[5.3] DELETE should return 204 if item don't exist

[alikon]

Pull Request for Issue # .

Summary of Changes

According to the HTTP/REST specification, a DELETE request for a resource that does not exist should respond with 204 No Content or 404 Not Found.

Testing Instructions

execute a DELETE api/index.php/v1/content/articles/99 for a non existent item

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

{ "errors": [ { "code": 500, "title": "Internal server error" } ] }

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

return 204

Link to documentations

Please select:

• Documentation link for docs.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for docs.joomla.org needed

• Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed

[richard67]

@alikon The title and the expected result say "204". Did you mean "404"?

[alikon]

no i mean http status code 204 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/204

[richard67]

no i mean http status code 204 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/204

I see. Thanks for clarification.

[muhme]

@alikon Would it not be great to have this in System Tests?

[alikon]

@muhme did you mean like that ?

[muhme]

@alikon Thank you for adding single System Tests 👍 As this counts for all ressouces, should we add the test everywhere? Or, if this is too expensive, creating one new test like checking-api-status?

And sorry for jumping in at the end — from what I understand, 204 'No Content' is used when a resource is successfully deleted, so there’s nothing to return. If the resource doesn’t exist, then 404 'Not Found' would be the appropriate response — wouldn’t it?

[alikon]

@muhme

As this counts for all ressouces, should we add the test everywhere? Or, if this is too expensive, creating one new test like checking-api-status?

consider that some api test even don't test the delete endpoint , so don't know what's better

And sorry for jumping in at the end — from what I understand, 204 'No Content' is used when a resource is successfully deleted, so there’s nothing to return. If the resource doesn’t exist, then 404 'Not Found' would be the appropriate response — wouldn’t it?

According to the HTTP/REST specification, a DELETE request for a resource that does not exist should respond with 204

[exlemor]

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on 3ac675a

I have successfully tested this!! Thanks @alikon!

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[muhme]

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on 3ac675a

• Tested in using JBT, before the PR, with curl:
  • Created API Token and stored in TOKEN env var
  • Created three articles and trashed them
  • Existing article can be deleted and ends in status code 204
  • Non-existing article ends in status code 500
• After applying the patch with graft
  • Created three articles and trashed them
  • Existing article can be deleted and ends in status code 204 "No Content"
  • Non-existing article ends in status code 204 "No Content"
  • Wrong api/index.php/v1/content/articles/a ends in status code 404 "Resource not found"

---

curl sample:

curl -v --header "X-Joomla-Token: $TOKEN" -X DELETE "http://localhost:7053/api/index.php/v1/content/articles/42"
...
< HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
...
{"errors":[{"code":500,"title":"Internal server error"}]}%   
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[richard67]

RTC

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[rdeutz]

Thanks