In this lesson we're going to create endpoints for update & delete question. Since we've defined our api resource route In the last lesson so we no longer need to touch the routes api for now. All we have to do is working on the controller and then perform some tests in postman.

This lesson also available in PDF. You can download it in course attachment.

Alright, before we move on let's go ahead and open up our terminal then create a new branch:

git checkout -b lesson-49

Create Show question endpoint

Let's start off by modify the show method in our Api/QuestionsController.php. Basically this method as the name implies is to show a resource.

Now when working on api we no longer need the create or edit method to show the form. That's why when editing a resource we're going to use this show method and get the resource in json data. We can then use that response to populate our form.

So in this method let's return response()->json(). Then put an array inside it. And then inside that array let's specify the response data contains title, body and body_html.

// Api/QuestionsController.php
public function show(Question $question)
{   
    return response()->json([
        'title'     => $question->title,
        'body'      => $question->body,
        'body_html' => $question->body_html
    ]);
}

Let's save and give it a test in postman.

Test the show endpoint

Head over to postman. Then duplicate the Create question request. And then rename it as Show Question.

Let's change the http verb to GET. The url is gonna be http://localhost:8000/api/questions/1. Make sure you have question with id 1. Or you can change it to any existing number that you have in your questions table.

Go to the headers section and make sure you have Accept and Authorization setup. Go to body section and choose none option.

Now if we hit the Send button we'll have a response back.

Hit Save button to save the request changes.

Create Update & Delete question endpoints

1. The update method

We can grab the logics for update and destroy method from our old QuestionsController.php. Let's reopen that file. Then copy the update method.

Back to Api/QuestionsController.php then replace the update method boilerplate. And then remove the if statement as well as redirection code. So here our update method look like:

// Api/QuestionsController.php
public function update(AskQuestionRequest $request, Question $question)
{
    $this->authorize("update", $question);

    $question->update($request->only('title', 'body'));

    return response()->json([
        'message' => "Your question has been updated.",
        'body_html' => $question->body_html
    ]);
}

2. The delete method

Let's go back to our old QuestionsController.php and copy the destroy method. Back to our Api/QuestionsController.php. Then inside that file let's replace the destroy method boilerplate.

Don't forget to get rid of the if statement as well as redirection code. And here is the destroy method look like:

// Api/QuestionsController.php
public function destroy(Question $question)
{
    $this->authorize("delete", $question);

    $question->delete();

    return response()->json([
        'message' => "Your question has been deleted."
    ]);
}

Save all changes. And now let's test them in postman.

Test the Update question endpoint

Let's switch back to Postman. Then duplicate the Show question test request. And then rename it to Update Question.

Let's change the HTTP method to PUT. The url is going be the same. But you can change the id to any existing number if you want. Make sure you have Accept and Authorize being set in the Headers section. And for now we can leave the request body empty.

Now if we hit the Send button sure enough we got validation error message.

{
    "message": "The given data was invalid.",
    "errors": {
        "title": [
            "The title field is required."
        ],
        "body": [
            "The body field is required."
        ]
    }
}

Now we can go to Body section. Select raw option and select the JSON type.  And  then specify the request body like so:

{
	"title": "Updated my question",
	"body": "I update my question body"
}

If we hit the Send button again. Now we get back the expected response.

Alright, now let's hit the Save button to save the change in our Update Question test request. And now let's test the destory question endpoint.

Test the Destroy question endpoint

Let's duplicate the Update question request. Then rename it to Delete Qeustion.

Change the HTTP method to DELETE. Keep the Accept and Authorization in the Headers section and remove the request body in the Body section by choosing the none option.

Now if we hit the Send button. Probably you will get this such response error:

That error occurred because you tried to remove a question and that question has one or more related answers. So to fix that you can simply go to tinker then find the question which does not any related answer. In my case I have question with id 10.

Now if change the id in the url and hit the Send button again. Here I'll get the expected response.

Summary

In this lesson, we looked at how we can create api endpoints for updating and deleting existing question. We've learned how to properly test our api endpoints in postman. And we've also briefly seen how to find record which does not have any relationship record using eloquent doesnthave() method.

Let's commit all changes into our git repo. When you ready let's move on to the next lesson.

git add .
git commit -m "Create update & delete question endpoints"
git push origin lesson-49