Delete - Removing a Record

Deleting is the simplest operation. You only need the UUID - there are no new values to send, so there is no request body. Just a DELETE request with the id in the URL.

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Sending the DELETE request

The Delete button on each row already has the data-id attribute. When clicked, you read it and send a DELETE request to /patients/ + id:

function deletePatient(button) {
    let id = button.dataset.id

    fetch("/patients/" + id, {
        method: "DELETE"
    })
        .then(response => response.json())
        .then(result => {
            loadPatients()
        })
        .catch(error => console.log("Error:", error))
}

No headers or body needed - DELETE just needs the URL.

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The Flask route

@app.route('/patients/<string:id>', methods=['DELETE'])
def delete_patient(id):
    Patient.objects.filter(id=id).delete()
    return jsonify({ "status": "ok" })

filter(id=id) finds the record. .delete() removes it permanently.

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One path, three methods

Notice that /patients/<string:id> now handles GET, PUT, and DELETE - each as a separate route:

@app.route('/patients/<string:id>', methods=['GET'])
def get_patient(id): ...

@app.route('/patients/<string:id>', methods=['PUT'])
def update_patient(id): ...

@app.route('/patients/<string:id>', methods=['DELETE'])
def delete_patient(id): ...

Flask looks at the method on every incoming request and calls the right function. The URL is the same. The method is what tells them apart.

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The complete picture

Your app now has a full CRUD API:

Action	Method	URL	Flask function
Add	POST	/patients	add_patient()
List all	GET	/patients	get_patients()
Get one	GET	/patients/<string:id>	get_patient(id)
Update	PUT	/patients/<string:id>	update_patient(id)
Delete	DELETE	/patients/<string:id>	delete_patient(id)

Five routes. Four HTTP methods. Every operation covered.

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Challenge

Add the DELETE route to app.py and the deletePatient() function to your template. Click Delete on a patient and watch them disappear from the table. Then restart Flask and confirm the patient is gone from the database - not just from the page.

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