Hey there! Let's walk through what's causing that error and refactor this into a cleaner, more robust implementation.

First, Why You're Seeing That Error #

The Call to a member function save() on null happens because UserJourny::find($request->session) is returning null—meaning there's no existing record for that session ID. On top of that, your switch statement is broken: you're switching on the entire $request object, which will never match your string cases like 'details_submitted', so no fields are being updated even if the record exists.

Better Implementation #

Here's a streamlined, safer version that fixes both issues and makes your code easier to maintain:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

public function updateUserJourney(Request $request)
{
    // Step 1: Validate incoming requests to block bad data
    $validated = $request->validate([
        'session' => 'required|string', // Adjust validation rule to match your session ID type
        'stage' => 'required|in:details_submitted,has_seen_plans,has_compare,has_seen_plan_details,has_seen_proposal,submitted_proposal',
        'value' => 'required|boolean' // Assuming all journey stages are boolean flags; tweak if needed
    ]);

    // Step 2: Get OR create the journey record (no more nulls!)
    $journeyObj = UserJourny::firstOrCreate(
        ['session' => $validated['session']], // Look for existing record by session ID
        // Optional: Set default values for new records
        [
            'details_submitted' => false,
            'has_seen_plans' => false,
            'has_compare' => false,
            'has_seen_plan_details' => false,
            'has_seen_proposal' => false,
            'submitted_proposal' => false,
        ]
    );

    // Step 3: Dynamically update the specified stage
    $journeyObj->{$validated['stage']} = $validated['value'];
    $journeyObj->save();

    return response()->json([
        'message' => 'User journey stage updated successfully',
        'updated_stage' => $validated['stage'],
        'value' => $validated['value']
    ]);
}

Key Improvements Over Your Original Code #

• Eliminates null errors: firstOrCreate ensures you always have a valid UserJourny instance—either fetching an existing record or creating a new one if the session is new.
• Validates input: Blocks invalid session IDs, unknown stage names, and incorrect value types (e.g., non-boolean values for your flags).
• Simpler maintenance: No more long switch statements. Add a new journey stage later? Just update the in: list in the validation rule and your model's fillable attributes.
• Security: The in: validation acts as a whitelist, preventing attackers from updating arbitrary fields in your database.

Quick Model Setup Note #

Make sure your UserJourny model has these fields in its $fillable array to allow updates (even though we're not using mass assignment here, it's a good practice for safety):

// app/Models/UserJourny.php
protected $fillable = [
    'session',
    'details_submitted',
    'has_seen_plans',
    'has_compare',
    'has_seen_plan_details',
    'has_seen_proposal',
    'submitted_proposal',
];

How to Call This API Now #

Send a POST request with these parameters:

• session: Your user's session ID
• stage: The exact name of the journey stage to update (e.g., has_seen_proposal)
• value: The boolean value to set (e.g., true when the user completes the stage)

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Prathamesh Doke