Soft Delete (Logical Deletion) in NeNe¶

NeNe supports soft-delete via DataMapperBase. When enabled, DELETE operations set a deleted_at timestamp instead of removing the row. Deleted rows can be restored, listed, or permanently purged.

Enable soft delete on a mapper¶

Add deleted_at DATETIME NULL DEFAULT NULL to your table schema and set SOFT_DELETE = true in the mapper:

class NoteMapper extends DataMapperBase
{
    protected const MODEL_CLASS  = Note::class;
    protected const TARGET_TABLE = 'notes';
    protected const SOFT_DELETE  = true;
}

That's it. The base class handles the rest automatically.

What changes automatically¶

Method	SOFT_DELETE = false	SOFT_DELETE = true
`find($id)`	all rows	active rows only
`findALL()`	all rows	active rows only
`findPage()`	all rows	active rows only
`countAll()`	all rows	active rows only
`delete($obj)`	physical DELETE	sets `deleted_at = NOW()`

New methods (only work when SOFT_DELETE = true)¶

Method	Description
`softDelete($obj)`	Explicitly soft-delete (same as `delete()` when SOFT_DELETE=true)
`restore(int $id)`	Clear `deleted_at` → bool
`findTrashed()`	List soft-deleted rows
`purge(int $id)`	Physical delete of one trashed row → bool
`purgeAll()`	Physical delete of all trashed rows → int

Schema example¶

CREATE TABLE notes (
    id         INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    title      VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    body       TEXT,
    deleted_at DATETIME NULL DEFAULT NULL,
    created_at DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    updated_at DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Controller pattern¶

// Soft delete
$note = $this->noteMapper->find($id);
if ($note === false) { /* 404 */ }
$this->noteMapper->delete($note);      // sets deleted_at

// Restore
$restored = $this->noteMapper->restore($id);
if (!$restored) { /* was not in trash — 404 */ }

// List trash
$stmt    = $this->noteMapper->findTrashed();
$trashed = $stmt->fetchAll();

// Purge one item
$purged = $this->noteMapper->purge($id);

// Purge all
$count = $this->noteMapper->purgeAll();

Security note¶

Without soft delete, a bug or typo in a WHERE clause can silently expose deleted data. The SOFT_DELETE = true default-exclude pattern ensures that deleted rows never appear in standard find() / findALL() results, reducing the blast radius of query mistakes (see NENE2 FT108 F-1).