• Article

BDELETE Method

Topic Last Modified: 2006-06-13

The WebDAV BDELETE Method is similar to the DELETE Method but it is used to delete one or more target resources.

Unlike the DELETE Method, the BDELETE Method contains a request body which must contain at least one target XML Element.

The response for the BDELETE Method is identical to the response for the DELETE Method. If all target resources are deleted successfully, no response body is required. If there are errors deleting specific resources, these are identified in a 207 (Multi-Status) response.

The BDELETE Method is not supported in transactions.

Note

See Authentication and Security Using WebDAV for more information.

The list of WebDAV Protocol Status Codes in the following table is not comprehensive. For information about 500-level status codes, see WebDAV Status Codes: 500s.

Status Codes

Status Code Meaning

204 (No Content)

Standard success response.

423 (Locked)

The destination resource is locked.

424 (Method Failure)

The method cannot be supported in a transaction.

Example

The following example illustrates a WebDAV BDELETE Method. Because the request was successful, the response is not a 207 (Multi-Status).

In this example file1 is not contained in the response because it was deleted successfully; file2 was not found; and there was an error that prevented the collection named "box" and one of the resources it contains from being deleted.

Request

BDELETE /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: www.contoso.com
Content-type: text/xml
Content-Length: xxxx

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<D:delete xmlns:D="DAV:">
    <D:target>
        <D:href>file1</D:href>
        <D:href>file2</D:href>
   </D:target>
</D:delete>

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Request

BDELETE /container/ HTTP/1.1
Host: www.contoso.com
Content-type: text/xml
Content-Length: xxxx

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<D:delete xmlns:D="DAV:">
    <D:target>
        <D:href>file1</D:href>
        <D:href>file2</D:href>
        <D:href>box</D:href>
   </D:target>
</D:delete>

Response

HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
   Content-Type: text/xml
   Content-Length: xxxx

   <?xml version="1.0" ?>
   <D:multistatus xmlns:D="DAV:">
     <D:response>
          <D:href>https://www.contoso.com/container/file2</D:href>
          <D:status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</D:status>
     </D:response>
     <D:response>
          <D:href>https://www.contoso.com/container/box/resource3.htm</D:href>
          <D:status>HTTP/1.1 423 Locked</D:status>
               <D:lockdiscovery>
                    <D:activelock>
                         <D:locktype><D:write/></D:locktype>
                         <D:lockscope><D:exclusive/></D:lockscope>
                         <D:depth>0</D:depth>
                         <D:owner>Jane Smith</D:owner>
                         <D:timeout>Infinite</D:timeout>
                         <D:locktoken>
                                <D:href>opaquelocktoken:f81de2ad-7f3d-a1b2-4f3c-00a0c91a9d</D:href>
                         </D:locktoken>
                    </D:activelock>
           </D:lockdiscovery>
     </D:response>
   </D:multistatus>