How to construct an AJAX JSON string with PHP to send with POST

Question

I have a simple xmlhttprequest with AJAX and want to rebuild this with PHP.

var data = {};
var payload = {
    "flags" : true,
    "codes" : true,
    "units" : true
};
data.payload = JSON.stringify(payload);
$.ajax({
    type : 'POST',
    url : 'http://httpbin.org/post',
    data : data,
    success : function(response) {
    var arr = JSON.stringify(response);
    document.getElementById('placeholder').innerHTML = arr;
    }
});

This works fine!

Now my Version with PHP:

$data = array(
    'payload' => array(
        'flags' => true,
        'codes' => true,
        'units' => true
    )
);

$options = array(
    "http" => array(
        "method" => "POST",
        "header" => "Content-Type: application/json\r\n",
        "content" => json_encode($data)
    )
);

$url = "http://httpbin.org/post";

$context = stream_context_create($options);
$response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
var_dump($response);

When I compare the results there is a difference in the structure. Ajax looks like this:

{"form":{"payload":"{\"flags\":\"true\",

and PHP looks like this:

{"form": {},..."data": "{\"payload\":{\"flags\":\"true\",

Why is in PHP the "form" empty? I've tried it an extra Array "form", but when I look at the result there is a second "form" in the string.

Why you JSON.stringify the 'data'? $.ajax accept perfect an object directly. — user1299518
– user1299518, Commented Feb 19, 2014 at 13:49
I just test my request with "httpbin.org/post". But the real API I use needs a JSON string. That's the reason for the JSON.stringify. ;-) — Timo.Klement
– Timo.Klement, Commented Feb 19, 2014 at 13:56

hindmost · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-19 14:29:25Z

1

You use improper way of building POST data.

Try this:

$payload = array(
    'flags' => true,
    'codes' => true,
    'units' => true
);

$data = array(
    'payload' => json_encode($payload)
);

$options = array(
    "http" => array(
        "method" => "POST",
        "header" => "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n",
        "content" => http_build_query($data)
    )
);

Explanation

In your JS code POST data is an object containing one key-value pair {"payload": json} where json is json-encoded string representing payload object. This POST data object finally results (in $.ajax implementation) in a url-encoded string which look like this: payload=%7B%22flags%22%3Atrue%2C%22codes%22%3Atrue%2C%22units%22%3Atrue%7D.

Described process is exactly reproduced by my php code.

edited Feb 19, 2014 at 14:29

answered Feb 19, 2014 at 13:50

hindmost

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2 Comments

Timo.Klement Over a year ago

THAT'S IT! You are a genious!!! I try to solve this since 7 hours and never came so far. But why looks the result so different? The "payload" now looks totally different in PHP as in AJAX. But it works.

hindmost Over a year ago

@Tipo Actually POST data in your JS code result to the same look (string) as in my PHP code.

Tomás · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-19 13:53:50Z

0

Have you tried to trigger json_last_error() right after encoding your array ?

$options = array(
    "http" => array(
        "method" => "POST",
        "header" => "Content-Type: application/json\r\n",
        "content" => json_encode($data)
    )
);

$error = json_last_error();
echo $error;

In case of a silent json error, maybe it could give you a clue.

Let us know :)

edited Feb 19, 2014 at 13:53

Tomás

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answered Feb 19, 2014 at 13:47

Sylar_Heisenberg

1

1 Comment

Timo.Klement Over a year ago

echo "Error: ".json_last_error(); // Error: 0 Seems to be ok. :(

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