📓 Many-to-Many Delete Functionality
In this lesson we'll complete our refactor to include a many-to-many functionality between tags and items by adding delete functionality. We'll add delete functionality for Tags and delete functionality for ItemTags.
DELETE: Adding Delete Functionality to Tags​
We'll start by creating Delete() GET and POST actions in our TagsController. Here's the new code that we'll add:
...
public ActionResult Delete(int id)
{
Tag thisTag = _db.Tags.FirstOrDefault(tags => tags.TagId == id);
return View(thisTag);
}
[HttpPost, ActionName("Delete")]
public ActionResult DeleteConfirmed(int id)
{
Tag thisTag = _db.Tags.FirstOrDefault(tags => tags.TagId == id);
_db.Tags.Remove(thisTag);
_db.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
...
Note that when we delete a Tag, all join entities that reference that tag's TagId will also automatically be deleted. This is configured through foreign key constraints, which configures how objects in relationships should be deleted or updated when one object in the relationship is deleted or updated. For example, in our one-to-many relationship between categories and items, an item always belongs to a single category, and a category can have many items. If a user deletes a category that has five items in it, we can configure through foreign key constraints how those five items should be treated: should they remain in the database? Should they all be deleted?
The default behavior in our application for one-to-many and many-to-many relationships is that when one object is deleted, related objects should also be deleted:
- In the one-to-many relationship between categories and items, when a category is deleted all associated items will also be deleted. That's because each
Itemobject has aCategoryIdproperty that becomes a foreign key in our database tables and links eachItemto a specificCategory. - In the many-to-many relationship between items and tags, when an item is deleted all join entities in the
itemtagstable that reference that item will also be deleted. That's becauseItemIdis a foreign key in theitemtagstable, connecting eachItemTagobject to a specificItemobject. Similarly, when a tag is deleted all join entities in theitemtagstable that reference that tag will also be deleted. That's becauseTagIdis a foreign key in theitemtagstable, connecting eachItemTagobject to a specificTagobject.
The automatic deletion of associated objects through foreign keys has a specific name: cascade delete. This is the default behavior for the foreign keys we create because they are all non-nullable, which means they can't have a null value. This means that when a Tag entry in the tags database table is removed, then all of the entries in all other tables (right now just the itemtags table) that use that Tag as a foreign key (via TagId) will also be removed, because the foreign key cannot be null.
We could configure our foreign keys constraints to not delete associated objects, but we don't have a reason to change this behavior right now. Also, the specifics of how to do that is out of the scope of this lesson. To learn more about configuring cascade delete with EF Core, start by reading the article on creating and configuring relationships with EF Core. Some of the article's content will be a review, but other content will be new. Then, read about foreign key constraints on the MySQL documentation.
Next, let's create our view that confirms that we are sure that we want to delete the tag. Within the Views/Tags/ subdirectory, create a new file called Delete.cshtml, and add the following contents:
@{
Layout = "_Layout";
}
@model ToDoList.Models.Tag
<h2>Are you sure you want to delete this?</h2>
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Title): @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Title)
@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<input type="submit" value="Delete" />
}
@Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index")
As always, let's finish up by adding a link to our new Delete route to our tag's Details.cshtml:
...
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Delete Tag", "Delete", new { id = Model.TagId })</p>
DELETE: Adding Delete Functionality to ItemTags​
Next, we'll add the ability to delete join relationships. This time we won't create a new view for this, but instead add a delete button directly below each join entity in the details view in both Views/Items/Details.cshtml and Views/Tags/Details.cshtml.
First, let's check out the new button we'll be adding to the Views/Tags/Details.cshtml:
@using (Html.BeginForm("DeleteJoin", "Tags"))
{
@Html.Hidden("joinId", @join.ItemTagId)
<input type="submit" value="Delete"/>
}
Notably, the button is wrapped in a form that contains a hidden joinId value for the join entity. That's because in order to change something in our database, we need to make a request via a form. When the user submits this form, it will go to a DeleteJoin action in the TagsController.cs which will handle deleting the join entity in our itemtags database table using the joinId variable.
Also notice that we pass in two arguments to our BeginForm() method. The first argument is the route method that we'd like to invoke and the second argument is the controller (note that .NET appends "Controller" to whatever string you pass in). Previously we did not include these arguments to BeginForm(). That's because we relied on the default routing that the BeginForm() HTML helper provides, which is to route to the controller action that matches the current URL. In the case of Tags/Details, that would be the Details() action in the TagsController. However, we want to route to the DeleteJoin() action, which is why we specify this explicitly in @using (Html.BeginForm("DeleteJoin", "Tags")).
