How to delete document/attachment by using Rest API

To delete documents, you should send request using DELETE http method to following URLs (Documentation Deleting documents):
~/rest/content/currentsite/<culture>/document/<alias path>
~/rest/content/site/<site name>/<culture>/document/<alias path>

Attachments are Kentico objects, so to delete them, you should send DELETE request to the next URLs (Documentation Deleting objects):
~/rest/cms.attachment/<id>
~/rest/cms.attachment/<guid>

Hi Kimsan,

First you need to enable and ensure your REST API is configured in your kentico application #Configure Rest Services. In the Admin/Settings/Integration/REST settings, you will want to make sure you set the following:

Service Enabled

Make sure the service is enabled on your site!

Authentication mode

In my example, I will be using “Basic Authentication.” You can also choose Forms Authentication, as well as set a hash for the URL.

Object access is read only

This will determine if users will be able to create objects, rather than only reading them. You will want to make sure that “objects” are NOT set to read only.

Allow sensitive fields for administrators

This setting will allow us to set the password for the new user account. Only Global Administrators are allowed to do this action.

Then run any rest url to get data to test rest is enabled and working fine.

Example: http://localhost/KenticoCMS/rest/cms.country

Output: All cms.country objects retrieved in XML format.

Then you can move forward with various data manipulation option using REST API.

Use your logic to perform delete operation using rest API

example:

Delete by object ID

YourRestURL/ObjectName/ID

Delete by object GUID

YourRestURL/ObjectName/GUID

URL: http://localhost/Kentico10/rest/cms.attachment/332

Using AjaxRequest

$.ajax({
    url: 'http://localhost/Kentico10/rest/cms.attachment/332',
    type: 'DELETE',
    success: function(result) {
        // Do something with the result
    }
});

Thanks

Happy to help you

Dear All ,

I am using C# code to request url like this

    static void DeleteDocument(Guid attachmentGUID)
    {
        string httpMethod = "DELETE"; // "GET", "POST", "PUT" or "DELETE"
        string requestUrl = string.Format("http://localhost/rest/cms.attachment/{0}", attachmentGUID); // The URL of the REST request (base URL + resource path)
        // Creates the REST request
        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(requestUrl);
        // Sets the HTTP method of the request
        request.Method = httpMethod;
        // Authorizes the request using Basic authentication
        request.Headers.Add("Authorization: Basic YWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvcjo=");

    }
    But it doesn't work, So could you please correct me to the right way?

You should add the following code to the end of your method to perform the request:

var response = (HttpWebResponse) request.GetResponse();
if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
   // some code if needed
}

Hi Kimsan,

I got your problem why this not working because your requeest is not Authorized you must need to set a valid Authorization header.In below code I'm using administrator as user to test your case, you can use your user or access token or type of Authorization.

static void DeleteDocument(Guid attachmentGUID)
    {
        string requestBaseUrl = "http://localhost/rest";     
        string username = "administrator";
        string password = "";
        string result = "";
        try
        {
            requestBaseUrl = string.Format("{0}/cms.attachment/{1}", requestBaseUrl, attachmentGUID); // The URL of the REST request (base URL + resource path)

            // Creates the REST request
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(requestBaseUrl);

            // Sets the HTTP method of the request
            request.Method = "DELETE";

            // Authorizes the request using Basic authentication
            // request.Headers.Add("Authorization: Basic YWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvcjo=");

            // Authorizes the request using Basic authentication
            string svcCredentials = Convert.ToBase64String(ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(username + ":" + password));

            request.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + svcCredentials);

            // Gets the REST response
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

            result = "Succesfully deleted";
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //
            result = "Something went wrong";
        }

    }

Best practice to use try , catch for error handling and tracing.

Thanks

Happy to help you

Dear all,

I got stuck in this line

HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

I always got error "The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden"

I am trying many way, but I still couldn't solve it well.

Could you please give me the best solution to fix this?

Best Regards, Kimsan,

The error means that you don't have enough permissions for your request. Try to check IIS configuration and settings in Kentico (Configuring REST service in IIS and Authenticating REST requests)

Dear All,

I have fixed it. All you both answer are correct just following step by step.

Thank you very much for your help.

Best Regards,

Kimsan