README

Application Runtime Configuration Extension for Yii 1

This extension provides support for Yii1 ActiveRecord soft delete.

For license information check the LICENSE-file.

Installation

The preferred way to install this extension is through composer.

Either run

php composer.phar require --prefer-dist yii1tech/ar-softdelete

or add

"yii1tech/ar-softdelete": "*"

to the "require" section of your composer.json.

Usage

This extension provides support for so called "soft" deletion of the ActiveRecord, which means record is not deleted from database, but marked with some flag or status, which indicates it is no longer active, instead.

This extension provides \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior ActiveRecord behavior for such solution support in Yii1. You may attach it to your model class in the following way:

<?php

use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class Item extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                'softDeleteAttributeValues' => [
                    'is_deleted' => true,
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}

There are 2 ways of "soft" delete applying:

• using softDelete() separated method
• mutating regular delete() method

Usage of softDelete() is recommended, since it allows marking the record as "deleted", while leaving regular delete() method intact, which allows you to perform "hard" delete if necessary. For example:

<?php

$id = 17;
$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
$item->softDelete(); // mark record as "deleted"

$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
var_dump($item->is_deleted); // outputs "true"

$item->delete(); // perform actual deleting of the record
$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
var_dump($item); // outputs "null"

However, you may want to mutate regular ActiveRecord delete() method in the way it performs "soft" deleting instead of actual removing of the record. It is a common solution in such cases as applying "soft" delete functionality for existing code. For such functionality you should enable \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$replaceRegularDelete option in behavior configuration:

<?php

use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class Item extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                'softDeleteAttributeValues' => [
                    'is_deleted' => true
                ],
                'replaceRegularDelete' => true // mutate native `delete()` method
            ],
        ];
    }
}

Now invocation of the delete() method will mark record as "deleted" instead of removing it:

<?php

$id = 17;
$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
$item->delete(); // no record removal, mark record as "deleted" instead

$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
var_dump($item->is_deleted); // outputs "true"

Querying "soft" deleted records

Obviously, in order to find only "deleted" or only "active" records you should add corresponding condition to your search query:

<?php

// returns only not "deleted" records
$notDeletedItems = Item::model()
    ->findAll('is_deleted = 0');

// returns "deleted" records
$deletedItems = Item::model()
    ->findAll('is_deleted = 1');

However, you can use \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteQueryBehavior to facilitate composition of such queries. Once being attached ite provides methods similar to scopes for the records filtering using "soft" deleted criteria. For example:

<?php

// Find all "deleted" records:
$deletedItems = Item::model()->deleted()->findAll();

// Find all "active" records:
$notDeletedItems = Item::model()->notDeleted()->findAll();

You may easily create listing filter for "deleted" records using filterDeleted() method:

<?php

// Filter records by "soft" deleted criteria:
$items = Item::model()
    ->filterDeleted(Yii::app()->request->getParam('filter_deleted'))
    ->findAll();

This method applies notDeleted() scope on empty filter value, deleted() - on positive filter value, and no scope (e.g. show both "deleted" and "active" records) on negative (zero) value.

Note: `yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteQueryBehavior1 has been designed to properly handle joins and avoid ambiguous column errors, however, there still can be cases, which it will be unable to handle properly. Be prepared to specify "soft deleted" conditions manually in case you are writing complex query, involving several tables with "soft delete" feature.

By default yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteQueryBehavior composes filter criteria for its scopes using the information from yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$softDeleteAttributeValues. Thus, you may need to manually configure filter conditions in case you are using sophisticated logic for "soft" deleted records marking. For example:

<?php

use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class Item extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                'softDeleteAttributeValues' => [
                    'statusId' => 'deleted',
                ],
                'deletedCondition' => [
                    'statusId' => 'deleted',
                ],
                'notDeletedCondition' => [
                    'statusId' => 'active',
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
    
    // ...
}

Tip: you may apply a condition, which filters "not deleted" records, to the search query as default, enabling yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$autoApplyNotDeletedCondition.

<?php

use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class Item extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                'softDeleteAttributeValues' => [
                    'is_deleted' => true,
                ],
                'autoApplyNotDeletedCondition' => true,
            ],
        ];
    }

    // ...
}

$notDeletedItems = Item::model()->findAll(); // returns only not "deleted" records

$allItems = Item::find()
    ->deleted() // applies "deleted" condition, preventing default one
    ->findAll(); // returns "deleted" records

$allItems = Item::find()
    ->filterDeleted('all') // filter all records, preventing default "not deleted" condition
    ->all(); // returns all records

Smart deletion

Usually "soft" deleting feature is used to prevent the database history loss, ensuring data, which been in use and perhaps have a references or dependencies, is kept in the system. However, sometimes actual deleting is allowed for such data as well. For example: usually user account records should not be deleted but only marked as "inactive", however if you browse through users list and found accounts, which has been registered long ago, but don't have at least single log-in in the system, these records have no value for the history and can be removed from database to save disk space.

