json_decode() - What am I doing wrong? - php

Question

So I decided to make my own helper in Codeigniter to get JSON files and save PokeAPI calls as JSON.
The save JSON method I created works fine:
if ( ! function_exists('saveJson')) {
function saveJson($file, $data) {
$fp = fopen($file, 'w');
fwrite($fp, json_encode($data));
fclose($fp);
}
}
However the getJSON function works very randomly. It works for fetching certain files but others it throws this error: Message: json_decode() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given. (all json files are the same format)
getJSON function:
if ( ! function_exists('getJson')) {
function getJson($file) {
$json = file_get_contents($file);
$data = json_decode($json, true);
$pkm = json_decode($data, true);
return $pkm;
}
}
Its odd, I have to decode the JSON twice or can I cannot access the array in my views.
My model and controller for further depth on the issue:
Model function example:
function getPokemonById($id) {
$filepath = './assets/jsonsaves/pokemoncalls/'. $id. '.json';
if(file_exists($filepath)) {
$pokemonByIdData = getJson($filepath);
} else {
$url = $this->pokemonApiAddress.$id.'/';
$response = Requests::get($url);
saveJson($filepath, $response);
$pokemonByIdData = json_decode($response->body, true);
}
return $pokemonByIdData;
}
Controller function example:
public function viewPokemon($id) {
$singlePokemon['pokemon'] = $this->pokemon_model->getPokemonById($id);
$singlePokemon['species'] = $this->pokemon_model->getPokemonSpecies($id);
$data['thepokemon'] = $this->pokemon_model->getAllPokemon();
$this->load->view('template/header', $data);
$this->load->view('pokemonpage', $singlePokemon);
$this->load->view('template/footer');
}
So there is some variation in my JSON file. In one JSON file that does not work it has, at the beginning:
{"body":"{\"forms\":[{\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pokeapi.co\\\/api\\\/v2\\\/pokemon-form\\\/142\\\/\",\"name\":\"aerodactyl\"}],...
However this one works:
"{\"forms\":[{\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pokeapi.co\\\/api\\\/v2\\\/pokemon-form\\\/6\\\/\",\"name\":\"charizard\"}],...

Answer 1

I fixed the issue thanks to #ccKep.
I removed the JSON encode from my saveJSON function like so:
if ( ! function_exists('saveJson')) {
function saveJson($file, $data) {
$fp = fopen($file, 'w');
fwrite($fp, $data);
fclose($fp);
}
}
And then removed the second json_decode from my getJSON function:
if ( ! function_exists('getJson')) {
function getJson($file) {
$json = file_get_contents($file);
$data = json_decode($json, true);
return $data;
}
}
This fixed the errors I was receiving.