Why should you care?

ShopNest may remove draft products or cancel pending orders — hard delete is appropriate only when business rules allow permanent removal.

See it live — copy this example

Paste into a .NET project with EF Core packages, then run with LocalDB/SQL Server (dotnet ef / dotnet run).

var draft = await _context.Products
    .FirstOrDefaultAsync(p => p.Id == id && !p.IsPublished);
if (draft is null) return NotFound();

_context.Products.Remove(draft);
await _context.SaveChangesAsync();
// DELETE FROM Products WHERE Id = @id

What happened?

• Remove marks entity Deleted.
• SaveChangesAsync sends DELETE.
• FK Restrict may block delete if related OrderItems exist.

Practice next

1. Delete a product with no FK references and confirm row gone in SSMS.
2. Attempt delete with dependent OrderItems and read FK error.
3. Use RemoveRange for small admin purge lists.
4. Delete via entry.State = EntityState.Deleted instead of Remove.
5. Compare DeleteBehavior Cascade on Order–OrderItem by deleting parent Order.

Remember

Remove + SaveChangesAsync executes DELETE. FK and cascade rules govern success. Hard delete is permanent — confirm business policy first.

ShopNest draft cleanup

Admin removes unpublished draft Product with no sales history.

Outcome: Row removed cleanly; published products with orders remain protected by FK.