Question

It seems to me that it is feasible to use a POST request to delete data in Tornado from database:

def post(self, id):
    # delete data from db using id

And on the client side, we can send a post request with the desired id for which content to be deleted. Is this a valid approach?

I notice that there is also a delete method in RequestHandler class in Tornado, but how should I use it properly? Some example would be helpful.

Answer 1

Unless i’m looking at an outdated exmplae it looks like tornado supports delete requests. http://www.tornadoweb.org/documentation/web.html

I would use the delete method just like you’d use anything. Set up handler with the delete method (probably specifying and id) then delete that record if it exist and if user has appropriate permissions. I’ve never used Tornado but perhaps something like:

class WidgetHandler(RequestHandler):
    def initialize(self, database):
        self.database = database    

    def delete(self, id):
        # if user has permission to delete
        # if record exists
        # delete it

app = Application([
    (r'/widgets/([0-9]+)', WidgetHandler, dict(database=database)),
    ])

If you are using javascript/jquery/ajax on the front to make the request the jquery ajax supports delete:

// get your id somehow
// dynamically build url   
$.ajax({
    url: '/widgets/' + theIdYouGotSomehow,
    type: 'DELETE',
    success: function(result) {
        // Do something with the result
    }
});

For your comment, you can just hit the url with the delete method. /widgets/12

From jquery documentation they say

but they [delete, put, etc] are not supported by all browsers.

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/

Some stackoverflow posts suggest all modern browsers support the delete method.