Writing the Test¶

Oh where to start? Why not write a test? Open up our feature file and add yet another scenario, this time for deleting a programmer resource. We need to use a Given like in the other scenarios to first make sure that we have a programmer in the database to delete:

# features/api/programmer.feature
# ...

Scenario: DELETE a programmer
  Given the following programmers exist:
    | nickname   | avatarNumber |
    | UnitTester | 3            |
  When I request "DELETE /api/programmers/UnitTester"

After deleting a resource, what should the endpoint return and what about the status code? People argue about this, but one common approach is to return a 204 status code, which means “No Content”. It’s the server’s way of saying “I completed your request ok, but I really don’t have anything else to tell you beyond that”. In other words, the response will have an empty body:

# features/api/programmer.feature
# ...

Scenario: DELETE a programmer
  Given the following programmers exist:
    | nickname   | avatarNumber |
    | UnitTester | 3            |
  When I request "DELETE /api/programmers/UnitTester"
  Then the response status code should be 204

Coding the Endpoint¶

To make this work, we’ll need to create a route that responds to the HTTP DELETE method. Make sure the URL is the same as what we use to GET one programmer, because we want to take the DELETE action on that resource:

// src/KnpU/CodeBattle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerController.php
// ...

protected function addRoutes(ControllerCollection $controllers)
{
    // ...

    $controllers->delete('/api/programmers/{nickname}', array($this, 'deleteAction'));
}

Next, create the deleteAction method. We can copy a little bit of code that queries for a programmer:

// src/KnpU/CodeBattle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerController.php
// ...

public function deleteAction($nickname)
{
    $programmer = $this->getProgrammerRepository()->findOneByNickname($nickname);

    // ...
}

If the programmer exists, let’s eliminate him! I’ve created a shortcut method called delete in my project. Your code will be different, but fortunately, deleting things is pretty easy:

// src/KnpU/CodeBattle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerController.php
// ...

public function deleteAction($nickname)
{
    // ...

    if ($programmer) {
        $this->delete($programmer);
    }

    // ...
}

And finally, we just need to send a Response back to the user. The important part is the 204 status code and the blank content, which is what 204 means:

// src/KnpU/CodeBattle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerController.php
// ...

public function deleteAction($nickname)
{
    // ...

    if ($programmer) {
        $this->delete($programmer);
    }

    return new Response(null, 204);
}

Dang, that was really easy! Execute Behat to make sure we didn’t mess anything up. Awesome! Like with everything else, be consistent with how resources are deleted. Whether you return a 204 status code, or some sort of JSON message, return the same thing for all resources when they’re deleted.