How to delete an object using Django Rest Framework

Question

I'm trying to write a RESTful API for my event scheduling application using the Django Rest Framework, but I'm having some problems using views that don't expect the HTTP GET method. I read the tutorial on the DRF website. From what I understand after reading the tutorial, and the class-based documentation on the Django site is that if there is such a class-based view (taken from the DRF tutorial)

class SnippetDetail(APIView): """ Retrieve, update or delete a snippet instance. """ def get_object(self, pk): try: return Snippet.objects.get(pk=pk) except Snippet.DoesNotExist: raise Http404 def get(self, request, pk, format=None): snippet = self.get_object(pk) serializer = SnippetSerializer(snippet) return Response(serializer.data) def put(self, request, pk, format=None): snippet = self.get_object(pk) serializer = SnippetSerializer(snippet, data=request.DATA) if serializer.is_valid(): serializer.save() return Response(serializer.data) return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST) def delete(self, request, pk, format=None): snippet = self.get_object(pk) snippet.delete() return Response(status=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT) 

Different methods in the view correspond to different HTTP request methods. Therefore, if I have www.foo.com/bar , this will do two different things based on which request method is sent to this address. Thus, this means that I will not need to specify anything else, because the function being executed is determined based on the method by which the URL is sent. Is it correct?

I have this view that I tried to model after an example on the DRF website

 class EventDetail(APIView): """ Retrieve, update or delete a event instance. """ def get_object(self, pk): try: return Event.objects.get(pk=pk) except Event.DoesNotExist: raise Http404 def get(self, request, pk, format=None): event = self.get_object(pk) serializer = EventSerializer(event) return Response(serializer.data) def post(self, request, format=None): serializer = EventSerializer(data=request.DATA) if serializer.is_valid(): serializer.save() return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED) return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST) # def put(self, request, pk, format=None): # event = self.get_object(pk) # serializer = EventSerializer(event, data=request.DATA) # if serializer.is_valid(): # serializer.save() # return Response(serializer.data) # return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST) def delete(self, request, pk, format=None): event = self.get_object(pk) event.delete() return Response(status=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT 

which displays these urls

 urlpatterns = patterns('', # Get event url(r'^(?P<pk>\d+)/$', views.EventDetail.as_view(), name='create_events'), # list all events url(r'^list/$', views.EventList.as_view(), name='list_events'), # url(r'^update$/(?P<pk>\d+)', #update event), url(r'^create/$', views.EventDetail.as_view(), name='create_events'), # delete event url(r'^delete$/(?P<pk>\d+)', views.EventDetail.as_view(), name='delete_event'), ) 

which I am trying to verify with CURL using this command (for example, here REMOVE using CURL with an encoded URL )

 curl -X DELETE "http://127.0.0.1:8000/events/delete/1" 

This seems to be doing what should:

 [18/Oct/2014 22:41:27] "DELETE /events/delete/1 HTTP/1.1" 404 2707 

But the actual record is not deleted from my database

Is there something here that I forget to do to make them work correctly?

Answer 1

You are redundant. The HTTP method is already DELETE , so there is no /events/delete in the URL. Try the following:

 curl -X DELETE "http://127.0.0.1:8000/events/1/" 

By default, the DRF router creates detailed URLs in /event/<pk> , and you get GET , PUT , POST and DELETE to retrieve, update, create and delete them, respectively.

Answer 2

As mentioned by Kevin Stone, the template you use is not recommended, but if you want to use it, you need to correct the typo in your URLs for events / delete / match.

  # delete event url(r'^delete$/(?P<pk>\d+)', views.EventDetail.as_view(), name='delete_event'), 

it should be:

  # delete event url(r'^delete/(?P<pk>\d+)', views.EventDetail.as_view(), name='delete_event'),