Using Laravel migration to rename existing column and then run php artisan migrate:refresh successfully

Question

I've successfully renamed an existing column previously created in a different migration with the following line of code:

$table->renameColumn('custom_paper_note', 'custom_primary_paper_note');

However, now when I run php artisan migrate:refresh I get the following errors:

[Illuminate\Database\QueryException]
  SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1091 Can't DROP 'custom_paper_note'; check that column/key exists (SQL: alter table `line_items` drop `custom_paper_note`)

and

[PDOException]
  SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1091 Can't DROP 'custom_paper_note'; check that column/key exists

which all makes good sense to me because I renamed the column and now it can't drop it during the migrate:refresh process. However, I don't understand how to go about fixing this error?

Thanks for your help.

Can you please show both migrations here with up and down functions. — Perdeep Singh, Jul 08 '16 at 22:47
Make sure there's no `drop` method in the new migration you have to create `renameColumn`. My guess is, you do. — Mike Barwick, Jul 08 '16 at 22:49

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 08 '16 at 22:50

1

Looks like you made the rename operation already and it can't find the old name.

Adding an if condition which checks column existence before executing this migration line could be useful.

answered Jul 08 '16 at 22:50

mirza

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Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I cannot make use of the dropIfExists() method because I would have to change a previous migration file in this situation. It was a good idea though if I were able to alter the previous migration. – Bryan Miller Jul 09 '16 at 00:38

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 08 '16 at 23:10

1

In the same migration file, in the down() function, declare the inverse of the rename:

Schema::table('table', function($table){
    $table->renameColumn('custom_primary_paper_note', 'custom_paper_note');
});

This way when you bring it back down, it will rename the column to the appropriate column name so that it's backwards compatible.

answered Jul 08 '16 at 23:10

Ohgodwhy

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Thank you so much! You're a genius :) – Bryan Miller Jul 09 '16 at 00:36

Using Laravel migration to rename existing column and then run php artisan migrate:refresh successfully

2 Answers2