Laravel find() does not get data from the DB - php

Question

I have a resource Controller with this index method like this:
public function index()
{
$args = [];
$args = array_merge($args, $this->data_creator(35, 12, 'book'));
$args = array_merge($args, $this->data_creator(37, 12, 'kit'));
$args = array_merge($args, $this->data_creator(38, 12, 'game'));
$args['menu_links'] = [
'books' => route('shopping-products.category', Category::find(25)->slug),
'videos' => route('shopping-products.category', Category::find(24)->slug),
'kits' => route('shopping-products.category', Category::find(23)->slug),
'games' => route('shopping-products.category', Category::find(22)->slug),
];
return view('frontend.shop.products.index', $args);
}
But it returns this error:
Trying to get property 'slug' of non-object
And when I dd(Category::find(25), Category::find(24), Category::find(23), Category::find(22)); I get NULL results.
Meaning that it can not find data with specified ids.
However there are 25 records stored at the categories table:
So what is going wrong here? How can I fix this issue?
I would really appreciate any idea or suggestion from you guys...
Thanks in advance.
Here is Category.php Model:
class Category extends Model
{
use Sluggable, SoftDeletes;
protected $table = 'categories';
protected $primaryKey = 'cat_id';
protected $guarded = [];
/**
* Return the sluggable configuration array for this model.
*
* #return array
*/
public function sluggable()
{
return [
'slug' => [
'source' => 'cat_name'
]
];
}
public function path()
{
return "/products/categories/$this->slug";
}
public function children()
{
return $this->hasMany(Category::class, 'cat_parent_id', 'cat_id');
}
public function parents()
{
return $this->hasMany(Category::class, 'cat_id', 'cat_parent_id');
}
public function products()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(Product::class, 'category_products', 'ctp_cat_id', 'ctp_prd_id');
}
public function news()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(News::class, 'category_news', 'ctn_cat_id', 'ctn_nws_id');
}
public function galleries()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(Gallery::class, 'category_galleries', 'ctg_cat_id', 'ctg_gly_id');
}
public function uploaded()
{
return $this->hasMany(UploadedFile::class, 'upf_object_id', 'cat_id')->where('upf_object_type_id', '=', '107');
}
public function articles()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(Article::class, 'article_category', 'act_cat_id', 'act_art_id');
}
public function olympiadExam()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(OlympiadExam::class, 'olympiads_exams_categories', 'oec_ole_id', 'oec_cat_id');
}
public function olympiadExamQuestion()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(OlympiadExamQuestion::class, 'olympiads_exams_questions_categories', 'oes_cat_id', 'oes_oeq_id')->orderBy('oeq_number', 'asc');
}
public function attr_attributes()
{
return $this->hasMany(CategoryAttribute::class, 'category_id', 'cat_id');
} //
public function attr_product()
{
return $this->hasMany(Product::class, 'prd_cat_att_id', 'cat_id');
} //
public function couponRelation()
{
return $this->hasMany(couponRelation::class, 'object_id', 'cat_id')->where('object_type', 'product_category');
}
public function magazines()
{
return $this->belongsToMany(Magazine::class, 'category_magazine', 'category_id', 'magazine_id');
}
}
And when I do: dd(Category::where('cat_id', 25), Category::where('cat_id', 24), Category::where('cat_id', 23), Category::where('cat_id', 22)); I get this as result:

Answer 1

The problem is because you are using SoftDeletes so soft deleted models will automatically be excluded from query results. In your case, look like Category with id 22, 23, 24, 25 are soft deleted. To get it, you need to use withTrashed() as mentioned in the doc. For example:
Category::withTrashed()->find(22)->slug

Answer 2

per an answer above: if you are using soft deletes you need to add
Category::withTrashed()
However, you can wrap the command in an optional() helper function.
optional(Category::find(22))->slug
// if you are using soft delete
optional( Category::withTrashed()->find(22) )->slug
this will return null if 22 does not exist instead of throwing an exception error.