Laravel 8, 9 Soft Delete Example Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will learn about laravel soft delete feature which allows us to delete the records from the database temporarily not permanantily.

Suppose you are developing laravel CRUD application system and you want the feature that will delete the records from the frontend it will only hide from the frontend not permanently delete them from the database.

So in this situation, you will implement the laravel soft delete feature. The benefit of this feature is that when someone deletes the records from the frontend (even if accidental) then you can restore those records from the database.

So let’s get started to learn about the laravel soft delete feature with the help of an example.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Laravel Installation

Step 2: Database Configuration

Step 3: Create Migration

Step 4: Create Model

Step 5: Create Controller

Step 6: Create Resource Routes

Step 7: Create Blade View

Conclusion

Step 1: Laravel Installation

Let’s first create a new project and install a laravel. To install the laravel, run the following command in your terminal.

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel laravel-soft-delete

If you already have laravel installed on your system then you can skip this step. You can also check our full detailed guide on how to install laravel and composer?

Step 2: Database Configuration

In this step, we have to configure the database. If you have fresh install the laravel project then you have to configure database settings in the .env file.

So open the .env file in your root directory of the project and then update the database details in it. See the following laravel 9 database configuration code.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=database_name_here
DB_USERNAME=database_username_here
DB_PASSWORD=database_password_here

Note: Don’t forget to replace the database credential with your database details and then save the file.

Step 3: Create Migration

Now we will create migration to set up the fields of the database. Laravel migrations are the files of the database schema and you can add the fields in this file for the database table columns.

Run the following command to create a migration file for the posts table.

php artisan make:migration create_posts_table

The above command will create the migration file for our laravel soft delete example project. You can see this file in database/migrations directory. So open this file and add the table fields that are required in your case.

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

class CreatePostsTable extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->id();
            $table->string('title');
            $table->text('content');
            $table->text('category');
            $table->text('tag');
            $table->softDeletes(); // this will create deleted_at column in table
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('posts');
    }
}

As you can see in the above code we have added the $table->softDeletes() field in the posts table schema. The softDeletes() method will implement the laravel soft delete feature and create a “deleted_at” column in the table.

After making all the changes let’s migrate this file to create a posts table in the database. Run the following command to migrate.

php artisan migrate

Step 4: Create Model

Now we will create a model for our laravel soft delete example project. And in this model, we will use the softDeletes trait. To create a model in laravel, run the following command.

php artisan make:model Post

The above command will create a model file in the app/Models directory. In this model class, we have to use the softDeletes trait, see the following code for reference.

<?php
namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;

class Post extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, SoftDeletes;

    /**
    * fillable your column
    *
    * @var array
    */

    protected $fillable = ['title','content','category', 'tag'];

    /**
    * The attributes that should be mutated to dates.
    *
    * @var array
    */

    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
}

Note: Make sure you have all the schema fields in the $fillable array and for the soft delete field “deleted_at” should be a separate array field of the $dates variable.

Step 5: Create Controller

To implement the laravel soft delete functionality, we have to create a controller that will take action on our database table records. Run the following command to create a controller in laravel.

php artisan make:controller PostController

It will create a PostController file in the app/Http/Controllers directory. In this controller class, we can make the CRUD methods in laravel.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Post;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class PostController extends Controller
{
	// your all methods here
}

In this controller class, we will create only the get and delete records methods for this example instead of creating the whole CRUD operation. You can create other methods for inserting, updating, etc.

Let’s create the required methods for implementing the soft delete functionality in laravel application.

Display Records

To display the records in laravel blade view, we will create an index() method. You can take any name of this method but if you have created the resource controller, the methods will be already there.

index() method – to display the all records (trashed or non-trashed) based on condition.

/**
 * Display a listing of the resource.
 *
 * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
 */
public function index(Request $request)
{
    if ($request->has('trashed')) {
        $posts = Post::onlyTrashed()->get();
    } else {
        $posts = Post::get();
    }

    return view('posts', compact('posts'));
}

In the above index() method, we get the post records from the database and make a condition based on the soft delete feature.

Delete Record

To delete the record, we will create a destroy() method in PostController class. This method will delete the record by ID and marked as a soft delete in the database by updating the value of the “deleted_at” column. It will not delete the record permanently.

destroy() method – to delete the record by ID but not permanently.

/**
 * Soft delete resource
 *
 * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
 */
public function destroy($id)
{
    Post::find($id)->delete();

    return redirect()->route('posts.index');
}

Force Delete Record

Now we will make another delete method which will delete the record permanently from the database. In this method, we will use the forceDelete() method in the query to delete the record permanently.

forceDelete() method – to delete the record permanently from database.

/**
 * Force delete resource
 * 
 * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
 */
public function forceDelete($id) 
{
    Post::find($id)->withTrashed()->forceDelete();

    return redirect()->route('posts.index', ['trashed' => 'post']);
}

Restore Record

So above we have created the methods for deleting the records, now we will make methods for restoring them. It will only work in a soft delete scenario.

It will be useful to keep the backup of records and also if anyone has deleted the records by mistake or accidentally. With the help of this method, you can restore the records.

restore() method – to restore the records that you have soft deleted.

