StartSession Middleware throwing ErrorException - php

Question

Using Laravel 5.2.
I am getting the following error when navigating to a route.
Argument 1 passed to Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession::addCookieToResponse() must be an instance of Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response, null given, called in /Users/.../vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Session/Middleware/StartSession.php on line 72 and defined
What I don't understand is that if the request is made via POST, no ErrorException is thrown and the expected response is received.
I have modified the App\Exceptions\Handler::handler($request, Exception $e) method to the following;
public function render($request, Exception $e) {
// If request is being made via AJAX or wants a JSON response.
if ($request->ajax() || $request->wantsJson()) {
// Check to see if 'getStatusCode()' method exists, otherwise use 500.
$status_code = method_exists($e, 'getStatusCode') ? $e->getStatusCode() : 500;
// Send JSON response.
return json($e->getMessage(), $status_code);
}
return parent::render($request, $e);
}
The json() helper is defined as:
function json($message, $status = 200, $data = null) {
$output = [
'success' => is_between($status, [200, 299]),
'statusCode' => $status,
'timestamp' => time(),
'message' => $message,
];
if(!is_null($data))
$output['data'] = $data;
return \Illuminate\Support\Facades\Response::json($output, $status);
}
and is_between();
function is_between($value, array $range) {
if($value > $range[1])
return false;
if($value < $range[0])
return false;
return true;
}
I have tried reverting App\Exceptions\Handler::handler($request, Exception $e) method back to see if any of that could be causing an issue, but I still get the same problem.
I have also tried rewriting the routes and the controller, with the same end result, works if made via a POST request, otherwise an ErrorException is thrown.

Answer 1

Somehow the framework is not converting the returned string into a response object. The addCookieToResponse method in the Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession class is wanting a Response object as the first param. Make sure that you return one in all of your routes.
Here's a possible quick fix, change it to fit your case.
Before:
Route::get('hi', function() {
return 'hi';
});
After:
Route::get('hi', function() {
return response('hi');
});