Laravel create controller method to update 1 column from 1 row - php

Question

I am making a website for a dog shelter, and I want to make a button which would mark the dog as adopted. In other words, I am trying to update 1 column from 1 row. It will always be set from false to true.
I have tried making my own method in my existing controller, adding a route and creating a form, but I get errors that some other fields are also required, which are the same required fields when I would create a new dog (name, sex, DoB etc).
Code of the method in my controller:
public function markAsAdopted(Request $request, $id){
$pet = Pet::table('pets')->where('id', $id)->update(['is_adopted' => true]);
return redirect("/pets/$pet->id")->with('success', 'Successfully marked as adopted');
}
Code of the route:
Route::patch('/pets/{id}', 'PetsController#markAsAdopted');
Code of the form:
{!! Form::open(['action' => ['PetsController#markAsAdopted', $pet->id], 'method' => 'POST', 'class' => 'float-right ml-1 mr-1']) !!}
{{Form::hidden('_method', 'PATCH')}}
{{Form::submit('Mark as adopted', ['class' => 'btn btn-success'])}}
{!! Form::close() !!}
The form is on the page /pets/{id}
I have created all the other routes in this controller with the --resource flag when creating the controller, so the skeleton of CRUD was there.
Did I miss something? OR is there a better way of doing this?

Answer 1

Laravel is routing the markAsAdopted call to your update() (or possibly create() depending on how you have your Routes set) instead of the markAsAdopted() method. This is, in turn, calling your PetsRequest class (or whatever you've called your verification class).
It is most likely coming in as a POST and possibly ignoring the PATCH method, thus routed to update(). You can do a couple of things - move the patch method higher in Routes file and test by changing to POST. If this works, you know this is the problem. This is just a test - you will break the other pets POST coming in below it in the Routes file, so remember to change it back :)
I typically skip the PATCH thing altogether though, as I've run into similar issues. I normally just make a POST route with a special name (e.g. Route::post('/petsMarkAsAdopted/{id}', 'PetsController#markAsAdopted');) and open the form with the url to that special route.
If you really want to keep the PATCH, do the higher placement test above, and you can use blade to set the method after you open your form, like so:
#method('PATCH')
Edit: As noted in the comments, the above fixes the routing, but there is a different problem in your controller method now that we can access it. Take out the table(), and just call the model to get the pet your need. I've separated out the call for clarity:
$pet = Pet::where('id', $id)->first();
$pet->update(['is_adopted' => true]);