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Laravel API DELETE Requests of Resource Controller and Getting 404 Not Found Error (for Second time Delete)

I'm encountering a peculiar issue in my Laravel API setup. I have a resource controller for managing student data, including deletion. When I make a DELETE request to http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/student/1 (for example, with id=1), the first request successfully deletes the student and returns a JSON response with a success message:

{
    "message": "Student deleted successfully"
}

However, if I make another DELETE request immediately afterward with the same URL and ID, instead of receiving a similar success message, I get a 404 Not Found error with a rendered HTML response.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

    <title>Not Found</title>

    <style>
        /* code css here */
    </style>
    <link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' property='stylesheet'
        href='//127.0.0.1:8000/_debugbar/assets/stylesheets?v=1697098252&theme=auto' data-turbolinks-eval='false'
        data-turbo-eval='false'>
    <script src='//127.0.0.1:8000/_debugbar/assets/javascript?v=1697098252' data-turbolinks-eval='false'
        data-turbo-eval='false'></script>
    <script data-turbo-eval="false">
        jQuery.noConflict(true);
    </script>
    <script>
        //js code here 
    </script>
</head>

<body class="antialiased">
    <div
        class="relative flex items-top justify-center min-h-screen bg-gray-100 dark:bg-gray-900 sm:items-center sm:pt-0">
        <div class="max-w-xl mx-auto sm:px-6 lg:px-8">
            <div class="flex items-center pt-8 sm:justify-start sm:pt-0">
                <div class="px-4 text-lg text-gray-500 border-r border-gray-400 tracking-wider">
                    404 </div>

                <div class="ml-4 text-lg text-gray-500 uppercase tracking-wider">
                    Not Found </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        //js script code
    </script>
</body>

</html>

The code of the Controller function

// StudentController.php

<?php

use App\Models\Student;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator;

class StudentController extends Controller
{
    // ...other code 

    public function destroy(Student $student)
    {
        try {
            $student->delete();
            $student->person()->delete();
            $student->guardian1()->delete();
            $student->guardian2()->delete();
            return response()->json(['message' => 'Student deleted successfully'], 200);
        } catch (\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\ModelNotFoundException $notFoundException) {
            return response()->json(['error' => 'Student not found', 'exception' => $notFoundException->getMessage()], 404);
        } catch (\Exception $e) {
            return response()->json(['error' => 'An error occurred while deleting the student', 'exception' => $e->getMessage()], 500);
        }
    }
}

the Code of the Api Route

// api.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::group(['middleware' => 'auth:api'], function(){
    // ...other code 

    Route::resource('student', App\Http\Controllers\StudentController::class);
 
});

Additional Information:

  • This behavior occurs consistently whenever I attempt to delete a student for the second time.
  • I've ensured that the appropriate routes are registered in api.php.
  • I'm using Laravel version 10.32.1

I expected that both DELETE requests would successfully return a JSON response with a message indicating successful deletion, or Error message of not exists element.

Solution

  • Make sure to alias the exception class you are checking for.

    use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\ModelNotFoundException;

    Without this you are checking for an instance of App\Exceptions\ModelNotFoundException.