Call to a member function update() on null - php

Question

I'm building my first Laravel app. That's my first problem that I can't overcome.
I tried to google something about it, but I couldn't find something that could help me.
class ProfilesController extends Controller
{
public function index(User $user)
{
return view('profiles.index', compact('user'));
}
public function edit(User $user){
return view('profiles.edit', compact('user'));
}
public function update(User $user){
$data = request()->validate([
'description' => 'required',
]);
$user->profile->update($data);
return redirect("{$user->id}/edit");
}
}
I want to get through that and update $data.
Edit
public function profile() {
return $this->hasOne(Profile::class);
}
public function posts(){
return $this->hasMany(Post::class)->orderBy('created_at', 'DESC');
}

Answer 1

Try this:
optional($user->profile)->update($data);
You can see the official documentation of optional() helper here.

Answer 2

I think you cannot update directly on an instance, you'd have to do : User::where('user_id', $user->id);
If you want to "update" an instance, you would have to do : $user->description = $data['description']; $user->save();

Answer 3

Do this:
if($user->profile) {
$user->profile()->update($data);
}
Hope this will help you.

Answer 4

I would imagine this is because the user doesn't have a profile by default.
One way you can get around this is by using withDefault() on your profile relationship in your User model e.g.
public function profile()
{
return $this->hasOne(Profile::class)->withDefault();
}
You would then need to change your controller code slightly since the profile might not exist:
Change:
$user->profile->update($data);
To:
$user->profile->fill($data)->save();

Answer 5

I had the same issue. As it turned out I forgot to create a new empty profile while creating a new user. So i was calling an update on the user's profile in this case null.
Try adding this to the User model and later migrate:fresh your data.
protected static function boot()
{
parent::boot();
static::created(function ($user) {
$user->profile()->create();
});
}
This will create a new profile for user automatically.