Parse string to array like CakePHP form data - php

Question

I am looking for a way to parse strings in an array to an array which has a similar pattern to how CakePHP handles POST data. Or even a function in CakePHP that would do it.
UPDATED:
Current array:
array(
'data[callers]' => (int) 4,
'data[status]' => 'Unknown',
'data[country_id][107]' => (int) 1,
'data[country_id][150]' => (int) 0
)
Desired result:
array(
'callers' => (int) 4,
'status' => 'Unknown',
'country_id' => array(
(int) 107 => (int) 1,
(int) 150 => (int) 0
)
)
The purpose is saving serialized form data which can later be passed to a PHP function without having to POST the data from the browser.
The data comes from a form which was serialized and saved in the database. CakePHP generates input names in the form with brackets like this: data[country_id][107] and inside the controller you can access it like this $this->request->data['country_id']['107']
But when I serialize the form with javascript and save the raw JSON string in the database I need a way to make it into an array like CakePHP does.

Answer 1

Firstly make sure your array is valid first like:
$data = array (
'callers' => 4,
'status' => 'Unknown',
'country_id' => array(
'107' => 0,
'150' => 0
)
);
JSON ENCODE
Now you can json encode it
$json = json_encode($data);
echo $json; // prints: {"callers":4,"status":"Unknown","country_id":{"107":0,"150":0}}
See ^ it is now a string.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php
JSON DECODE
Then when you need it as an array call json_decode()
json_decode($data, true);
Note the second parameter is setting return array to true else you will get an the json returned as an object.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php