Delete Routing and Logic

Back-End Demolition

To make our delete button functional, we need to establish the back-end infrastructure. This requires two pieces: the Mongoose database operation (the Ops Layer) and the Express route to handle the incoming HTTP request (the API endpoint).

The Mongoose Ops Layer

First, we add the deletion capability to our data abstraction layer. This keeps our database concerns separated from our Express routing concerns.

data/contacts.js

const mongoose = require("mongoose");

class ContactOps {
  // existing code...

  async getAllContactsAdmin() {
    return await Contact.find({}).sort({ postedDate: -1 });
  }

  // NEW: The core demolition logically isolated
  async deleteContactById(id) {
    return await Contact.findByIdAndDelete(id);
  }
}

module.exports = new ContactOps();

The Express Router (HTTP DELETE)

Next, we establish the endpoint. Crucially, we do not use a GET request to delete data. A GET request should never mutate state. By using an HTTP DELETE request, we clearly express our intention: “I want to destroy the resource at this URL.”

routers/adminRouter.js

const express = require("express");
const router = express.Router();
const _contactOps = require("../data/contacts");

// Admin: delete a contact submission by id
router.delete("/contacts/:id", async (req, res) => {
  // 1. Extract the parameters
  const { id } = req.params;

  // 2. Perform the operation via our Ops layer
  const deleted = await _contactOps.deleteContactById(id);

  // 3. Handle the 'null' (Not Found) state
  if (!deleted) {
    return res.status(404).json({ message: "Contact submission not found." });
  }

  // 4. Return success
  res.json({ message: "Contact deleted.", deletedId: id });
});

module.exports = router;

Professor Solo

Because this route responds to an asynchronous JavaScript fetch() call from the browser (which we will build next), we don’t use res.render() or res.redirect(). We send raw data back via res.json().

Fig 1: Deletion Route Architecture

Extra Bits & Bytes

MDN Web Docs: HTTP DELETE Method

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⏭ Next: The Front-End Trigger

Our backend is ready to delete documents. Now, we need to teach our browser how to send the destruction signal.