[Fixed] I don't understand why I am getting undefined array key exception error – Laravel 9 PHP 8 – Php

The Problem:

A Laravel developer is attempting to store data from an array into a model. When looping through the array to persist the data, they encounter an undefined array key exception. The root cause of the issue is unclear, but the provided code shows that the array structure might be inconsistent, leading to the missing key exception.

The Solutions:

Solution 1: Refactoring the Array Creation

The issue in your code lies in the way you’re creating the $files array. You’re creating a new array entry for each key, resulting in separate arrays for filename and description. This causes the undefined array key error when you try to access the description key later in your code.

To fix this, you need to modify the array creation logic to create a single array entry that contains both the filename and description keys. Here’s the corrected code:

if ($request->file('files')) {
    foreach($request->file('files') as $key => $file) {
        $fileName = $complaint->election_id. '_'. $complaint->id. '_'.$key. '.'.$file->extension();
        $description = $file->getClientOriginalName();

        $file->storeAs('complaints', $fileName);

        $files[] = [
            'filename' => $fileName,
            'description' => $description
        ];
    }
}

With this modification, the $files array will be structured as follows:

array:2 [
  0 => array:2 [
    "filename" => "2_50_0.pdf",
    "description" => "sample pdf.pdf"
  ]
  1 => array:2 [
    "filename" => "2_50_1.png",
    "description" => "sample profile image 2.png"
  ]
]

Now, when you loop through the $files array in your subsequent code, you’ll be able to access both the filename and description keys without encountering the undefined array key error.

Video Explanation:

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