Next, let's see how we'll place this form within View/Tags/Details.cshtml. Here's what our code should look like now:
@{
Layout = "_Layout";
}
@using ToDoList.Models
@model ToDoList.Models.Tag
<h2>Tag Details</h2>
<hr />
<h3>@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Title): @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Title)</h3>
@if(@Model.JoinEntities.Count == 0)
{
<p>This tag does not belong to any items</p>
}
else
{
<h4>Items the tag belongs to:</h4>
<ul>
@foreach(ItemTag join in Model.JoinEntities)
{
<li>@join.Item.Description</li>
@using (Html.BeginForm("DeleteJoin", "Tags"))
{
@Html.Hidden("joinId", @join.ItemTagId)
<input type="submit" value="Delete"/>
}
}
</ul>
}
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Back to list", "Index")</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Add an Item", "AddItem", new { id = Model.TagId })</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Edit Tag", "Edit", new { id = Model.TagId })</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Delete Tag", "Delete", new { id = Model.TagId })</p>
Notice that we've added the new form/button below each join entity. That means there will be a separate button created for each join entity listed on the tag's details page, each with a unique joinId value.
Next, let's create the DeleteJoin() action in the TagsController.cs. Here's the new code we'll add:
...
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult DeleteJoin(int joinId)
{
ItemTag joinEntry = _db.ItemTags.FirstOrDefault(entry => entry.ItemTagId == joinId);
_db.ItemTags.Remove(joinEntry);
_db.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
...
The code to remove a database entry should look familiar, with the only difference being that we're going into the ItemTags database table. Note that the DeleteJoin() action will find the entry in the join table by using the join entry's ItemTagId. The ItemTagId is being passed in through the variable joinId in our action's parameter and came from the BeginForm() HTML helper method in our details view.
Note that we've called our action DeleteJoin() because it handles deleting an ItemTag join relationship. However we could name this route something more specific if we prefer, like DeleteItemTagJoin, or if we happen to have multiple many-to-many relationships.
joinId and Route Configuration in Program.cs​
We use the name joinId in the DeleteJoin() route instead of id because .NET automatically utilizes the value in the URL query if we name the variable id. For example, if we named the parameter id instead of joinId and the details URL was something like /Items/Details/6, then the value of id would be 6, which is the ItemId and not the ItemTagId that we wanted from our Hidden() method.
The reason .NET uses this convention is due to our configuration in the Program.cs file. Take a look at the following code in the Program.cs file:
...
app.MapControllerRoute(
name: "default",
pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}"
);
...
The template option tells .NET how to treat routes. This configuration, known as conventional routing, matches a path like /Items/Details/6 to its specific controller action by looking for the Details action route in the Items controller. Then it binds the value of 6 to the id variable. We won't change routes in this class, but be aware that .NET routing conventions can be configured. If you're interested in learning more, check out the documentation on the subject.
Updating the ItemsController and Details.cshtml View to Delete Join Entities​
Next, we'll add the same delete button and controller action to our items. The process will be the exact same as with tags, except different naming to reflect that we're in the items controller and views.
Let's start with the controller action this time. Within ItemsController.cs, add the following new route:
...
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult DeleteJoin(int joinId)
{
ItemTag joinEntry = _db.ItemTags.FirstOrDefault(entry => entry.ItemTagId == joinId);
_db.ItemTags.Remove(joinEntry);
_db.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
...
Next, let's update the Views/Items/Details.cshtml to include a new form and button for each join entity listed for the item:
@{
Layout = "_Layout";
}
@using ToDoList.Models
@model ToDoList.Models.Item
<h2>Item Details</h2>
<hr />
<h3>@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Description): @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Description)</h3>
<h3>@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Category): @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Category.Name)</h3>
@if(@Model.JoinEntities.Count == 0)
{
<p>This item does not have any tags yet!</p>
}
else
{
<h4>This item has the following tags:</h4>
<ul>
@foreach(ItemTag join in Model.JoinEntities)
{
<li>Tag: @join.Tag.Title</li>
@using (Html.BeginForm("DeleteJoin", "Items"))
{
@Html.Hidden("joinId", @join.ItemTagId)
<input type="submit" value="Delete"/>
}
}
</ul>
}
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Back to list", "Index")</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Edit Item or Category", "Edit", new { id = Model.ItemId })</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Add a Tag", "AddTag", new { id = Model.ItemId })</p>
<p>@Html.ActionLink("Delete Item", "Delete", new { id = Model.ItemId })</p>
And with that, we've completed CRUD for tags and CRD for our ItemTag many-to-many join entity. Start your To Do List's server and check out the completed functionality in the browser!
Repository Reference​
Follow the link below to view how a sample version of the project should look at this point. Note that this is a link to a specific branch in the repository.