Laravel 5.5 - Unable to update object - php

Question

It's been a while since I've used Laravel and I'm pulling my hair out over the below issue, seems to be relatively straight forward and probably 100% obvious.
I'm adding some new fields to an existing view, I've created a new model, added the relations and added the fields. I can confirm that I'm able to view the data on the View successfully, I can take the data from the view successfully and insert a new record on the target table.
The problem I'm having is I'm unable to update an existing record, I can retrieve the record by ID, but I can't use the object selector ($object->data) on it, I've added the function and the comments below:
//Create the license
$license = License::where('id', $venue->license_id)->get();
if(empty($license->id))
{
Log::notice("Nothing to show");
} else {
//I have added this in as a sanity check, I've been able to
//perform Log::notice($license); successfully but the below doesn't work?
Log::notice($license->id);
Log::notice($license->license_name);
}
//This works, I am able to create a new License if there is no ID set.
$license_class_id = $request->get('license_class_id');
$license_type_id = $request->get('license_type_id');
$liquor_license_no = $request->get('liquor_license_no');
$site_reference_no = $request->get('site_reference_no');
$holder_name = $request->get('holder_name');
$license_name = $request->get('license_name');
$trading_name = $request->get('trading_name');
//This works
if( !$license || !$license->exists ) {
$license = new License;
}
//This is to update the object but it doesn't seem to happen.
$license->license_class_id = $license_class_id;
$license->license_type_id = $license_type_id;
$license->liquor_license_no = $liquor_license_no;
$license->site_reference_no = $site_reference_no;
$license->holder_name = $holder_name;
$license->license_name = $license_name;
$license->trading_name = $trading_name;
if ( ! $license->save() ) {
return $license->errors();
}
if(!empty($license->id))
{
$venue->license_id = $license->id;
}
if ( ! $venue->save() ) {
return $venue->errors();
}

Answer 1

use update() method for update not save(). save() is used at the insert time
$license->update();
And fetch record as single collection. If id is not primary key then by below way
//Create the license
$license = License::where('id', $venue->license_id)->first();
And if id is primary key then you directly get by
$license = License::find($venue->license_id);

Answer 2

You can use updateOrCreate method here too.
By this code,
//Create the license
$license = License::where('id', $venue->license_id)->first();
if(empty($license))
{
Log::notice("Nothing to show");
} else {
//I have added this in as a sanity check, I've been able to
//perform Log::notice($license); successfully but the below doesn't work?
Log::notice($license->id);
Log::notice($license->license_name);
}
//This works, I am able to create a new License if there is no ID set.
$license_class_id = $request->get('license_class_id');
$license_type_id = $request->get('license_type_id');
$liquor_license_no = $request->get('liquor_license_no');
$site_reference_no = $request->get('site_reference_no');
$holder_name = $request->get('holder_name');
$license_name = $request->get('license_name');
$trading_name = $request->get('trading_name');
License::updateOrCreate([
'license_class_id' => $license_class_id ,
'license_type_id' => $license_type_id,
'license_type_id' => $license_type_id,
'license_type_id' => $license_type_id,
'holder_name' => $holder_name,
'license_name' => $license_name,
'trading_name' => $trading_name
]);
For more information check this link.
If you will use this method, You do not need to check if a record exists or not. That is the advantage.