/**
 * Restore specific resource
 *
 * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
 */
public function restore($id)
{
    Post::withTrashed()->find($id)->restore();

    return redirect()->route('posts.index');
}

Restore All Records

Restoring one by one is a bit itchy and time-consuming because you have to perform an action on all the records one by one. But it could be easy by making another method.

Let’s say you want to restore all the deleted records in one action then you have to make another method that will restore all the records. See the following code.

restoreAll() method – to restore all the records in one action.

/**
 * Restore all resources
 *
 * @return r\Illuminate\Http\Response
 */
public function restoreAll()
{
    Post::onlyTrashed()->restore();

    return redirect()->route('posts.index');
}

Now, put all your above methods in PostController class and save it. You can change these methods as per your requirements.

Step 6: Create Resource Routes

Now it’s time to create the routes. To create routes open the routes/web.php file and add the following code to this file.

Routing in laravel allows us to link all the application actions to an appropriate controller and return the result based on it.

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\PostController;

Route::get('posts', [PostController::class, 'index'])->name('posts.index');
Route::delete('posts/{id}', [PostController::class, 'destroy'])->name('posts.destroy');
Route::delete('posts/{id}', [PostController::class, 'forceDelete'])->name('posts.forceDelete');
Route::get('posts/restore/{id}', [PostController::class, 'restore'])->name('posts.restore');
Route::get('posts/restore-all', [PostController::class, 'restoreAll'])->name('posts.restoreAll');

Step 7: Create Blade View

Now, that it’s done with the laravel backend functionality part, now we will make a frontend view part to display all the records and perform all the above actions which we have done for soft delete.

Let’s create a blade file posts.blade.php in resources/views directory. And implement the laravel soft delete feature actions at the frontend side.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Laravel Soft Delete Example Tutorial</title>
    <meta name="csrf-token" content="{{ csrf_token() }}">
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.2/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-EVSTQN3/azprG1Anm3QDgpJLIm9Nao0Yz1ztcQTwFspd3yD65VohhpuuCOmLASjC" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
</head>
    <body>
        <div class="container">
            <h1 class="m-3 text-center">
                @if(request()->has('trashed'))
                    Deleted Posts
                @else
                    All Posts
                @endif
            </h1>
            <table class="table table-bordered mb-3">
                <thead>
                    <tr>
                        <th>>ID</th>
                        <th>Title</th>
                        <th>Content</th>
                        <th>Category</th>
                        <th>Tag</th>
                        <th>Action</th>
                    </tr>
                </thead>
                <tbody>
                    @foreach($posts as $post)
                        <tr>
                            <td>{{ $post->id }}</td>
                            <td>{{ $post->title }}</td>
                            <td>{{ $post->content }}</td>
                            <td>{{ $post->category }}</td>
                            <td>{{ $post->tag }}</td>
                            <td>
                                @if(request()->has('trashed'))
                                    <a href="{{ route('posts.restore', $post->id) }}" class="btn btn-success">Restore</a>                                @else
                                    <form method="POST" action="{{ route('posts.destroy', $post->id) }}">
                                        @csrf
                                        <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="DELETE">
                                        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-warning delete" title='Delete'>Delete</button>
                                    </form>
                                @endif
                                <form method="POST" action="{{ route('posts.forceDelete', $post->id) }}">
                                    @csrf
                                    <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="DELETE">
                                    <button type="submit" class="btn btn-danger delete" title='Force Delete'>Force Delete</button>
                                </form>
                            </td>
                       </tr>
                    @endforeach
                </tbody>
            </table>
            <div class="float-end">
                @if(request()->has('trashed'))
                    <a href="{{ route('posts.index') }}" class="btn btn-info">View All posts</a>
                    <a href="{{ route('posts.restoreAll') }}" class="btn btn-success">Restore All</a>
                @else
                    <a href="{{ route('posts.index', ['trashed' => 'post']) }}" class="btn btn-primary">View Deleted posts</a>
                @endif
            </div>
        </div>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            $(document).ready(function() {
                $('.delete').click(function(e) {
                    e.preventDefault();
                });
            });
        </script>
    </body> 
</html>

Now, it’s all done, you have completed the laravel soft delete feature example tutorial. You can test it now by inserting the dummy data.

To start the laravel server, run the following command.

php artisan serve

It will start the server on default port like http://localhost:3000. Enter this URL http://localhost:3000/posts in your browser and test with soft delete functionality.

Conclusion

So in this tutorial, you learned about the laravel soft delete feature and how to implement it in laravel application. In addition, you also learned how you can restore the data from database in case of soft delete.

Hope you like this tutorial, please share it with your friends or in groups to help someone else. If you have any queries please ask me in the comment section, I will respond to you as soon as possible.

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Laravel Soft Delete Example Tutorial

Step 1: Laravel Installation

Step 2: Database Configuration

Step 3: Create Migration

Step 4: Create Model

Step 5: Create Controller

Display Records

Delete Record

Force Delete Record

Restore Record

Restore All Records

Step 6: Create Resource Routes

Step 7: Create Blade View

Conclusion

About Aman Mehra

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Step 1: Laravel Installation

Step 2: Database Configuration

Step 3: Create Migration

Step 4: Create Model

Step 5: Create Controller

Display Records

Delete Record

Force Delete Record

Restore Record

Restore All Records

Step 6: Create Resource Routes

Step 7: Create Blade View

Conclusion

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About Aman Mehra

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