sending images through messages works

backend/migrations/20251218192220-allow-null-message-content.js

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+"use strict";
+
+module.exports = {
+  up: async (queryInterface, Sequelize) => {
+    await queryInterface.changeColumn("Messages", "content", {
+      type: Sequelize.TEXT,
+      allowNull: true,
+    });
+  },
+
+  down: async (queryInterface, Sequelize) => {
+    // First update any null content to empty string before reverting
+    await queryInterface.sequelize.query(
+      `UPDATE "Messages" SET content = '' WHERE content IS NULL`
+    );
+    await queryInterface.changeColumn("Messages", "content", {
+      type: Sequelize.TEXT,
+      allowNull: false,
+    });
+  },
+};

backend/models/Message.js

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const Message = sequelize.define('Message', {
   },
   content: {
     type: DataTypes.TEXT,
-    allowNull: false
+    allowNull: true
   },
   isRead: {
     type: DataTypes.BOOLEAN,
@@ -36,7 +36,15 @@ const Message = sequelize.define('Message', {
     allowNull: true
   }
 }, {
-  timestamps: true
+  timestamps: true,
+  validate: {
+    contentOrImage() {
+      const hasContent = this.content && this.content.trim().length > 0;
+      if (!hasContent && !this.imageFilename) {
+        throw new Error('Message must have content or an image');
+      }
+    }
+  }
 });
 
 module.exports = Message;

backend/routes/messages.js

@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ router.post('/', authenticateToken, async (req, res, next) => {
       error: error.message,
       stack: error.stack,
       senderId: req.user.id,
-      receiverId: req.body.receiverId
+      receiverId: req.body?.receiverId
     });
     next(error);
   }