not be visible in the message box or be listed in any API-responses.

When the service owner confirms that the instance has been received on their end (complete confirmed), the instance is marked as ready for deletion and will be removed from the Altinn database in 7 days.

The configuration for automatic deletion is done in applicationmetadata.json with the flag "autoDeleteOnProcessEnd": true.

Automatic deletion of instances

Example of configuration in applicationmetadata.json for instances:

{
  "id": "ttd/apps-test-prod",
  "org": "ttd",
  "title": {
    "nb": "apps-test-prod"
  },
  "dataTypes": [
    {
      "id": "default",
      "allowedContentTypes": [
        "application/xml"
      ],
      "appLogic": {
        "autoCreate": true,
        "classRef": "Altinn.App.Models.Skjema"
      },
      "taskId": "Task_1",
      "maxCount": 1,
      "minCount": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "ref-data-as-pdf",
      "allowedContentTypes": [
        "application/pdf"
      ],
      "maxCount": 0,
      "minCount": 0
    },
    {
      "id": "6aa7d237-f20f-4d42-9361-0c84cf1a8ed0",
      "allowedContentTypes": [],
      "taskId": "Task_1",
      "maxSize": 1,
      "maxCount": 3,
      "minCount": 1
    }
  ],
  "partyTypesAllowed": {
    "bankruptcyEstate": false,
    "organisation": false,
    "person": false,
    "subUnit": false
  },
  "created": "2020-06-04T12:11:36.9601284Z",
  "createdBy": "someone",
  "lastChanged": "2020-06-04T12:11:36.9601305Z",
  "lastChangedBy": "someone",
  "autoDeleteOnProcessEnd": true
}

Automatic deletion of data

Example of configuration in applicationmetadata.json for data type:

Here the data types Skjema and vedleggA are deleted, while the type ref-data-as-pdf stays after the process has been ended.

"dataTypes":[
	{
		"id": "Skjema",
		"allowedContentTypes": [
			"application/xml"
		],
		"appLogic": {
			"autoCreate": true,
			"classRef": "Altinn.App.Models.skjema",
			"allowAnonymousOnStateless": false,
			"autoDeleteOnProcessEnd": true
		},
		"taskId": "Task_1",
		"maxCount": 1,
		"minCount": 1,
		"enablePdfCreation": true
	},
	{
		"id": "ref-data-as-pdf",
		"allowedContentTypes": [
			"application/pdf"
		],
		"maxCount": 0,
		"minCount": 0,
		"enablePdfCreation": true
	},
	{
		"id": "vedleggA",
		"taskId": "Task_1",
		"maxSize": 25,
		"maxCount": 1,
		"minCount": 1,
		"enablePdfCreation": true,
		"appLogic": {
			"autoDeleteOnProcessEnd": true
		}
  }
]