CodeIgniter - Writing input array to database

Question

I am trying to grab the data from an array of input fields and write them to a database. I have never worked with arrays before but this is the code I have. It is based off what I would do if it was just a single input value. I know this is wrong but I have no idea what to try next. Any ideas? Thanks.

//view
<input type="text" name="assignments[]">
<input type="text" name="hours[]">

<input type="text" name="assignments[]">
<input type="text" name="hours[]">

<input type="text" name="assignments[]">
<input type="text" name="hours[]">

<input type="text" name="assignments[]">
<input type="text" name="hours[]">

<input type="text" name="assignments[]">
<input type="text" name="hours[]">

//controller
$assignments = $this->input->post('assignments', TRUE);
$hours = $this->input->post('hours', TRUE);

$this->load->model('create', 'create_model');
$this->create_model->create_projects($assignments, $hours);

//model
public function create_projects($assignments, $hours) {

    $data = array(
        'assignments' => $assignments,
        'hours' => $hours,
        );
    $this->db->insert('projects', $data);
}

It depends on how you want your data to be represented in the database. You can't store arrays in a text field for example unless you serialize it (I suspect this is what you do as of now). — C. E.
– C. E., Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 22:05

No Results Found · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 22:23:34Z

3

Of course you can't put a PHP array in the database as is:

$data = array(
    'assignments' => $assignments, // this is an array
    'hours'       => $hours,       // so is this
);
$this->db->insert('projects', $data);

You need a string representation of the array, two options come to mind:

Personally I prefer json_encode as it is not dependent on PHP for reading, serialize is useful for storing PHP objects but you don't need that here:

$data = array(
    'assignments' => json_encode($assignments),
    'hours'       => json_encode($hours),
);
$this->db->insert('projects', $data);

Make sure your DB fields are TEXT type so they are able to store variable length data. When you fetch the data later, you will have to run json_decode() on each field to read it and turn it back into an array, for example:

$result = $this->db->get('projects')->result();
foreach ($result as $record)
{
    $assignments = json_decode($record->assignments);
    // Now $assignments is an array
}

answered Oct 17, 2012 at 22:23

No Results Found

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2 Comments

user1738750 Over a year ago

This is great, but I think the result I am looking for is to have each assignment[] and hour[] in its own row in a table. Not the whole assignment[] array stored in the same table cel. I have been playing around with insert_batch to no success.

No Results Found Over a year ago

Yeah I was thinking that would be a better solution but wasn't sure if you wanted to go that route. Maybe just run the INSERT query in a loop to check if that works then come back to insert_batch after you figure it out.

user1738750 · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-23 15:17:08Z

2

Thanks the answers. What ended up working best for me was this.

//controller
$assignments = $this->input->post('assignments');
$hours = $this->input->post('hours');

$this->load->model('create', 'create_model');

foreach($assignments as $key => $n){
    $this->create_model->create_projects($n, $hours[$key]);
}

answered Oct 23, 2012 at 15:17

user1738750

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Comments

Muhammad Fahad · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-04 07:17:53Z

0

Simply use json_encode() function to store array data in the database

json_encode(array('key' => 'value'))

OR

json_encode($_P0ST['ARRAY'])

OR IN CodeIgniter

json_encode($this->input->post('arraydata'));

edited Feb 4, 2016 at 7:17

answered Feb 3, 2016 at 7:56

Muhammad Fahad

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Comments

Muhammad Umar Bilal · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-12 12:33:03Z

-1

In post:- $skills = $this->input->post('skills[]',TRUE);

'skills' => json_encode($skills) ,

It solved my problem.

answered Jan 12, 2018 at 12:33

Muhammad Umar Bilal

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