How to display this JSON data 'item' only once in this foreach loop (PHP)

Question

I have a small function that grabs the avatars of comment authors on a specified video. It simply loops through the JSON data returned by YouTube API v3 commentThreads method.

The only issue is that sometimes an author has commented more than once, so my function is displaying the authors avatar more than once. I'd like to only display it one time, and on to the next avatar.

Here's a picture of what I mean:

Currently my function looks like this:

function videoCommentAvatars($video) {
    // Parse YouTube video ID from the url
    if (preg_match('%(?:youtube(?:-nocookie)?\.com/(?:[^/]+/.+/|(?:v|e(?:mbed)?)/|.*[?&]v=)|youtu\.be/)([^"&?/ ]{11})%i', $video, $match)) {
        $video_id = $match[1];
    }

    // Gather Video stats with YouTube API v3
    $api_key   = "API_KEY_HERE";
    $JSON      = file_get_contents('https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/commentThreads?part=snippet&videoId='.$video_id.'&key='.$api_key);
    $json_data = json_decode($JSON, true);

    if (!empty($json_data)) {
        foreach ($json_data['items'] as $data) {
            // Create variables that hold info
            $author_name    = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorDisplayName']; // Author Name
            $author_avatar  = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorProfileImageUrl']; // Author Avatar
            $author_channel = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorChannelUrl']; // Author Channel URL

            echo '<span class="comment-author-avatar">';
                echo '<a target="_blank" href="'.$author_channel.'" title="'.$author_name.'"><img width="50" alt="'.$author_name.'" class="comment-author-thumb-single" src="'.$author_avatar.'"></a>';
            echo '</span>';
        }
    }
}

Everything works fine, but there's no way to check if an avatar has been displayed yet. I thought about using an array maybe? Adding each avatar URL to the array, and checking the array to see if the key exists. But that seems like overkill for something that's seemingly more simple. Does anyone have a clever way of checking the foreach loop for duplicates?

Is your question checking for duplicates? or is it to see if avatar is displayed? — Caspar Wylie
– Caspar Wylie, Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:37
@CasparWylie Whatever would work to determine if the avatar has been displayed yet. I only want to display each avatar only once. I guess it'll be better to see if it has been displayed, rather than check after the fact for duplicates. Thanks! — anthonyCam
– anthonyCam, Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:38
WHy would it not get displayed? You are outputting data/avatars from the backend (php), so you can assume everything in the array is outputted on page load, no? — Caspar Wylie
– Caspar Wylie, Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:40

RiggsFolly · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-05 19:57:19Z

2

to check for duplicates in an array, you have a few options. Firstly, to get rid of any before looping, you can use array_unqiue($array) which will return an array that does not repeat it's values.

Or if you do need initial access to all values in the loop, and to do something if a repeat is present, you can have another array that acts as a record to see if they appear more than once.

$record = array();
foreach ($json_data['items'] as $data) {
    // Create variables that hold info
    $author_name    = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorDisplayName']; // Author Name
    if(!in_array($author_name, $record)){

        $author_avatar  = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorProfileImageUrl']; // Author Avatar
        $author_channel = $data['snippet']['topLevelComment']['snippet']['authorChannelUrl']; // Author Channel URL

        echo '<span class="comment-author-avatar">';
        echo '<a target="_blank" href="'.$author_channel.'" title="'.$author_name.'"><img width="50" alt="'.$author_name.'" class="comment-author-thumb-single" src="'.$author_avatar.'"></a>';
        echo '</span>';
        $record[] = $author_name;
    }
}

edited Sep 5, 2016 at 19:57

RiggsFolly

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answered Sep 5, 2016 at 19:43

Caspar Wylie

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4 Comments

RiggsFolly Over a year ago

Would be more useful to associate your answer to OP's actual code rather than some simple example

anthonyCam Over a year ago

@CasparWylie Thank you, let me incorporate this and I'll get back to you. I appreciate it.

RiggsFolly Over a year ago

Thats better, and it should work so UV, just in case OP does not bother

anthonyCam Over a year ago

Awesome. It works. Thank you very much. @CasparWylie

iliaz · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-05 19:43:58Z

0

You can try a multi array with a unique index in your loop.

$author[$data['snippet'][...]['authorDisplayName']['avatar'] = $data['snippet'][...]['authorProfileImageUrl'];

So only unique results in the array.

answered Sep 5, 2016 at 19:43

iliaz

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2 Comments

anthonyCam Over a year ago

Not quite what I was looking for, but thank you for responding.

iliaz Over a year ago

It will work though. Instead of 3 variables, one multi array with 2 values.

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