Laravel Model Factory Error: Trying to get property of non-object - laravel-5.1

Question

I'm trying to use a model factory to seed my database, but when I run it I get the error:
Trying to get property 'id' of non-object
Here is my code:
// TasksTableSeeder.php
factory(pams\Task::class, '2000', rand(1, 30))->create();
// ModelFactory.php
$factory->defineAs(pams\Task::class, '2000', function (Faker\Generator $faker) {
static $task_number = 01;
return [
'task_number' => $task_number++,
'ata_code' => '52-00-00',
'time_estimate' => $faker->randomFloat($nbMaxDecimals = 2, $min = 0.25, $max = 50),
'work_order_id' => '2000',
'description' => $faker->text($maxNbChars = 75),
'action' => '',
'duplicate' => '0',
'certified_by' => '1',
'certified_date' => '2015-11-08',
'status' => '1',
'created_by' => '1',
'modified_by' => '1',
'created_at' => Carbon\Carbon::now()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
'updated_at' => Carbon\Carbon::now()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
];
});
I've tried removing all variables from the model factory and using constants, but that doesn't fix it. I've tried pulling the data from the ModelFactory.php and put it directly into the TasksTableSeeder.php and it does work, however I was using constants and no variables.
I cannot for the life of me figure out what 'id' it's talking about.
I'm running Laravel v5.1

Answer 1

Your BaseModel is not exactly appropriate as it will force you to create hacks in order to run something like a unit test. It will be better that you have a flag in the BaseModel that you test for true or false before setting created_by and modified_by.
Also there's no guarantee there will be user_id '1' at any point in time, unless you actually create that User in your factory first, before creating the Task.
A way to fix your current setup is have a protected field like $enableAuthUpdates which is set to false or true by default. Then you can override the field in any of your derived models such as your Task model to prevent the creating/updating events from running.
Also it's important to make sure your factory has an actual user it is working with and create it if it doesn't exist.

Answer 2

I found the problem. At one stage I had implemented a BaseModel.php model that automatically inserts the current users ID when creating or updating the model. The seeder fails because there isn't a current user, so I had to add a check to see if there was a user logged in first.
Here is the code:
static::creating(function($model)
{
if(Auth::user())
{
$model->created_by = Auth::user()->id;
$model->modified_by = Auth::user()->id;
}
else
{
$model->created_by = '1';
$model->modified_by = '1';
}
});
static::updating(function($model)
{
if(Auth::user())
{
$model->modified_by = Auth::user()->id;
}
else
{
$model->modified_by = '1';
}
});
It's not super pretty, but it gets the job done :)