Hands-On Swift 5 Microservices Development

Delete

Deleting a model works – very similar to update and create – like this:

user.delete(on: request.db) // returns EventLoopFuture<Void>

Vapor differentiates between a hard and a soft delete. A hard delete means the entry is deleted from the database. A soft delete only marks an entry as deleted – which says it can be restored.

To enable soft deletes, you have to specify the key to the variable/column in the model like this:

final class MyModel: Model {    // ...    @Field(key: "deletedAt")    var deletedAt: Date?}

It is usually best to use a soft delete, at least for a while. You can always delete them later; however, in practical terms, it has proven beneficial to keep entries for at least a few days after they are deleted.