how to read ajax results as an array instead of a string

Question

Environment: PHP 5.3.5 MySQL Server 5.5.8

Created my first ever ajax call and after much determination I have got results. The results appear to be returning as a string. for when I request

alert(result[0]);

I am only returned a single character.

If I try to use a field name, I have a value of undefined returned.

Here is the javascript for my AJAX:

$.ajax({ 
    type: "POST", 
    url: "models/ajaxHandler.php", 
    data: "handler=this&stu=21", 
    success: function(result){ 
            if (result !== null) 
            { 
                    alert(result + " " + result[0] +" " result['firstname']);  
                    var obj =  JSON && JSON.parse(result) || $.parseJSON(result);
                    alert(obj + " " + obj[0] + " " + obj['firstname']);
            } 
            ShowDialog(false); 
            e.preventDefault(); 
    }, 
    error: function()
    { 
            alert("ajax failure"); 
    } 
});

So once the result is captured using a PDO connection in PHP to mysql with a fetchAll(). I return the results from the php like so:

echo json_encode($results);

The alerts for the results comeback like so:

[{"firstname":" Test","0":" Test","lastname":" One","1":" One","id":"2","2":"2","st_usage_id":null,"3":null},{"firstname":" Mr","0":" Mr","lastname":" Two","1":" Two","id":"3","2":"3","st_usage_id":null,"3":null},{"firstname":" Mr","0":" Mr","lastname":" Three","1":" Three","id":"5","2":"5","st_usage_id":null,"3":null}] [ undefined

The parse of the JSON returns all results as object.

I have also tried returning the results in php using:

print_r(json_encode($results));

It displays the same string above. Lastly I used

$var_dump(results);

This returned the following:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  array(8) {
    ["firstname"]=>
    string(7) " DrTest"
    [0]=>
    string(7) " DrTest"
    ["lastname"]=>
    string(4) " One"
    [1]=>
    string(4) " One"
    ["user_public_info_id"]=>
    string(1) "2"
    [2]=>
    string(1) "2"
    ["st_usage_id"]=>
    NULL
    [3]=>
    NULL
  }
  [1]=>
  array(8) {
    ["firstname"]=>
    string(3) " Dr"
    [0]=>
    string(3) " Dr"
    ["lastname"]=>
    string(4) " Two"
    [1]=>
    string(4) " Two"
    ["user_public_info_id"]=>
    string(1) "3"
    [2]=>
    string(1) "3"
    ["st_usage_id"]=>
    NULL
    [3]=>
    NULL
  }
  [2]=>
  array(8) {
    ["firstname"]=>
    string(3) " Dr"
    [0]=>
    string(3) " Dr"
    ["lastname"]=>
    string(6) " Three"
    [1]=>
    string(6) " Three"
    ["user_public_info_id"]=>
    string(1) "5"
    [2]=>
    string(1) "5"
    ["st_usage_id"]=>
    NULL
    [3]=>
    NULL
  }
}
 a undefined

I am not sure what it is I am missing, and I'm sure it is something simple. I feel like I have tried everything. Please could someone tell me where I went wrong?

I tried traverseing through the results usiong the following snippets too. The results always returned undefined (indefinitly) $.each(result, function (i, elem) { alert(elem.firstname); }); — mcv
– mcv, Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 19:52
And this is the other attempt: result.foreach(function(entry){ alert(entry); }); — mcv
– mcv, Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 19:53
Thank you. That was indeed the issue. I was accessing the elements of the obj as a single array item. — mcv
– mcv, Commented Sep 12, 2013 at 12:04

user400654 · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-11 19:52:04Z

4

Specify the json datatype.

dataType: "json"

Note, the result will never be null in recent versions of jQuery, instead it'll go to error in the event nothing gets returned.

answered Sep 11, 2013 at 19:52

user400654

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3 Comments

user400654 Over a year ago

What DID it do? this definitely should make result an array rather than a string.

mcv Over a year ago

Kevin, dataType is a case sensitive word, so that was caught and the error was message was displayed. If I return the results using echo ($results) the result in ajax is detailed above. When I tried var obj = $.parseJJSON(result); The output was [object Object]. If I removed it, it was the same result. I was not using a double array to access the unique elements of the array. I see your point thought if nothing is returned and I will have the datatype defined. Thank you.

user400654 Over a year ago

If you're getting [object Object], then it's working. alert(result[0].firstname)

Jonathan Kuhn · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-12 16:52:06Z

2

In case you want to accept an answer:

Try:

alert(obj[0]['firstname']);

answered Sep 12, 2013 at 16:52

Jonathan Kuhn

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Comments

Tim B · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-11 19:53:02Z

1

Add "results = $.parseJSON(result);" to the beginning of your success call and it should turn it into a Javascript object.

answered Sep 11, 2013 at 19:53

Tim B

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Comments

ForOhFor · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-11 20:01:14Z

0

The PHP documentation http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php, states that when the second parameter of json_decode is true, "returned objects will be converted into associative arrays."

This should do it for you:

$results = json_decode(json_encode($results), true);
print_r($results);

edited Sep 11, 2013 at 20:01

answered Sep 11, 2013 at 19:56

ForOhFor

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2 Comments

mcv Over a year ago

This seems almost redundant. I don't get why you'd suggest to encode results than to decode them. Doesn't that just undo what was done? Anyhow the result was I was not treating the results returned by Ajax as a double array.

ForOhFor Over a year ago

@user2672744 Did you try it?

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