Deleting Data

The standard Table::delete() / deleteOrFail() / deleteAll() flow applies unchanged. Only the JSON-specific consequences are described here; for the full behavior see the CakePHP Deleting Data cookbook.

Embedded entities live inside the parent's JSON column, so deleting and references behave differently from classic associations.

Deleting a Root Entity

Deleting the root entity removes its whole row, including the JSON storage column. Any embedded sub-entities go with it — there is no separate cascade step, because the embed data is part of the column.

$articles->delete($articles->get(1));   // drops data, profile, chapters, …

Removing an Embedded Child

To remove a single nested entity without deleting the parent, call delete() on the embedded entity. It uses the embeddedParent back-pointer to drop the element from the parent's list (or null the JsonFieldHasOne property) and marks the embed property dirty, so saving the parent issues the rewrite:

$article = $articles->get(1);
$article->chapters[0]->delete();   // removes the first chapter in memory
$articles->save($article);          // atomic rewrite of data->chapters

You can also drop a whole embed with the path API:

$article->unset('data->profile');
$articles->save($article);

Removing a JSON-FK Reference

A reference is only a foreign key stored in JSON. "Unlinking" means clearing that key and saving the parent — there is no unlink() method:

$article->set('data->author_id', null);      // or $article->author = null;
$articles->save($article);

$article->set('data->tag_ids', []);
$articles->save($article);

Bulk Deletes

deleteAll() executes a single DELETE and bypasses the behavior. It removes root rows only; JSON foreign keys stored in other rows are unaffected, exactly as with classic foreign keys. If you need to also clear JSON foreign keys pointing at the removed rows, do it with an explicit update first (see Saving Data):

$articles->deleteAll(['id' => $ids]);