Issue
There are several applications installed via source control (GitHub) to production. These applications will be deleted and installed again, this time from the Application Repository. However, the data that is present in the application tables needs to be retained.
How is it best to remove an Application installed via source control (ex. GitHub) while preserving the data?
Resolution
Deleting an application installed from source control will delete all of the tables and data associated with the application. An application installed via source control is installed as a sys_app record. There is not a way to delete it and have it retain tables and data, which is possible with an app installed via the app repo (which is installed as a sys_store_app record). There are two suggestions as to how to preserve the data:
1) Clone production over a non-production instance. Delete the application from production, and then install it via the app repo. Export any data from the cloned instance to XML, and import it into production.
or
2) On production, create temporary tables with the same columns, but in a different scope. Copy the data from the application tables to the temporary tables. Delete the application and install it from the app repo, then, copy the data from the temporary tables to the newly installed tables.
