Converting parent tree object/array to flat array

Question

I'm having a difficult time finding information on this. There is plenty of information about taking a flat array and creating a parent tree, but no way to reverse it, especially when you are not sure how deep it goes. This is what I have:

array(
"id"=> "4",
"name"=> "online",
"safe_name"=> "online",
"drive_id"=> "1",
"parent_id"=> "3",
"created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
"updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
"type"=> "folder",
"parents"=> array(
    "id"=>"3",
    "name"=>"dam12",
    "safe_name"=>"dam12",
    "drive_id"=>"1",
    "parent_id"=>2,
    "created_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
    "updated_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
    "type"=>"folder",
    "parents"=> array(
        "id"=> "2",
        "name"=> "Course Materials",
        "safe_name"=> "coure_materials",
        "drive_id"=> "1",
        "parent_id"=> NULL,
        "created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "type"=> "folder",
        "parents"=>array()
    )
)

)

What I am trying to get is:

array(
    array(
        "id"=> "2",
        "name"=> "Course Materials",
        "safe_name"=> "coure_materials",
        "drive_id"=> "1",
        "parent_id"=> NULL,
        "created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "type"=> "folder"
    ),
    array(
        "id"=>"3",
        "name"=>"dam12",
        "safe_name"=>"dam12",
        "drive_id"=>"1",
        "parent_id"=>2,
        "created_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "updated_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "type"=>"folder"
    ),
    array(
        "id"=> "4",
        "name"=> "online",
        "safe_name"=> "online",
        "drive_id"=> "1",
        "parent_id"=> "3",
        "created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "type"=> "folder",
    )
)

I'm trying to achieve something more of a path. What are my options? What is the best way to achieve this?

SOLUTION Andrew gave me a close solution, I needed to do some tweaking as I was only getting the last item in the tree. here is my code, everything else is explained in Andrew's explanation.

if(is_array($parents)){
        foreach ($parents as $key => $parent) {
            if(isset($parent->parents)){
                if(is_array($parent->parents)){
                    $this->formatParents($parent->parents);
                }
                array_push($this->flat_parents, $parent);
            }else{
                array_push($this->flat_parents, $parent);
            }
        } 
    }

Check it now, should work fine.

Andrei
– Andrei

2015-06-29 15:20:34 +00:00
Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 15:20 — Andrei
– Andrei, Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 15:20

Andrei · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-29 15:19:48Z

1

It will recursively gather all the values from an array of undetermined depth.

$test = array(
    "id"=> "4",
    "name"=> "online",
    "safe_name"=> "online",
    "drive_id"=> "1",
    "parent_id"=> "3",
    "created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
    "updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
    "type"=> "folder",
    "parents"=> array(
        "id"=>"3",
        "name"=>"dam12",
        "safe_name"=>"dam12",
        "drive_id"=>"1",
        "parent_id"=>2,
        "created_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "updated_at"=>"2015-06-24 14:06:10",
        "type"=>"folder",
        "parents"=> array(
            "id"=> "2",
            "name"=> "Course Materials",
            "safe_name"=> "coure_materials",
            "drive_id"=> "1",
            "parent_id"=> NULL,
            "created_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
            "updated_at"=> "2015-06-24 14:06:10",
            "type"=> "folder",
            "parents"=>array()
        )
    )
);

class ItEasierWithAClass
{
    private $array_needed = array();

    public function getValues($array)
    {
        foreach($array as $key => $value)
        {
            if(is_array($value))
            {
                $this->getValues($value);
            }
            else
            {
                $this->array_needed[$array['id']][$key] = $value;
            }
        }
    }

    public function getArray()
    {
        return $this->array_needed;
    }
}


$test1 = new ItEasierWithAClass;

$test1->getValues($test);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($test1->getArray());

Output:

Array
(
    [4] => Array
        (
            [id] => 4
            [name] => online
            [safe_name] => online
            [drive_id] => 1
            [parent_id] => 3
            [created_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [updated_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [type] => folder
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [id] => 3
            [name] => dam12
            [safe_name] => dam12
            [drive_id] => 1
            [parent_id] => 2
            [created_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [updated_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [type] => folder
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 2
            [name] => Course Materials
            [safe_name] => coure_materials
            [drive_id] => 1
            [parent_id] => 
            [created_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [updated_at] => 2015-06-24 14:06:10
            [type] => folder
        )

)

It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it gets the job done.

edited Jun 29, 2015 at 15:19

answered Jun 26, 2015 at 14:45

Andrei

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8 Comments

Jason Spick Over a year ago

Sorry, but this is returning a nested array. I need it to be flat.

Andrei Over a year ago

If by nested you mean [ 0 => 'somevalue', 1 => 'anothervalue' ...] then yes. All arrays are like that, even when creating an array yourself, [0, 1, 2...]. Even if the keys are not specified, they will exist.

Jason Spick Over a year ago

No, what I mean is its coming back like my example above [array[array[array[array]]]]

Andrei Over a year ago

That's strange, what version of PHP are you running? If it's below 5.3.0, you can't have anonymous functions. But still, it should have error'd out. Lemme see what's wrong. I'll reply in 5 mins max.

Andrei Over a year ago

Seems to be working perfectly for me. 6 levels nested array. There must be something else wrong.

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