Accessing an object in php - php

Question

Currently, I'm trying to move away from mySQLi procedural to object oriented style. So, I passed an object to a php file via the Jquery Post() function.
Below:
JS file
var newemployer = {
newemployeremail:newemployeremail,
newcompanyname: newcompanyname,
secondpassword:secondpassword,
};
var employerdata = JSON.stringify(newemployer);
console.log("in jquery: " + employerdata);
$.post('api/employerprocess.php', {employerdata:employerdata}, function(data){
console.log(data);
});
On the PHP side: I have this:
$employerdata = $_POST['employerdata'];
$data = json_decode($employerdata, true);
print_r($data['newemployeremail']);
I can access the object in the above, but I can't seem to get access to the values in the object using the -> operator.
$accessed = $data->newemployeremail;
var_dump($data->newemployeremail);
echo $data->newemployeremail;
echo $accessed;
echo 'Hi';
The $accessed variable, var_dump, the echoing of the object each yield this error, last two statements have a NULL at the end:
Trying to get property of non-object
I'd like to use the -> operator. I don't get it. Why can't I access the values in the object with the -> operator?

Answer 1

true as a second argument to json_decode() means "returned objects will be converted into associative arrays". Hence you're receiving array, not an object.
You need to either pass false to second argument to receive object or access properties using array syntax: $accessed = $data['newemployeremail'];

Answer 2

You are assigning the values as an associative array
$data = json_decode($employerdata, true);
// the true param in json_decode mean that teh result is converted in associative array
echo $data['newemployeremail'];
so you have an array and not an object
then try assign the json decode without true eg:
$data = json_decode($employerdata);
echo $data->newemployeremail;