You can make "soft" deletion to be "smart" and detect, if the record can be removed from the database or only marked as "deleted". This can be done via \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$allowDeleteCallback. For example:

<?php
 
use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class User extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                'softDeleteAttributeValues' => [
                    'is_deleted' => true
                ],
                'allowDeleteCallback' => function ($user) {
                    return $user->last_login_date === null; // allow to delete user, if he has never logged in
                }
            ],
        ];
    }
}

$user = User::model()->find('last_login_date IS NULL');
$user->softDelete(); // removes the record!!!

$user = User::find()->find('last_login_date IS NOT NULL');
$user->softDelete(); // marks record as "deleted"

\yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$allowDeleteCallback logic is applied in case \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$replaceRegularDelete is enabled as well.

Handling foreign key constraints

In case of usage of the relational database, which supports foreign keys, like MySQL, PostgreSQL etc., "soft" deletion is widely used for keeping foreign keys consistence. For example: if user performs a purchase at the online shop, information about this purchase should remain in the system for the future bookkeeping. The DDL for such data structure may look like following one:

CREATE TABLE `customer`
(
   `id` integer NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
   `name` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
   `address` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
   `phone` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE InnoDB;

CREATE TABLE `purchase`
(
   `id` integer NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
   `customer_id` integer NOT NULL,
   `item_id` integer NOT NULL,
   `amount` integer NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
    FOREIGN KEY (`customer_id`) REFERENCES `customer` (`id`) ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE,
    FOREIGN KEY (`item_id`) REFERENCES `item` (`id`) ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE,
) ENGINE InnoDB;

Thus, while set up a foreign key from 'purchase' to 'user', 'ON DELETE RESTRICT' mode is used. So on attempt to delete a user record, which have at least one purchase, a database error will occur. However, if user record have no external reference, it can be deleted.

Usage of \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$allowDeleteCallback for such use case is not very practical. It will require performing extra queries to determine, if external references exist or not, eliminating the benefits of the foreign keys database feature.

Method \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::safeDelete() attempts to invoke regular CBaseActiveRecord::delete() method, and, if it fails with exception, falls back to yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::softDelete().

<?php

// if there is a foreign key reference :
$customer = Customer::model()->findByPk(15);
var_dump(count($customer->purchases)); // outputs; "1"
$customer->safeDelete(); // performs "soft" delete!
var_dump($customer->isDeleted) // outputs: "true"

// if there is NO foreign key reference :
$customer = Customer::model()->findByPk(53);
var_dump(count($customer->purchases)); // outputs; "0"
$customer->safeDelete(); // performs actual delete!
$customer = Customer::model()->findByPk(53);
var_dump($customer); // outputs: "null"

By default safeDelete() method catches \CDbException exception, which means soft deleting will be performed on foreign constraint violation DB exception. You may specify another exception class here to customize fallback error level. For example: usage of \Throwable will cause soft-delete fallback on any error during regular deleting.

Record restoration

At some point you may want to "restore" records, which have been marked as "deleted" in the past. You may use restore() method for this:

<?php

$id = 17;
$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
$item->softDelete(); // mark record as "deleted"

$item = Item::model()->findByPk($id);
$item->restore(); // restore record
var_dump($item->is_deleted); // outputs "false"

By default, attribute values, which should be applied for record restoration are automatically detected from \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$softDeleteAttributeValues, however it is better you specify them explicitly via \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$restoreAttributeValues.

Tip: if you enable \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::$useRestoreAttributeValuesAsDefaults, attribute values, which marks restored record, will be automatically applied at new record insertion.

Events

By default \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior::softDelete() triggers \CActiveRecord::onBeforeDelete and \CActiveRecord::onAfterDelete events in the same way they are triggered at regular delete().

Also \yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior allows you to hook on soft-delete process defining specific methods at the owner ActiveRecord class:

• beforeSoftDelete() - triggered before "soft" delete is made.
• afterSoftDelete() - triggered after "soft" delete is made.
• beforeRestore() - triggered before record is restored from "deleted" state.
• afterRestore() - triggered after record is restored from "deleted" state.

For example:

<?php

use CActiveRecord;
use yii1tech\ar\softdelete\SoftDeleteBehavior;

class Item extends CActiveRecord
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'softDeleteBehavior' => [
                'class' => SoftDeleteBehavior::class,
                // ...
            ],
        ];
    }

    public function beforeSoftDelete(): bool
    {
        $this->deleted_at = time(); // log the deletion date
        
        return true;
    }

    public function beforeRestore(): bool
    {
        return $this->deleted_at > (time() - 3600); // allow restoration only for the records, being deleted during last hour
    }
}