yiisoft/yii2 · error · yii\base\InvalidCallException

Unable to link models: the link defining the relation does n

Error message

Unable to link models: the link defining the relation does not involve any primary key.

What it means

Error "Unable to link models: the link defining the relation does not involve any primary key." thrown in yiisoft/yii2.

Source

Thrown at framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php:1369

            }
        } else {
            $p1 = $model->isPrimaryKey(array_keys($relation->link));
            $p2 = static::isPrimaryKey(array_values($relation->link));
            if ($p1 && $p2) {
                if ($this->getIsNewRecord()) {
                    if ($model->getIsNewRecord()) {
                        throw new InvalidCallException('Unable to link models: at most one model can be newly created.');
                    }
                    $this->bindModels(array_flip($relation->link), $this, $model);
                } else {
                    $this->bindModels($relation->link, $model, $this);
                }
            } elseif ($p1) {
                $this->bindModels(array_flip($relation->link), $this, $model);
            } elseif ($p2) {
                $this->bindModels($relation->link, $model, $this);
            } else {
                throw new InvalidCallException('Unable to link models: the link defining the relation does not involve any primary key.');
            }
        }

        // update lazily loaded related objects
        if (!$relation->multiple) {
            $this->_related[$name] = $model;
        } elseif (isset($this->_related[$name])) {
            if ($relation->indexBy !== null) {
                if ($relation->indexBy instanceof \Closure) {
                    $index = call_user_func($relation->indexBy, $model);
                } else {
                    $index = $model->{$relation->indexBy};
                }
                $this->_related[$name][$index] = $model;
            } else {
                $this->_related[$name][] = $model;
            }
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 66f00d18a2)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php:1369 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of yiisoft/yii2@66f00d18a2 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9a0fe6028aca8b91. Report an issue: GitHub.