Processing JSON array in PHP

Question

I want to be able to use a JSON object received from POST inside a php file. The JSON looks like this:

array(1) {
  ["json"]=>
  string(260) "[{"proddescr":"text1","prodpu":"1","prodcant":"1","prodnume":"text1x"},  {"proddescr":"text2","prodpu":"2","prodcant":"2","prodnume":"text2x"}, {"proddescr":"text3","prodpu":"Price:150.00","prodcant":"quantity:4","prodnume":"text3x"}]"
}

I access it like this inside the php file:

<?php 
 header('Content-type: application.json');
 $x = json_decode($_POST['json']);
 foreach($x as $i => $value){
   print_r($x[$i]);
 }
?>

Now... coming from desktop programming... I do not know much about json processing, but I need to be able to access all elements of the JSON array (3 are seen above) and all their contents. I seem to be able to access the main elements using the foreach, but I cannot seem to succeed in accessing the inside elements of each "record"

But the result looks just like this:

stdClass Object
(
    [proddescr] => text1
    [prodpu] => 1
    [prodcant] => 1
    [prodnume] => text1x
)
stdClass Object
(
    [proddescr] => text2
    [prodpu] => 2
    [prodcant] => 2
    [prodnume] => text2x
)
and so on

The purpose is to be able to compose an INSERT statement based on the values from the json array.

So I need to be able (inside the foreach loop) to get the "proddescr" value, "prodpu" value, "prodcant" value and "prodnume" value from each of those 3 (in this case) array items.

I tried

   print_r($x[$i][0]);

also

   print_r($x[$i]["proddesc"]);

in order to be able to access the inside values of the array but does not work (I keep getting "500 Internal server error" when I add the above two print_r.

How can I access these sub-values of my array?

Yogesh Suthar · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-11 13:36:05Z

2

Use true as second parameter in json_decode to convert it to array

$x = json_decode($_POST['json'],true);
foreach($x as $i => $value){
    echo $x[$i]['proddescr'];
    echo $x[$i]['prodpu'];
    echo $x[$i]['prodcant'];
    echo $x[$i]['prodnume'];
}

Codepad demo

answered Jul 11, 2013 at 13:36

Yogesh Suthar

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1 Comment

user1137313 Over a year ago

You answered first so I accepted your answer. However @DevZer0 had a very nice point in his answer and improved a lot my understanding of PHP. I only marked his answer with "useful" because you answered first, although his answer is better.

DevZer0 · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-11 13:38:49Z

2

There is couple of issues here, first your using a foreach block but accessing the array as if you were using a for loop. You don't need to set the header here because your not outputting any json.

$x = json_decode($_POST['json']);
 foreach($x as $i => $value){
     echo $value->proddescr; //you can access the other objects the same way.
 }

You can also access it using the other methods. but based on your iteration setup this method provides the cleanest access.

answered Jul 11, 2013 at 13:38

DevZer0

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1 Comment

user1137313 Over a year ago

Your answer also works. How can I check two good answers here?

Bill'o · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-11 13:39:37Z

0

I would say $x[$i]->proddescr etc

answered Jul 11, 2013 at 13:39

Bill'o

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