# Editor example Soft delete

This example demonstrates how a soft delete database schema can be implemented with Editor. The basic idea here is that the data isn't actually removed from the database, but simply marked as deleted allowing a WHERE condition to be applied, removing that data from the user's view. This is often used where audit trails are required, or to allow data to be easily retrieved (e.g. undo).

Rather than using a remove action in Editor (`remove` or `remove()`), a soft delete is actually an edit (`edit()`) with the field to flag the records as deleted set (`val()`). Here a button is defined which shows a "Are you sure" message on an `edit` action and then sets the `removed_date` field (which is `hidden`) to be the current date (which this specific database requires - other fields such as the deleting user name could also be set).

Note also that since this is an edit action, and we don't actually want the end user to do any editing, we need to use `hide()` to hide the editable fields and then `show()` when the form is closed (`close`) to make then visible on the edit real edit.

First name | Last name | Phone # | Location
--- | --- | --- | ---
First name | Last name | Phone # | Location

- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
- Ajax
- Server-side script

The JavaScript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

`const editor = new DataTable.Editor({ ajax: '../php/softDelete.php', fields: [ { label: 'First name:', name: 'users.first_name' }, { label: 'Last name:', name: 'users.last_name' }, { label: 'Phone #:', name: 'users.phone' }, { label: 'Site:', name: 'users.site', type: 'select' }, { name: 'users.removed_date', type: 'hidden' } ], table: '#example' }); const table = new DataTable('#example', { ajax: { url: '../php/softDelete.php', type: 'POST' }, columns: [ { data: 'users.first_name' }, { data: 'users.last_name' }, { data: 'users.phone' }, { data: 'sites.name' } ], layout: { topStart: { buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor: editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor: editor }, { extend: 'selected', text: 'Delete', action: function (e, dt, node, config) { var rows = table.rows({ selected: true }).indexes(); editor .hide(editor.fields()) .one('close', function () { setTimeout(function () { // Wait for animation editor.show(editor.fields()); }, 500); }) .edit(rows, { title: 'Delete', message: rows.length === 1 ? 'Are you sure you wish to delete this row?' : 'Are you sure you wish to delete these ' + rows.length + ' rows', buttons: 'Delete' }) .val( 'users.removed_date', new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0] ); } } ] } }, select: true });`

In addition to the above code, the following JavaScript library files are loaded for use in this example:

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

``

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.