Laravel avoid duplication between existing data and new inputs - laravel

Question

I have an edit form where it shows users, sub-users and I need to make my update method the way that it can update existed sub-users as well as add new ones.
Logic
User can have a maximum of 5 sub-users
Let's assume my user already have 2 sub-users s/he can add up to 3 more
I want to be able to update those 2 that are existed already
I want to be able to add those 3 new sub-users
Code
Here is what I have currently. Code is commented for better understanding
public function subUsersUpdate(Request $request, $id) {
$will = Will::where('id', $id)->where('user_id', Auth::id())->first();
// main user
$user = User::where('id', $will->user_id)->first();
// making custom emails for new users like (admin1#example.com)
// admin is email name of main user, originally (admin#gmail.com)
// 1~5 are added to names (separate those 5 sub-users)
// example.com is website domain
$userMail = substr($user->email, 0, strpos($user->email, '#'));
$websiteName = env('DOMAIN_NAME');
// here is what I get from edit form including 2 existed sub-users and 3 new sub-users
foreach($request->input('subs') as $index => $sub) {
// trying to separate existed sub-users from new ones
$existedUser = User::where('name', $sub)->where('user_id', $user->id)->first();
if($existedUser) {
// if already existed just update the name
$existedUser->update(['name' => $sub]);
} else {
// if new add them as new sub-user
$num = $index+1;
$password = str_random(15);
User::create([
'name' => $sub,
'email' => $userMail . $num ."#" . $websiteName,
'password' => Hash::make($password),
'user_id' => $user->id,
]);
}
}
return redirect()->back();
}
Error
SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1062 Duplicate entry 'admin4#example.com' for key 'users_email_unique'
It appears that my code works in order to separate old and new sub-users but the problem is it makes the same email for new-users as old ones based on $num provided in my foreach. I need somehow avoid that duplication.
Any suggestion?
Update
What I did
I've added hidden input in my form which has sub-user email as value (if user existed) and if user is newly added it is null.
Then I merged those emails array and names array into one
Finally I've validate if the email field is null or not in order to update or create new sub-user.
Issue
Issue is name of all sub-users will be same as last input (sub-user 5), regardless of user being newly created or updated all 5 get same name!
public function subUsersUpdate(Request $request, $id) {
$will = Will::where('id', $id)->where('user_id', Auth::id())->first();
$user = User::where('id', $will->user_id)->first();
$userMail = substr($user->email, 0, strpos($user->email, '#'));
$websiteName = env('DOMAIN_NAME');
//Changed part
$mails = $request->input('mails');
$names = $request->input('subs');
// created array of data
$finalInputs = [];
foreach($mails as $index => $mmm) {
foreach($names as $index2 => $nnn) {
$finalInputs[$index] = ['email' => $mmm, 'name' => $nnn];
}
}
foreach($finalInputs as $index => $sub) {
if(!empty($sub['email'])) {
$existedUser = User::where('email', $sub['email'])->where('user_id', $user->id)->first();
$existedUser->update(['name' => $sub['name']]);
// $userMail2 = substr($sub['email'], 0, strpos($sub['email'], '#'));
} else {
if($sub['name'] != null) {
$num = $index+1;
$password = str_random(15);
User::create([
'name' => $sub['name'],
'email' => $userMail . $num ."#" . $websiteName,
'password' => Hash::make($password),
'user_id' => $user->id,
]);
}
}
}
// end of changed parts
}

Answer 1

Using updateOrCreate()
updateOrCreate() can handle conditional updating or creating of records for you.
This could be what you are asking, hope you get the idea:
foreach($finalInputs as $index => $sub) {
$pwHash = Hash::make( str_random(15) );
$num = $index+1;
$search = [
'user_id' => $user->id,
'email' => $userMail . $num ."#" . $websiteName,
];
$update = [
'name' => $sub['name'],
];
// Only add 'password' for new users
if (empty($sub['email']))) {
$update['password'] = $pwHash;
}
User::updateOrCreate(
$search,
$update
);
}
This will update or create users with the given email address and user-id and create if they don't exist. I don't know how your form works in detail, but I think you can adjust to your exact use-case.