DBA Reference

When a row is stuck in a locked state because of a pending approval, a database administrator can clear it with the queries below.

Prefer the soft cancel in production. It preserves the audit trail.

1. Find the pending (locked) approval requests

SELECT
    ar.Id,
    ar.Status,
    ar.SubmittedAt,
    e.Name         AS Entity,
    u.DisplayName  AS SubmittedBy,
    COUNT(arow.Id) AS LockedRows
FROM ApprovalRequests ar
JOIN Entities e  ON ar.EntityId = e.Id
JOIN Users u     ON ar.SubmittedByUserId = u.Id
LEFT JOIN ApprovalRows arow
    ON arow.ApprovalRequestId = ar.Id AND arow.RowStatus = 'pending'
WHERE ar.Status = 'pending'
GROUP BY ar.Id, ar.Status, ar.SubmittedAt, e.Name, u.DisplayName
ORDER BY ar.SubmittedAt DESC;

2. Inspect the locked rows in one request

SELECT
    arow.Id,
    arow.EntityRowId,
    arow.Operation,
    arow.RowStatus,
    arow.RowCode,
    arow.SnapshotData
FROM ApprovalRows arow
WHERE arow.ApprovalRequestId = 123  -- replace with the Id from step 1
  AND arow.RowStatus = 'pending';

3a. Soft cancel — recommended for production

This sets the request to cancelled and marks each pending row rejected. The row unlocks on the next grid load. All history is kept.

UPDATE ApprovalRequests
SET    Status = 'cancelled', ModifiedAt = GETUTCDATE()
WHERE  Id = 123;                   -- replace with the request Id from step 1

UPDATE ApprovalRows
SET    RowStatus = 'rejected'
WHERE  ApprovalRequestId = 123 AND RowStatus = 'pending';

3b. Hard delete — removes all traces

ApprovalRows and ApprovalReviews cascade-delete automatically. Use this for test or demo data only.

DELETE FROM ApprovalRequests WHERE Id = 123;

Impact on records

Soft cancel	Hard delete
`ApprovalRequests`	Preserved — Status becomes `cancelled`	Deleted
`ApprovalRows` and SnapshotData	Preserved — RowStatus becomes `rejected`	Cascade deleted
`ApprovalReviews` (reviewer comments)	Preserved	Cascade deleted
Live entity data (`EntityRows`)	Unchanged	Unchanged

Impact on auditing

The AuditLog table is written only when an approval is successfully approved. A pending request that is cancelled or deleted before approval has no audit entry, because the changes were never promoted to live data.

Soft cancel	Hard delete
Audit log entries	None added or removed	None added or removed
Approval history visible	Yes — the request shows as `cancelled`	No — every trace is removed
Reviewer comments visible	Yes — kept in `ApprovalReviews`	No — cascade deleted

After either operation the locked row unlocks as soon as the grid reloads. Neither operation changes live entity data.

Database Schema — the approval tables and their cascade rules
Approval Workflows — the flow these rows belong to
Conflict Detection — why a row locks in the first place
Data Retention — clearing old approval requests on a schedule
Audit Log — what the application records, and what it does not

Performance

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