How to access a variable saved in the store method? - php

Question

I'm using nested set comments (Kalnoy package) in my project and I'm stuck at creating children comments. I created two different method for both type of comments.
Saving root comments works fine:
public function storeComments(Request $request, Post $post)
{
$comment = Comment::create(
[
'body' => request('body'),
'user_id' => auth()->id(),
'post_id' => $post->id,
]
)->saveAsRoot();
return back();
}
However children comments are still saved as root comments.
public function storeNestedComments(Request $request, Comment $comment, Post $post)
{
$comment->children()->create(
[
'body' => request('body'),
'user_id' => auth()->id(),
'parent_id' => $comment->id,
'post_id' => $post->id,
]
);
return back();
}
This $comment variable in the second method is naturally null. How can I access the comment that was saved as root?
Update: saveAsRoot() logic
public function saveAsRoot()
{
if ($this->exists && $this->isRoot()) {
return $this->save();
}
return $this->makeRoot()->save();
}

Answer 1

This should do the trick:
public function storeNestedComments($parent_comment_id)
{
$parent = Comment::findOrFail($parent_comment_id);
Comment::create([
'body' => request('body'),
'user_id' => auth()->id(),
'parent_id' => $parent->id,
'post_id' => $parent->post_id
], $parent);
return back();
}
I corrected the way you are retrieving the parent commend, it does the same, but better written, plus it will throw a ModelNotFoundExceptionif the comment cannot be retrieved :)

Answer 2

#Amaury gave me a hint :)
I changed my route to include the root comment id
Route::post('/posts/{post}/{comment}/nestedcomments', 'CommentsController#storeNestedComments');
Passed that id to the method, and associated the child id with the parent.
public function storeNestedComments($parent_comment_id)
{
$comment = Comment::where('id', $parent_comment_id)->first();
$nestedComment = Comment::create(
[
'body' => request('body'),
'user_id' => auth()->id(),
'parent_id' => $parent_comment_id,
'post_id' => $comment->post_id,
]
);
$nestedComment->parent()->associate($comment)->save();
return back();
}