In this episode, we dive into adding the ability for users to delete their own posts. It actually turns out to be a fairly straightforward process! First, we set up the proper permissions by updating our post policy to only allow the owner of a post to delete it. This ensures users can't delete posts that don't belong to them.
On the front-end, we duplicate the edit button and turn it into a delete button, but only show it for posts the current user owns. Then, we create the deletePost
function that gets triggered when the user clicks the delete button.
We hook up the backend by creating a new route and controller to handle deleting the post, making sure it uses the correct authorization and request class to keep things secure. On the actual click, we pop up a quick confirmation using window.confirm
, and if confirmed, send off the delete request. We also make sure to preserve the scroll position on the page after deleting to keep things feeling smooth.
After wiring everything together, we test it out, and everything works—posts get deleted, and only by their rightful owners! This episode is a great, practical look at tying together permissions, UI, and backend logic for a common feature.