Resolving the Error 'Trying to Get Property 'title' of Non-Object' in Laravel

Discover how to tackle the Laravel error "Trying to get property 'title' of non-object" when fetching blog articles, along with best practices to avoid common pitfalls in your code.
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Understanding the Error: "Trying to Get Property 'title' of Non-Object"

If you've ever encountered the Laravel error Trying to get property 'title' of non-object, you know how frustrating it can be. This error typically occurs when your code is attempting to access a property on an object that doesn't exist. In the context of a blog application, this usually means that the blog article you're trying to fetch doesn't exist in the database.

In this post, we'll dive into the root cause of this issue and provide a clear solution, along with best practices to ensure your code runs smoothly.

The Problematic Code

Let's take a look at the original controller code that is causing the error:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

What’s Going Wrong?

Using find() with the Slug: The find() method is typically used to retrieve a model by its primary key. If your primary key is not slug, this will often return null, causing the error when you later try to access a property like $blog->title.

String Quoting: You must ensure variable references are appropriately handled in your SQL queries. Over-quoting can lead to unexpected results.

Class Naming: In PHP, class names should start with an uppercase letter. This doesn’t inherently cause an error but violates common coding standards.

Incrementing Views: It's also a good practice to only increment the views once per user to get an accurate representation of unique views.

The Solution

To rectify the issue, we’ll adjust the query method to correctly fetch the guide by its slug using where() combined with firstOrFail(). Here’s an updated version of the controller:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breakdown of the Changes:

Using where():
This method allows us to specify the condition based on the slug. By chaining firstOrFail(), we ensure that if the blog with that slug does not exist, Laravel will throw a ModelNotFoundException, which can be caught and displayed gracefully.

Uppercase Class Naming:
Changed blog to Blog to follow PHP's class naming conventions, which makes your code cleaner and easier to maintain.

Variable Usage in Queries:
Removed unnecessary quotes around $slug in the increment method to ensure the proper handling of the variable.

Additional Tips:

Check Database: Always verify that the slug you are trying to retrieve exists in your database.

Implement Error Handling: Consider adding proper error handling to your controller to catch and display meaningful error messages to users.

Optimize View Incrementation: Consider a mechanism to increment views only once per user (like storing user IDs in a session or database).

Conclusion

Encountering the Trying to get property 'title' of non-object error can be a common hurdle when working with Laravel applications. By following best practices and adjusting how you query your database, you can avoid this issue and ensure your blog articles are fetched correctly.

With a little attention to detail in your code and the implementation of good practices, you'll not only solve this problem but also improve the overall quality of your Laravel application.

If you have any questions or you need further clarification, feel free to leave a comment below!