Laravel 5: Retrieve JSON array from $request

Question

I'm a Laravel newbie and I'm converting a php/jquery app to Laravel. The original code used a JSON array with an ajax POST, which was retrieved like this:

$json = file_get_contents('php://input');
$data = json_decode($json,true);

I'm doing much the same thing on the POST side, but I don't see any data coming through in my Laravel $request collection. Is there something special that I need to do to retrieve JSON data structured like this:

[
    { "name": "John", "location": "Boston" }, 
    { "name": "Dave", "location": "Lancaster" }
]

Here is my jQuery ajax POST code (with hard coded data)

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/people",
    data: '[{ "name": "John", "location": "Boston" }, { "name": "Dave", "location": "Lancaster" }]',
    dataType: "json",
    success:function(data) {
        $('#save_message').html(data.message);
    } 
});

Here is the code in my Controller that receives the POST

public function store(Request $request)
{
    dd($request->all());
}

But all I get is:

[]

Any ideas on how I can retreive my data?

Hieu Le · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-08 05:57:22Z

73

You need to change your Ajax call to

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/people",
    data: '[{ "name": "John", "location": "Boston" }, { "name": "Dave", "location": "Lancaster" }]',
    contentType: "json",
    processData: false,
    success:function(data) {
        $('#save_message').html(data.message);
    } 
});

change the dataType to contentType and add the processData option.

To retrieve the JSON payload from your controller, use:

dd(json_decode($request->getContent(), true));

instead of

dd($request->all());

edited Oct 8, 2015 at 5:57

answered Oct 8, 2015 at 4:41

Hieu Le

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3 Comments

Adam Over a year ago

Sadly, I still don't get any data in my Laravel Controller - just []. However I can see that the headers change from Form Data to Request Payload

Hieu Le Over a year ago

I have updated my response, you need to change the way you get the input in the controller, too.

Clayton Engle Over a year ago

I've been back to this comment many times over the last few years, and I really appreciate it. Just wanted to say thanks.

Glenn Plas · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-09 11:58:05Z

37

 $postbody='';
 // Check for presence of a body in the request
 if (count($request->json()->all())) {
     $postbody = $request->json()->all();
 }

This is how it's done in laravel 5.2 now.

answered Sep 9, 2016 at 11:58

Glenn Plas

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1 Comment

undefined Over a year ago

Thank you so much :), I was trying to use this with the JS fetch API

Yun CHEN · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-16 04:01:42Z

8

Just a mention with jQuery v3.2.1 and Laravel 5.6.

Case 1: The JS object posted directly, like:

$.post("url", {name:'John'}, function( data ) {
});

Corresponding Laravel PHP code should be:

parse_str($request->getContent(),$data); //JSON will be parsed to object $data

Case 2: The JSON string posted, like:

$.post("url", JSON.stringify({name:'John'}), function( data ) {
});

Corresponding Laravel PHP code should be:

$data = json_decode($request->getContent(), true);

edited May 16, 2018 at 4:01

answered May 16, 2018 at 3:53

Yun CHEN

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2 Comments

s_p Over a year ago

how do you parse in php controller {name:'John'} the name? $data->name ?

Hashim Aziz Over a year ago

What does the true do here? I couldn't figure it out from the documentation on json_decode.

Santosh Achari · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-20 11:51:55Z

5

You can use getContent() method on Request object.

$request->getContent() //json as a string.

edited Feb 20, 2020 at 11:51

answered Jan 28, 2020 at 17:41

Santosh Achari

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1 Comment

nbk Over a year ago

Answers should always come with some explantion

Loren · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-19 21:45:18Z

4

As of Laravel 5.2+, you can fetch it directly with $request->input('item') as well.

Retrieving JSON Input Values

When sending JSON requests to your application, you may access the JSON data via the input method as long as the Content-Type header of the request is properly set to application/json. You may even use "dot" syntax to dig deeper into JSON arrays:

$name = $request->input('user.name');

https://laravel.com/docs/5.2/requests

As noted above, the content-type header must be set to application/json so the jQuery ajax call would need to include contentType: "application/json",

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/people",
    data: '[{ "name": "John", "location": "Boston" }, { "name": "Dave", "location": "Lancaster" }]',
    dataType: "json",
    contentType: "application/json",
    success:function(data) {
        $('#save_message').html(data.message);
    } 
});

By fixing the AJAX call, $request->all() should work.

answered Jan 19, 2019 at 21:45

Loren

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1 Comment

s_p Over a year ago

then how can i parse "name" and "location" after $request->all()?

Mike Aron · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-21 17:48:46Z

0

My jQuery ajax settings:

        $.ajax({
        headers: {'X-CSRF-TOKEN': $('meta[name="csrf-token"]').attr('content')},
        url: url,
        dataType: "json",
        type: "post",
        data: params,
        success: function (resp){
            ....
        },
        error: responseFunc
    });

And now i am able to get the request via $request->all() in Laravel

dataType: "json"

is the important part in the ajax request to handle the response as an json object and not string.

answered Nov 21, 2020 at 17:48

Mike Aron

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