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sfkevinsfkevin 

Apex Trigger Error: Update Account

Hello,

I am new to dev work and learning Apex code.  I wrote a trigger that prevents us from needing to create several workflow field updates.  It evaluates a few variables on a record and returns the proper Account Type.  In the IDE the code passed the syntax check but when I went to try it out on an Account Record in the sandbox my trigger threw an exception as follows:

 

Error: Invalid Data.
Review all error messages below to correct your data. Apex trigger AccountTypeUpdate caused an unexpected exception, contact your administrator: AccountTypeUpdate: execution of AfterUpdate caused by: System.SObjectException: DML statment cannot operate on trigger.new or trigger.old: Trigger.AccountTypeUpdate: line 16, column 1

 

What can I do to fix this error?  Here is the trigger code:

 

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trigger AccountTypeUpdate on Account (after update) {
    List<Account> acctTypeUpdate = new List<Account>();
        for(Account a : Trigger.new){
            //Series of conditional statements that check for the Site ID Status and returns the proper value for the Type field
            if(a.SiteIDStatus__c =='Live' & a.ParentId == null){
            a.Type = 'Client - Parent';
                if(a.SiteIDStatus__c =='Live' & a.ParentId != null){
                a.Type = 'Client - LOB';
                    if(a.SiteIDStatus__c !='Expired'){
                    a.Type = 'Client - Cancelled';
                    } else {
                        a.Type = 'Prospect';
                    }
                }   
            }
        update a;
        }
}

Best Answer chosen by Admin (Salesforce Developers) 
colemabcolemab

You can't use DML (insert, update, etc) on trigger.new in an after update trigger.  That only works in a before update trigger.

 

You need to re-query for your data (i.e. into a list or set) and then use DML on that list / set.

All Answers

colemabcolemab

You can't use DML (insert, update, etc) on trigger.new in an after update trigger.  That only works in a before update trigger.

 

You need to re-query for your data (i.e. into a list or set) and then use DML on that list / set.

This was selected as the best answer
sfkevinsfkevin

Thank you.  I changed the trigger to a Before Update but the last part of your suggestion I'm not quite understanding.  What do you mean by requery the data?
colemabcolemab

You need to execute SOQL to pull the data from the database.

 

Here is an example:

Set<id> SetOfIDs = new Set<id>();

List<Account> AccountsToUpdate = new List<Account();

// populate the set
for (account a : trigger.new) {
	SetOfIDs.add(a.id);
}	


// you need to query the fields you want to edit as no select * exists in SOQL
AccountsToUpdate = [ SELECT ID, Name FROM account WHERE ID in :SetOfIDs ];

 now you can loop thru AccountsToUpdate like you were trying to do with trigger.new and after doing your updates in the loop, add some DML to update the AccountsToUpdate List.
sfkevinsfkevin

Thanks colemab.  That makes sense.  I'll give it a shot.