In this episode, we're getting into the important cleanup tasks that you'll want to think about before pruning records from your database. We've already set up a basic pruning condition, but real-world applications are usually messier—you might have related records, files, or other stuff tied up with what you're about to delete.
We walk through an example where we introduce a simple deployment_log model, which is tied to deployments via a foreign key. After generating a migration and setting up the relation, we test what happens when you try to delete a deployment that still has related deployment logs. As expected, we hit a foreign key constraint error, which is a common gotcha!
To fix this, we show how to handle cleanup in your Laravel models using the pruning method. Instead of letting the database handle cascades (which you can do, but sometimes you want more control), you can clear up any related records or files right before the main record gets deleted. In our example, we remove the associated deployment logs in the pruning method, so everything gets cleaned up smoothly when a deployment is pruned.
By the end of the episode, you’ll understand how to safely handle all necessary cleanups, whether it’s deleting related database entries or files, just by using the handy pruning method in your model.