Course Content
Node.js Express: API & CLI Apps
Node.js Express: API & CLI Apps
Implementing the "DELETE POST BY ID" Route
We'll dive into the implementation of the "DELETE POST BY ID" route within the postsRoutes.js
file. This route allows clients to delete a specific post by providing its unique ID.
Route Definition
The code below defines the "DELETE POST BY ID" route using router.delete()
:
This route handles HTTP DELETE requests with a parameterized :id
in the route path. The :id
parameter is used to identify the post to be deleted. We don't need extra middleware like dataValidation
as we get all the necessary information from the URL parameter.
Extracting the Post ID
We extract the post ID from the request parameters using req.params.id
:
This line captures the :id
value from the URL, allowing us to work with it in the subsequent code.
Delete the Post
Here's how we delete the post:
- We begin by reading the existing data from the JSON file using the asynchronous
readData
function, as explained earlier. - We find the index of the post to delete in the
data
array by comparing post IDs. - If the post is not found (i.e.,
postIndex === -1
), we return a 404 (Not Found) response with an error message. - Using the
splice
method, we remove the post data from thedata
array. ThepostIndex
variable determines the position of the post to delete. - The updated
data
array, with the post removed, is then written back to the JSON file to save the changes made during the deletion.
Sending a Response
A JSON response with a status code of 200 (OK) is sent to the client, indicating a successful deletion. The response includes a message confirming that the post was deleted successfully:
Error Handling
We wrap the route code in a try-catch block to handle potential errors during data retrieval or request processing. Any errors that occur are logged to the console for debugging purposes:
Complete code of the postsRoutes.js file at this step
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