Laravel 4 drop down list - php

Question

I've made a drop down list that takes 'destination-from' values on 'oneways' table from the database. Following this tutorial here: http://www.laravel-tricks.com/tricks/easy-dropdowns-with-eloquents-lists-method
But whenever I try to run it, It gives me this kind of error: Undefined variable: categories What seems to be the problem here? I am really new to this. A newbie on laravel.
Here are my codes:
onewayflight.blade.php
$categories = Category::lists('destination-from', 'title');
{{ Form::select('category', $categories) }}
onewayflightcontroller.php
public function onewayflightresults()
{
return View::make('content.onewayflight');
$list = DB::table('oneways');
$listname = Oneways::lists('destination-from');
$content = View::make('content.onewayflight', array('list'=>$list, 'listname'=>$listname));
}
I am not really sure of what I have left out one this. And I am also wondering if the model has something to do with this?

Answer 1

Additionally to #jd182 's advice (as I lack the reputation to comment, I use answer); are you sure that lists() function/facade returns some value other than null. PHP, sometimes, considers null values as undefined.
And your blade syntax is wrong. if you want to define a variable inside a blade file (which is not advised) you should wrap it around tag and work it as a regular php file.

Answer 2

The code in your template where you are fetching the categories needs to be surrounded by PHP tags otherwise it won't be executed. But better still - move it to your controller which is where it belongs.
Also in your controller you return the view at the top of your onewayflight() - nothing after this will be executed.
So change it work work like this and you should be ok:
onewayflight.blade.php
{{ Form::select('category', $categories) }}
onewayflightcontroller.php
public function onewayflight()
{
$categories = Category::lists('destination-from', 'title');
return View::make('content.onewayflight', array('categories' => $categories));
}
Also, in routes.php the route should look like this:
Route::get('/your-route-path', [
'as' => 'your_route_name',
'uses' => 'onewayflightcontroller#onewayflight'
]);