assign json-serialized string into php array using json-decode

Question

I would like to pass a string that has been serialized by JSON using $.ajax to an external php file to be assigned to a regular array.

Here is what I got so far which isn't showing 0th index of taskContent array.

JQuery code:

$(".json").click(function() {
            var allTaskArr = [];
            $('#appendTask .taskbox').each(function(index,domEle){
            //domEle == this
            allTaskArr[index] = $(domEle).val();
            });
        var allTaskStr = '{"taskContent":'+JSON.stringify(allTaskArr)+'}';

            $.ajax({
                url:'testjson.php',
                type:"POST",
                datatype:'json',
                data:allTaskStr

            });
 });

PHP file:

 $jsonContent = $_POST['taskContent'];
 $taskContent = json_decode($jsonContent,true);         
 echo $taskContent[0];

Have you made sure you are getting the json in PHP? what does print_r($taskContent); show? — Alex
– Alex, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:01
use print_r($taskContent); in your php file to confirm that 0 index is there — Sonu Sindhu
– Sonu Sindhu, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:10
Thanks Alex. I can't seem to get any output from my php file. With alert(allTaskStr); in the JQuery file, I'd get {"taskContent":["text-1","text-2"]}, then I'd assign text-1 and text-2 to index-0 and 1 of the taskContent array in the PHP file. — kyw
– kyw, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:16
silly question, but it needs to be asked: does your PHP program start with <?php — Spudley
– Spudley, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:39

Spudley · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-31 06:44:10Z

1

You said:

@Spudley I'm getting 'Undefined Index: taskContent' message.

The reason for this that PHP is not receiving a post variable named tastContent.

And the reason for this is that you are not sending the JSON correctly.

In the jQuery code, you are producing a JSON string, and then putting this in the data element of the ajax call. In fact, the data element is supposed to be given an object, not a json string; it encodes it to json itself, so if you give it json in the first place, the PHP program will receive a double-encoded string -- ie a json string which decodes to another json string.

So instead of this:

var allTaskStr = '{"taskContent":'+JSON.stringify(allTaskArr)+'}';

... you need to send the data as an object, like this:

var allTask = {taskContent:allTaskArr};

or just put it straight into the ajax call:

data : {taskContent:allTaskArr}

Hope that helps get you on the right track and explains what the problem is.

answered Jul 31, 2013 at 6:44

Spudley

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kyw Over a year ago

Thanks alot Spudley. I didn't know that the data element expects an object not a json string! Second thing i did to fix my problem was in my PHP file, I use file_get_contents('php://input') to receive the object.

MonkeyZeus · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-30 14:01:28Z

1

Disregard this post before this edit.

This is your issue:

var allTaskStr = '{"taskContent":'+JSON.stringify(allTaskArr)+'}';

Should be:

var allTaskStr = {"taskContent":JSON.stringify(allTaskArr)};

data:, expects an object and you are sending it a string.

edited Jul 30, 2013 at 14:01

answered Jul 30, 2013 at 13:55

MonkeyZeus

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