How to Implement Soft Delete in Spring Data REST

What is the best way to implement soft delete functionality in Spring Data REST?

@Entity
public class User {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;

    private String name;

    private boolean deleted = false; // Soft delete flag

    // Getters and Setters
}

Soft deleting is a common pattern in applications where you want to retain deleted records for audit or recovery purposes. In Spring Data REST, you can implement soft delete functionality by adding a 'deleted' flag to your entity and customizing the repository behavior to exclude those entities when querying.

@Repository
public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
    List<User> findByDeletedFalse(); // Fetch only non-deleted users

    @Modifying
    @Query("UPDATE User u SET u.deleted = true WHERE u.id = :id")
    void softDelete(@Param("id") Long id);
}

Causes

• Lack of traditional DELETE operation required for maintaining data integrity.
• Need for record retention for regulatory compliance or audit trails.
• Desire to recover deleted records easily if needed.

Solutions

• Add a boolean field to your entity indicating whether the record is soft deleted.
• Override the default query methods in the Spring Data repository to filter out soft-deleted records.
• Implement custom methods for actual deletion functionality that updates the 'deleted' flag instead of removing the record from the database.

Mistake: Not indexing the 'deleted' column, leading to performance issues on large datasets.

Solution: Ensure that your database schema includes indexing on the 'deleted' column to optimize query performance.

Mistake: Excluding soft-deleted records in a way that causes inconsistent application behavior.

Solution: Always check the logic in your repository methods to ensure soft-deleted records are handled correctly.