What is the significance of the error message "Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object" in PHP and how can it be resolved?

The error message "Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object" in PHP indicates that a method is being called on a variable that is not an object, causing the fatal error. This commonly occurs when trying to access a method of an object that was not properly instantiated or assigned. To resolve this issue, ensure that the variable is initialized as an object before calling its methods.

// Incorrect code causing the error
$variable = null;
$variable->method(); // Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object

// Corrected code to resolve the issue
$variable = new ClassName();
$variable->method(); // Method is called on the object successfully