Here is my approach for deleting stuff with ASP.NET MVC 2.

As mentioned here, the default Delete view isn't quite correct. What I wanted is a deletion solution that:

• is powered with Ajax for a better user experience
  • we will make a HTTP DELETE on /Items/Delete/12 to delete item #12
• is accessible for non-JS enabled browsers (we need a confirmation form)
  • when confirmed, the deletion occurs with HTTP POST on /Items/Delete/12 to delete item #12

With those specifications, we can write the following (wrong) controller code:

public class ItemsController : Controller
    {
        [HttpGet]
        public ActionResult Delete(int id) {
 
            ViewData.Model = new ConfirmFormModel { 
                Id = id.ToString(),
                BackAction = "Index"
            };
 
            return View();
        }
 
        [HttpDelete]
        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult Delete(ConfirmFormModel model) {
            ViewData.Model = model;
 
            // business action here
 
            // if we use Ajax, backaction will be null and have
            // to prevent a secondary GET request
            return model.BackAction == null ? null : RedirectToAction(model.BackAction);
        }
 
    }

/// <summary>
    /// Simple model class to store the Id for a confirmation form.
    /// </summary>
    public class ConfirmFormModel {
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Item's ID
        /// </summary>
        public string Id { get; set; }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Confirmation message.
        /// </summary>
        public string Message { get; set; }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// The controller action to redirect to if the user wants to cancel.
        /// </summary>
        public string BackAction { get; set; }
 
    }

A created a little model class to store the confirmation message and the item ID; this way I can use it all over my project. You can notice the [HttpDelete] and [HttpPost] on the second Delete() method. Obviously this won't work as asked here. You have to create your own attribute.

So I created the related views with (not-included) javascript. Here is the index:

<!-- Index page -->
 
    <ul>
    <% for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { %>
        <li><%= Html.ActionLink("Delete #" + i, "Delete", new { id = i }, new { @class = "deleteLink" })%></li>
    <% } %>
    </ul>

The delete page where I include a generic partial-view:

<!-- Delete page -->
 
    <h3>Confirmation</h3>
 
    <% Html.RenderPartial("ConfirmForm", Model); %>

Finally, the partial view:

<!-- Delete form in a partial view -->
 
<% Html.BeginForm();  %>
    <fieldset>
        <legend>Confirmation</legend>
 
        <p><%= Html.Encode(Model.Message ?? "Are you sure you want to delete this?")%></p>
 
        <p>
            <%= Html.HiddenFor(m => m.Id) %>
            <%= Html.HiddenFor(m => m.BackAction) %>
            <%= Html.ActionLink("Cancel", Model.BackAction ?? "Index") %>
            <input type="submit" name="Continue" value="Continue" />
        </p>
    </fieldset>
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

Now we have a working solution to confirm some action on a website. Sources attached...