PHP/MYSQL: Access data in Array of Dictionaries - php

Question

I receive a JSON stream from an iphone that contains some simple strings and numbers as well as an array of dictionaries. I would like to work with these dictionaries, in essence, storing the data in each of them in a separate MYSQL record.
To get access to the strings as well as the array from the JSON stream, I am using the following:
$jsonString = file_get_contents('php://input');
$jsonArray = json_decode($jsonString, true);
$authString = jsonArray['authstring'];
$itemsArray = $jsonArray['itemsArray'];
This is what itemsArray looks like before being sent to the server:
itemsArray = (
{
lasttouchedstr = "2018-07-09 17:24:56";
localiid = 6;
iid = 0;
title = "test";
complete = 1;
userid = 99;
whenaddedstr = "2018-06-21 14:10:23";
},
{
lasttouchedstr = "2018-07-09 17:24:56";
localiid = 37;
iid = 0;
title = "how about this";
userid = 88;
whenaddedstr = "2018-07-07 16:58:31";
},
{
lasttouchedstr = "2018-07-09 17:24:56";
localiid = 38;
iid = 0;
title = reggiano;
userid = 1;
whenaddedstr = "2018-07-07 17:28:55";
}
etc.
I guess I should probably put these dictionaries into an Associative Array in order to save them.
I am struggling, however, with how to reference and get the objects. From what I can tell the following code is returning empty values in so far as $message comes back as empty.
$anitem = $jsonArray['itemsArray'][0];
$message=$anitem;
$title = $jsonArray['itemsArray'][0].[item];
$message.=$title;
Can anyone suggest proper syntax to grab these items and their properties?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Answer 1

I find it strange that people associate things with a dictionary, while it is nothing more then a multidimensional array.
If you can read JSON, you see that the variable will have an index containing each entry.
For PHP:
foreach($jsonArray as $array){
// note that $array is still an array:
foreach($array as $v){
echo "Hurray!: '$v'";
}
}
If it really was an object (or cast to an object), the only thing you need to change is how you access the variable (as in any other language). In PHP it would be:
echo $jsonArray[0]->lasttouchedstr;
Or of it was the same loop:
foreach($jsonArray as $v){
echo $v->lasttouchedstr;
}
Multidimensional?
echo $jsonArray['itemsArray'][0][item]; // array
echo $jsonArray->itemsArray[0][item]; // if items array is an actual array and jsonArray an object.
Most languages associate things written as a . that the left side is an object. In PHP it's written as ->.