Property [clients] does not exist on this collection instance

Question

Hello i am using the Eloquent many to many method to get values from 2 tables and show its values.

This is the Order model code:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Order extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    public $timestamps = true;

    protected $fillable = [
        'order_number',
        'client',
        'description',
    ];

    public function clients()
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Client::class); 
    }
}

Here is the controller code to open a new window with all the values from table B

 public function index()
    {
        $orders = Order::all();
        return view('orders/index',compact('orders'))
            ->with('i', (request()->input('page', 1) - 1) * 5);
    }

Then this is what i am doin in the view:

@foreach($orders as $order)
{{$order->name}}
@endforeach
 //this works

but if i do

@foreach($orders->clients as $client)
{{$client->name}}
@endforeach
//i get the error

Property [clients] does not exist on this collection instance. Even though is declared in the model Order

Answer 1

Your error is that you are assuming you are getting clients, that is true, but you are not getting them as a property like $orders->clients, $orders is a Collection, that is what BelongsToMany returns.

So, your code should be:

@foreach($orders as $order)
    {{ $order->name }}
@endforeach

Due to each entry on a Collection is going to be an Order object, that is why $order->name works ($order is literally an Order).

The only time $orders->clients is going to work for you, is when $order is an Order:

$order1 = Order::find(1);

// Or

$order2 = new Order;

// Then you have ->clients available

$clients1 = $order1->clients();
// This returns a Collection with Client if you have a relationship with $order1

$clients2 = $order2->clients();
// This return an EMPTY Collection as you have no relation at all on the pivot table with this new, non-saved $order2 object

// Now you can iterate $clients1 assuming you got data back
foreach ($clients1 as $client) {
    // $client is a normal Client object, you have all the properties and methods available
    // Do whatever you need here
}

---

So, when you have a Collection in $orders, there is no "property" (related to the relationship, clients in this case), remember that a Collection is an array with steroids, so the Collection does not know anything about what it has inside of itself.

Answer 2

can you try to include the model in the Order class as you have not defined it. Check below

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Order extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    public $timestamps = true;

    protected $fillable = [
        'order_number',
        'client',
        'description',
    ];

    public function clients()
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany('App\Models\Client'); 
    }
}

Alternatively

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use App\Models\Client;

class Order extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    public $timestamps = true;

    protected $fillable = [
        'order_number',
        'client',
        'description',
    ];

    public function clients()
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Client::class); 
    }
}

both above would then make you able to reference the relationship.

All the best.