Laravel CRUD delete not working on foreign key - php

Question

I have a foreign relationship with category_id column in database but while deleting i get error.
This is my code for delete:
public function destroy($id)
{
$category = Category::find($id);
$category->delete();
Session::flash('success', 'The category was successfully deleted.');
return redirect()->route('categories.index');
}
Error i seen is :
SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1451 Cannot delete or update a parent row: a foreign key constraint fails (`fitilicious`.`products`, CONSTRAINT `products_category_id_foreign` FOREIGN KEY (`category_id`) REFERENCES `categories` (`id`)) (SQL: delete from `categories` where `id` = 2)
Please help.

Answer 1

My bet is on the foreign key being set to ON DELETE RESTRICT instead of CASCADE.
Cannot delete or update a parent row: a foreign key constraint fails (fitilicious.products, CONSTRAINT products_category_id_foreign FOREIGN KEY (category_id) REFERENCES categories (id)) (SQL: delete from categories where id = 2)
This tells us that there is a row in table "products" which is referencing the category you are attempting to delete.
ON DELETE CASCADE will also delete the product.
ON DELETE RESTRICT will prevent deletion of a non-empty category
ON DELETE SET NULL will delete the category and set category_id to NULL in products table
Each has its uses, but you need to choose which one you need.