Laravel how to get a Model by two parameters - laravel

Question

Hi I'm new to Laravel and got stuck in a Problem.
I have a model Contact
class Contact extends Eloquent {
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'contacts';
}
The table have these fields:
user_id (int)
contact_id (int)
...
these two fields represent the primary key.
In the ContactsController I have the function store in wich I create or update the database:
public function store()
{
switch (Input::get('type')){
case 'make_contact_request':
$user = User::where('email', '=', Input::get('login'));
$request_self = new Contact;
$request_contact = new Contact;
$request_self->user_id = Auth::user()->id;
$request_self->contact_id = $user->id;
$request_self->status = 2;
$request_self->message = Input::get('message');
$request_contact->user_id = $user->id;
$request_contact->contact_id = Auth::user()->id;
$request_contact->status = 1;
$request_contact->message = Input::get('message');
$request_self->save();
$request_contact->save();
break;
case 'answer_contact_request':
$request_self = Contact::where('user_id', '=',Input::get('contact_id'))->where('contact_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)->first();
//$request_self = Contact::whereRaw('user_id = '.Input::get('contact_id').' AND contact_id = '.Auth::user()->id.' ');
$request_contact = Contact::whereRaw('user_id = '.Auth::user()->id.' AND contact_id = '.Input::get('contact_id').' ');
$request_self->status = 3;
$request_contact->status = 3;
$request_self->save();
$request_contact->save();
break;
}
}
I tried two different ways to get the Contact Object for the request_self Object and I get the following error:
message: "SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'id' in 'where clause' (SQL: update `contacts` set `status` = 3, `updated_at` = 2014-08-02 16:16:56 where `id` is null)"
for the request_contact Object it throws a fatal error (don't get the description) and close the session.
At the end I am at the beginning of laravel so I hope the solution is pretty easy to find :) but I dont even really know for what to search.
Update:
At the end I fixed the Problem with the update function.
case 'answer_contact_request':
$request_self = Contact::where('user_id', '=',Input::get('contact_id'))->where('contact_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)->update(array('status' => 3));
$request_contact = Contact::where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)->where('contact_id', '=', Input::get('contact_id'))->update(array('status' => 3));
break;

Answer 1

I think you can add
public function scopeComposite($query, $user_id, $contact_id)
{
return $query->where('user_id', '=', $user_id)->where('contact_id', '=', $contact_id);
}
and then you can get the contact with:
$request_self = Contact::composite(Input::get('contact_id'), Auth::user()->id)->get();
source: http://laravel.com/docs/eloquent#query-scopes
I'm not sure you can make it like this.
There is a way to make sure it works:
add a column id ( auto increment, primary ) and make the group ( contact_id, user_id ) unique and you can use query scopes and id based