PHP 7.2 - SQL Server 2017 - Create Nested Array response - php

Question

I have a Stored Procedure that retrieves data from a SQL Server DB.
With query result I need to populate the parameters' Array of a SOAPClient's Method
At present I'm manually creating the Array, but I was wondering if it was possible (and worthy) to create the Array in the way required by the SOAP Method directly from TSQL:
Using PHP 7.2 - SQL Server 2017
Let me explain with an example:
this is my Query Result:
Array
(
[Key] => R******l
[Password] => c*************z
[AccountNumber] => 0****1
[MeterNumber] => 2******5
[ShipTimestamp] => 2020-10-29T10:24:19+01:00
[ServiceType] => INTERNATIONAL_ECONOMY
[PackagingType] => YOUR_PACKAGING
[PreferredCurrency] => EUR
[Weight_Units] => KG
[TotalWeight] => 0.02
...
)
While it should return something like this:
Array
(
[Authentication] => Array
(
[User] => Array
(
[Key] => R******l
[Password] => c*************z
)
)
[Client] => Array
(
[Account] => 0*******1
[Meter] => 2*******5
)
[Shipment] => Array
(
[ShipTimestamp] => 2020-10-29T10:41:26+01:00
[DropoffType] => REGULAR_PICKUP
[ServiceType] => INTERNATIONAL_ECONOMY
[PackagingType] => YOUR_PACKAGING
[PreferredCurrency] => EUR
[TotalWeight] => Array
(
[Units] => KG
[Value] => 0.02
)
)
...
)
Is it possible and worthy?

Answer 1

You could return one row with one JSON column using FOR JSON PATH1 in SQL and in PHP json_decode($json, true)3 with $assoc param set to true to decode JSON as array.
SELECT (
SELECT user_key [Authentication.User.Key]
, user_password [Authentication.User.Password]
, client_account [Client.Account]
, client_meter [Client.Meter]
--- and so on
FROM my_table
FOR JSON PATH
) [json]
The result should be JSON
{
"Authentication": { "User": { "Key": "XXX", "Password": "XXX" } },
"Client": { "Account": "YYY", "Meter": 200500 }
}
And now You can fetch that value in PHP, decode it and supply to SOAP.
$row = sqlsrv_fetch_array($stmt, SQLSRV_FETCH_ASSOC);
$json = json_decode($row['json'], true);
But in SQL You need a special syntax to format those types:
date values CONVERT(varchar(10), date_col, 120) -
120 results in 2020-10-29 11:32:00 format, varchar(10) trim just date part, varchar(20) gets whole date+time2
boolean values CAST(boolean_col as bit) (0 -> false, 1 -> true)
More info:
SQL: Format query results as JSON with FOR JSON
SQL: CAST and CONVERT with datetime in different formats
PHP: json_decode

Answer 2

As asked for an example, this can be also done with a mapping.
Data defined as
$data = [
'Key' => 'R******l',
'Password' => 'c*************z',
'AccountNumber' => '0****1',
'MeterNumber' => '2******5',
'ShipTimestamp' => '2020-10-29T10:24:19+01:00',
'ServiceType' => 'INTERNATIONAL_ECONOMY',
'PackagingType' => 'YOUR_PACKAGING',
'PreferredCurrency' => 'EUR',
'Weight_Units' => 'KG',
'TotalWeight' => '0.02',
];
Mapping defined with a hash table. The name may be transformed and groups may me as deep as wanted.
$mapping = [
'Key' => ['name' => 'Key', 'group' => ['Authentication', 'User']],
'Password' => ['name' => 'Password', 'group' => ['Authentication', 'User']],
'AccountNumber' => ['name' => 'Account', 'group' => ['Client']],
'MeterNumber' => ['name' => 'Meter', 'group' => ['Client']],
'ShipTimestamp' => ['name' => 'ShipTimestamp', 'group' => ['Shipment']],
'ServiceType' => ['name' => 'ServiceType', 'group' => ['Shipment']],
'PackagingType' => ['name' => 'PackagingType', 'group' => ['Shipment']],
'PreferredCurrency' => ['name' => 'PreferredCurrency', 'group' => ['Shipment']],
'Weight_Units' => ['name' => 'Units', 'group' => ['Shipment', 'TotalWeight']],
'TotalWeight' => ['name' => 'Value', 'group' => ['Shipment', 'TotalWeight']],
];
Now a simple routine to remap the data by the mapping table and put to $mappedData.
$mappedData = [];
foreach($data as $key => $value) {
$map = $mapping[$key];
$root = array_shift($map['group']);
krsort($map['group']);
$value = [$map['name'] => $value];
foreach($map['group'] as $group) {
$value = [$group => $value];
}
$new[$root] = $value;
$mappedData = array_replace_recursive ($mappedData, $new);
}
Which looks like this when executed
Array
(
[Authentication] => Array
(
[User] => Array
(
[Key] => R******l
[Password] => c*************z
)
)
[Client] => Array
(
[Account] => 0****1
[Meter] => 2******5
)
[Shipment] => Array
(
[ShipTimestamp] => 2020-10-29T10:24:19+01:00
[ServiceType] => INTERNATIONAL_ECONOMY
[PackagingType] => YOUR_PACKAGING
[PreferredCurrency] => EUR
[TotalWeight] => Array
(
[Units] => KG
[Value] => 0.02
)
)
)