Problem with output of json_decode

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January 9th, 2013, 01:48 PM

richpri

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PHP-General - Problem with output of json_decode

I am trying to pass input to a PHP program via AJAX. The resulting array is not what I expected. A sub array gets mangled as can be seen in the test command line program below.

The test PHP program looks like this:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
$newgame = '{"gname": "game name","boxid": "7","players": [{"0": "pname0"},{"1": "pname1"},{"2": "pname2"}]}';
$game = json_decode($newgame, true);
$textgame = json_encode($game);
$errorgame = json_last_error();
var_dump($newgame);
var_dump($textgame);
var_dump($errorgame);
?>

And the output looks like this:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/php
string(96) "{"gname": "game name","boxid": "7","players": [{"0": "pname0"},{"1": "pname1"},{"2": "pname2"}]}"
string(86) "{"gname":"game name","boxid":"7","players":[["pname0"],{"1":"pname1"},{"2":"pname2"}]}"
int(0)

As you can see, decoding and encoding returns a different and erronious string.
I would appreciate any advice on the format of the newgame string or any other comments on this problem.

January 9th, 2013, 02:05 PM

requinix

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It's not erroneous: json_decode() with $assoc=true is potentially lossy. Arguably not though because {"0":"pname0"} and ["pname0"] will behave nearly identically in Javascript.

Pass $assoc=false.

PHP Code:


		
			
 $game = json_decode($newgame);

Comments on this post

richpri agrees: Good point.

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January 9th, 2013, 02:59 PM

richpri

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I found a string that works.
Here is the new test output from same program with new string:

Code:

string(77) "{"gname": "game name","boxid": "7","players": ["pname0", "pname1", "pname2"]}"
string(72) "{"gname":"game name","boxid":"7","players":["pname0","pname1","pname2"]}"
int(0)

The strings are the same except for whitespace.

January 9th, 2013, 03:33 PM

ManiacDan

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I'm not sure what the problem even is here. The objects are still the same, regardless of what the keys end up being. Since JS doesn't support string keys, the whole exercise is kind of moot.

Encoding and decoding the string you gave us produces the same array:

PHP Code:


		
			
 $newgame = '{"gname": "game name","boxid": "7","players": [{"0": "pname0"},{"1": "pname1"},{"2": "pname2"}]}';

$game = json_decode($newgame, true);

$textgame = json_encode($game);

$errorgame = json_last_error();

print_r($game);

print_r(json_decode($textgame,true));

Produces:

Code:

Array
(
    [gname] => game name
    [boxid] => 7
    [players] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [0] => pname0
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [1] => pname1
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [2] => pname2
                )

        )

)

Array
(
    [gname] => game name
    [boxid] => 7
    [players] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [0] => pname0
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [1] => pname1
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [2] => pname2
                )

        )

)

Comments on this post

richpri agrees: The second version works for me. My problem has been solved.

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PHP-General - Problem with output of json_decode

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