laravel 6 : Call to a member function store() on null

Question

I am trying to attach a file to a blog type post. For this i have an file field and 2 buttons, one saves the fields to the database and the other uploads the file. standalone the file upload works as intended. However in the form i get Call to a member function store() on null. I have changed the menthod from put to post, but that doesnt seem have any effect.

Below my post forms and the function in the controllers.

The Form:

<div class="container">
    <div class="row justify-content-center">
        <div class="col-md-8">
            <div class="card">
                <div class="card-header">New/Edit Blog</div>
                <div class="card-body">
                   @if($data)
                <form … action = "{{Route ('post.update', $data->_id)}}" method="post", enctype = 'multipart/data'>
                    @csrf
                    @method('POST')
                    <div class="form-group">
                        <label for="usr">Title:</label>
                        <input type="text" class="form-control" name="title" value = "{{$data->title}}" >
                      </div>

                      <div class="form-group">
                        <label for="shorttext">Shorttext:</label>
                        <input type="text" class="form-control" name="shorttext" value = "{{$data->shorttext}}" >
                      </div>

                          <div>
                          <input id="x" type="hidden" name="content" value ="{{$data->content}}">
                          <trix-editor input="x" ></trix-editor>
                        </div>
                 
                    
                    <div class="form-group">
                        <label for="created_by">Created By:</label>
                        <input type="text" class="form-control" name="created_by" value = "{{$data->created_by}}" readonly>
                      </div>
                     
                      <input type="file" name="attachment" enctype="multipart/form-data"/>
                    <p align="center">
                      <input type="submit" btn btn-primary class="btn btn-primary" id="save" name="action" value="save">
                   
                      <input type="submit" btn btn-primary class="btn btn-primary" id="upload" name="action" value="upload">

The functions in the controller:

Store:( this one is the function that determines which button is pressed)

public function store(Request $request, $_id = false, $attachment = false){
        //check which submit was clicked on
        if($request->action == 'upload'){
            //
            $this->upload($request);
            return redirect()->route('home');
        } elseif($request->action == 'save') {
            //echo 'save pressed';
            //run function save all form fields
           
            $this->update($request, $_id);
            return redirect()->route('home');

         } else {echo "error";}
   }

Upload function:

function upload(Request $request){

        $path = $request->file('attachment');
       // $original = $request->file('attachment')->getClientOriginalName();
        
        $path->store('/public');

Update function:

public function update (Request $request,  $_id){
        
        //$this->upload($request);
/* 
        $path = $request->file('attachment');
        $path->storeas('/public','123'); */
        
        $data = post::findOrFail($_id);

        $data->title    = $request->title;
        $data->content  = $request->content;
        $data->shorttext  = $request->shorttext;
        $data->created_by  = $request->created_by;
        $data->text3  = $request->text3;
        $data->attachment  = $request->attachment;
       
        $data->save();

    
        if($data){
            return redirect()->route('home');
    
        }else{
            return back();
            }
        }

The route is:

Route::post('/post/update/{_id}', 'PostController@store')->name('post.update');

As mentioned, the save function in the complete form works. In a standalone form ( and a standalone controller) the upload works (and i can, if i wish, manipulate the filename), but how do i bring the 2 together? At first i thought it was because the update form had a PUT method, but changing everything to post doesnt seem to have any effect and i still get the Null error.

For completeness the standalone solution:

Controller:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Te7aHoudini\LaravelTrix\Pipes\AttachmentInput;

class UploadController extends Controller
{
    //
    function upload(Request $req){

$path = $req->file('attachment');
$original = $req->file('attachment')->getClientOriginalName();

$path->storeas('/public',$original);
echo $original;

       
    }

}

The standalone form:

<html>
<head>
    <title>Upload</title>
</head>
</html>
<form action="upload" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" name="attachment" />
@csrf

<button type="submit">file upload</button>
</form>

Answer 1

In your form element Change enctype = 'multipart/data' to enctype="multipart/form-data"

<form … action = "{{ Route ('post.update', $data->_id) }}" method="post", enctype="multipart/form-data">

Hope this solves your problem.