Update Foreign Key with softDeletes() - laravel-5

Question

Hi I've been looking for the similar solution but can't find anywhere. I don't even know if there is one. What I am trying to do is perform a softDelete on one of my model and want to update the user_id in the model with the the id of the user performing the action. I have tried using associate(), it doesn't throw any exception but does not work. I mean the delete is working but id is not updating
Here's what I've tried
public function postDelete(Request $request){
$appointment = \App\Models\emp_appointment::findOrFail($request->appid);
$user = $request->user();
$appointment->user()->associate($user);
$appointment->delete();
}
Here's my Appointment Model
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
class emp_appointment extends Model{
use SoftDeletes;
protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
public function employee(){
return $this->belongsTo('App\Models\employee','emp_id');
}
public function user(){
return $this->belongsTo('App\Models\tb_login','userid');
}
}
PS: There are no problems in the models and no errors anywhere. Only the problem is userid doesn't get updated in the appointment table.

Answer 1

Seems like the delete method isn't saving your change (association)
Try saving first then deleting
public function postDelete(Request $request){
$appointment = \App\Models\emp_appointment::findOrFail($request->appid);
$user = $request->user();
$appointment->user()->associate($user);
$appointment->save();
$appointment->delete();
}
EDIT
public function postDelete(Request $request){
$appointment = \App\Models\emp_appointment::findOrFail($request->appid);
$user = $request->user();
$appointment->user()->associate($user);
$appointment->deleted_at= date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$appointment->save();
}