Laravel, update all relations when deleting a record - php

Question

I have two models, Position and User. They have a One to many relation between them.
When I delete a position, I want all the related users to be detached from that position and attached to a different one (found by id).
I'm sure it's simple enough, but I've tried doing it in a foreach loop, without success:
public function postDelete($position)
{
$positionMembers = $position->users()->get();
foreach ($positionMembers as $member) {
$member->position_id = '4';
// fixed copy/paste var name error
$member->save()
}
// Was the position deleted?
if($position->delete()) {
// Redirect to the position management page
return Redirect::to('admin/positions')->with('success', Lang::get('admin/positions/messages.delete.success'));
}
// There was a problem deleting the position
return Redirect::to('admin/positions')->with('error', Lang::get('admin/positions/messages.delete.error'));
}
I've also tried:
$member->position()->associate($this->position->find(4));
but it doesn't work either. The position_id field always remains unchanged. Is there a more recommended way?

Answer 1

First off define without success, because it says nothing, and the code you're showing should work.
Anyway, I would suggest different approach, for using Eloquent save in a loop isn't the best way:
public function postDelete($position)
{
DB::transaction(function () use ($position, &$deleted) {
// run single query for update
$position->users()->update(['position_id' => 4]);
// run another query for delete
$deleted = $position->delete();
});
// Was the position deleted?
if($deleted) {
// Redirect to the position management page
return Redirect::to('admin/positions')->with('success', Lang::get('admin/positions/messages.delete.success'));
}
// There was a problem deleting the position
return Redirect::to('admin/positions')->with('error', Lang::get('admin/positions/messages.delete.error'));
}
With this, you make sure users don't get updated if there's some error(exception thrown) when deleting position and you execute 2 queries, no matter how many users there are to update.