Laravel 5.2 form model binding - displaying model with() empty relationship - laravel

Question

SOLVED, something else was causing the error, not an empty relationship.
I am having some trouble making this work. I have a large form that is combining 4 tables. For my example I will just use 3. Here is what I send to the view:
$student = Student::with('primaryInsurance')->with('secondaryInsurance')->findOrFail($student_id);
The form works fine if the student has both primaryInsurance and secondaryInsurance but I get a "Trying to get property of non-object" if one or both are not in the table. How can I avoid this?
Here are a couple fields from my form:
{{ Form::text('last_name', null, ['class' => 'form-control required']) }}
{{ Form::text('primaryInsurance[insured_name]', null, ['class' => 'form-control']) }}
{{ Form::text('secondaryInsurance[insured_name]', null, ['class' => 'form-control']) }}
From the student model:
public function primaryInsurance() {
return $this->hasOne(StudentInsurance::class, 'student_id', 'student_id')->where('is_primary', '=', 1);
}
public function SecondaryInsurance() {
return $this->hasOne(StudentInsurance::class, 'student_id', 'student_id')->where('is_primary', '=', 1);
}

Answer 1

First, combine your with query to make your code cleaner. Like so:
$student = Student::with('primaryInsurance', 'secondaryInsurance')->findOrFail($student_id);
Next, in your view check that the object is set (I think you should be using an object here versus array - that's what's causing the error I believe). You'll have to test. Your issue can also be that you're wrapping the object in ' '. Don't. I'd need to see your controller logic to get a better sense if this doesn't work.
{{ Form::text($primaryInsurance->insured_name, null, ['class' => 'form-control']) }}
You can also do a ternary on this as well to default to null if doesn't exist:
{{ Form::text((($primaryInsurance->insured_name) ?: null), null, ['class' => 'form-control']) }}