Correctly forming API response - php

Question

I am building a simple API response for my app with Symfony. This is the response I am trying to achieve:
"academy_programs": {
     "academy_program": {
“program_name”: “MySQL”,
“program_price”: 100,
}
 "academy_program": {
“program_name”: “PHP,
“program_price”: 500,
}
}
So far, my response looks like this:
"academy_programs": {
"program_name": [
"MySQL",
"PHP"
],
"program_price": [
100,
500
]
}
Here is the code I wrote.
$programsArray = array();
$priceArray = array();
foreach ($academy->getPrograms() as $program) {
$programsArray[] = $program->getProgramName();
}
foreach ($academy->getPrograms() as $price) {
$priceArray[] = $price->getProgramPrice();
}
$programs = new \stdClass();
$programs->program_name = $programsArray;
$programs->program_price = $priceArray;
I am missing another foreach that would loop through each entry.

Answer 1

You are getting the results in 2 different arrays. To achieve your results, you will have to add the name and the price inside a single array as shown below:
<?php
$programsArray = [];
$programsArray['academy_programs'] = [];
foreach ($academy->getPrograms() as $program) {
$programsArray['academy_programs'][] = [
'academy_program' => [
'program_name' => $program->getProgramName(),
'program_price' => $program->getProgramPrice()
]
];
}
print_r($programsArray);
echo json_encode($programsArray); // json representation
Update:
As #Jaquarh mentioned in the comments, you can make use of __toString() magic method to print contents $academy object whenever you print the object or use it in any string context.
Snippet:
<?php
class Academy{
/*
other code
*/
public function __toString(){
$programsArray = [];
$programsArray['academy_programs'] = [];
foreach ($this->getPrograms() as $program) {
$programsArray['academy_programs'][] = [
'academy_program' => [
'program_name' => $program->getProgramName(),
'program_price' => $program->getProgramPrice()
]
];
}
return json_encode($programsArray); // json representation
}
}
$academy = new Academy();
/*
all the other jazz
*/
echo $academy; // this would invoke the __toString() method and will give you the json representation as output.

Answer 2

Just need to create array like below and use json_encode as below
$academy_programs = [
$academy_program = [ 'program_name' => 'MySQL', 'program_price' => '100' ],
$academy_program = [ 'program_name' => 'PHP', 'program_price' => '500' ]
];
// echo "<pre>"; print_r($academy_programs);
echo json_encode( [ 'academy_programs' => $academy_programs ]);
Here you will get output as
{"academy_programs":[{"program_name":"MySQL","program_price":"100"},{"program_name":"PHP","program_price":"500"}]}