Delete entry assets?

Question

Is there a way to delete an entry's assets when the entry is deleted? We're going to end up with a lot of orphaned assets.

Or is this not a feature because an asset can be shared between entries? Thus requiring me to write a plugin to tie into the onDeleteEntry event (Where and how should you listen for entry delete in plugin?)?

Answer 1

Or is this not a feature because an asset can be shared between entries?

Bingo.

A plugin is way to go if that's the behavior you're looking for.

Answer 2

This is how I did it:

1. In my custom plugin, in its init function, I use the following statement to hook into the before delete event:

   craft()->on('elements.onBeforeDeleteElements', array($this, 'beforeDeleteElements'));
   

2. In the same custom plugin, in the beforeDeleteElements function mentioned in step 1, I examine the passed in event, and determine if the entry type being deleted is the entry type I am interested in, if so, I use the following function to find the related assets and then delete them:

   protected function deleteRelatedImages(EntryModel $entry)
   {
       $criteria            = craft()->elements->getCriteria(ElementType::Asset);
       $criteria->relatedTo = $entry;
       $assets              = $criteria->find();
   
       if (!$assets) {
           return;
       }
   
       foreach ($assets as $asset) {
           $sourceType = $asset->getSource()->getSourceType();
           $sourceType->deleteFile($asset);
       }
   }