PHP Lumen Call to a member function connection() on null

Question

Call to a member function connection() on null is the error I'm receiving when trying to use an Eloquent Model in Lumen.

Controller func:

/**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function index(Request $request)
    {

        $employees = Employee::orderBy('first_name', 'asc')->get();
dd($employees);

        $response['precontent'] = view('admin::employee.search')->render();

        $response['content'] = view('admin::employee.index')
            ->with(['employees' => $employees])
            ->render();

        $response['title'] = 'Employees';

        return $response; 

    }

Model:

    <?php
    namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Employee extends Model 
{

    protected $table = 'system_core.employees';

    protected $fillable = [
        'user_id',
        'first_name',
        'last_name',
        'position',
        'primary_address',
        'secondary_address',
        'phone_1',
        'phone_2',
        'birth_date',
        'start_date',
        'end_date'
    ];

}

I'm pretty experienced with Laravel, but just started my first Lumen project for mere API use and I'm not sure why this error is being thrown. Perhaps it's just my connection settings? Would all queries have to be run the following way?:

$results = app('db')->select("SELECT * FROM users");

Thank you!

Answer 1

You should uncomment the Eloquent $app->withEloquent() call in bootstrap/app.php.

https://lumen.laravel.com/docs/5.2/database#basic-usage

Update:

Latest version of the docs https://lumen.laravel.com/docs/5.8/database, check section Eloquent ORM

Answer 2

As per 2021 here is the check list to check against to fix this error.

You have to:

1. Create the database manually via e.g. PHPMyAdmin;
2. Configure the database connection it in the .env file (i.e. set DB_CONNECTION, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD);
3. As per above answers uncomment $app->withFacades();, $app->withEloquent(); lines in bootstrap/app.php;
4. If you use your Eloquent model within PHPUnit tests you have to boot the Lumen (or Laravel) first by adding the following line to your test class setUp() method:

   parent::setUp()
   

That should fix it.

Answer 3

I think you just uncomment $app->withFacades();, $app->withEloquent(); lines in bootstrap/app.php;

And check again, it works for me.

Answer 4

Another less common reason for this error is that you are trying to access an eloquent model before it is ready, e.g in the constructor of a Job or perhaps in app/Console/Kernel.php

If this is the case, try doing this instead

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

$model =  DB::table('table_name')
            ->where('field_name', 'field_value')->first()