Get Javascript object stored in file, into php variable

Question

I have a Switches.js javascript file, like this:

//GLOBAL switches
//Change the values accordingly

var SWITCHES = {
    uber:        true, //Uber
    social:      true, //Social media pulgins
    g_charts:    true, //Google Charts
    g_captcha:   true, //Google Captcha
    g_analytics: true, //Google Analytics
    data_base:   true, //Inserts user input data into DataBase
    print:       true, //Print option
    pdf:         true, //Download PDF report option
    https:       true  //true for https, false for http
};

This JS file is stored in my server.

Is there a way to get that object and one of those properties into a php variable? I think that should be around the php functions file_get_contents and json_decode, but how do I take into account the comments in the JS file and that variable SWITCHES in particular?

$file_content = file_get_contents("Switches.js");
//some stuff
$http_switch = $SWITCHES[https];

AJAX nor jQuery are an option because this is to be run purely server side.

It's JavaScript, not JSON, so you can't use json_decode(). How about converting the Switches.js to Switches.json instead? — Sven
– Sven, Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 21:56
@Svenskunganka , thank you for the reply. And then how could I use such JS SWICTHES variable in my global JS scope? — João Pimentel Ferreira
– João Pimentel Ferreira, Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 21:57
You'd use the equivalent JavaScript function JSON.decode() to turn it into a JavaScript Object. — Sven
– Sven, Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 21:59
seems interesting your suggestion and it solves my problem. Could you reply accordingly with detailed explanation being then tagged as solved? :) — João Pimentel Ferreira
– João Pimentel Ferreira, Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 22:01
There we go, btw I wrote a typo in one of my previous comments, JSON.decode() is meant to be JSON.parse(). — Sven
– Sven, Commented Sep 2, 2017 at 22:08

João Pimentel Ferreira · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-03 01:34:31Z

2

Since the Switches.js is JavaScript and not JSON, you can't use json_decode(). Instead you should convert it to JSON and decode/parse it both client-side and server-side:

In PHP, you'd do:

$data = file_get_contents("Switches.json");
$switches = json_decode($data);

And then client-side you fetch it via AJAX and parse:

$.get("/Switches.json", function (data) {
  var switches = JSON.parse(data)
})

Your Switches.json file would then be (JSON files must not have comments):

{
    "uber": true,
    "social": true,
    "g_charts": true,
    "g_captcha": true,
    "g_analytics": true,
    "data_base": true,
    "print": true,
    "pdf": true,
    "https": true
}

edited Sep 3, 2017 at 1:34

João Pimentel Ferreira

16.5k13 gold badges98 silver badges131 bronze badges

answered Sep 2, 2017 at 22:07

Sven

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3 Comments

João Pimentel Ferreira Over a year ago

is it possible to fetch it synchronously without AJAX? I'll need those variables right away for all the other JS files.

Sven Over a year ago

Yeah with var switches = JSON.parse($.get("/Switches.json")). However synchronous requests are deprecated so it is adviced not to use that. From MDN docs: Starting with Gecko 30.0 (Firefox 30.0 / Thunderbird 30.0 / SeaMonkey 2.27), synchronous requests on the main thread have been deprecated due to the negative effects to the user experience.

João Pimentel Ferreira Over a year ago

all my JS files are loaded at the end right before the </body>, so there is no issue with user experience.

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