Impossible to fetch data from a json file into php variable - php

Question

I'm using Giscloud's REST API to grab a json with some info that i need for my web app. The problem is that it seems impossible that I can fetch and/or decode any data from that json using the corresponding php functions. I think it has something to do with the way the json file is structured.
This is the json file (some fields edited):
{
"type": "maps",
"total": 3,
"page": 1,
"data": [
{
"id": "edited",
"name": "Mapa de Mantención en Linea",
"owner": "edited",
"epsg": "900913",
"active": "1",
"copyright": "",
"proj4": "+proj=merc +a=6378137 +b=6378137 +lat_ts=0.0 +lon_0=0.0 +x_0=0.0 +y_0=0 +k=1.0 +units=m +nadgrids=#null +no_defs",
"units": "meter",
"maxzoom": "0",
"mobileacess": "f",
"bgcolor": "#417893",
"wmsaccess": null,
"modified": 1483563460,
"accessed": 1483563460,
"created": 1483021672,
"description": "",
"maptype": null,
"assets": null,
"rating": "0",
"units_proj4": "meter",
"visited": "31",
"resource_id": "6102219",
"measure_unit": "meter",
"share": "f",
"bounds": " {\"xmin\":-8027875.3326789,\"xmax\":-7742459.4690621,\"ymin\":-4065685.5344885,\"ymax\":-3929474.7500843}"
},
{
"id": "edited",
"name": "Mapa de Operaciones",
"owner": "edited",
"epsg": "900913",
"active": "1",
"copyright": "",
"proj4": "+proj=merc +a=6378137 +b=6378137 +lat_ts=0.0 +lon_0=0.0 +x_0=0.0 +y_0=0 +k=1.0 +units=m +nadgrids=#null +no_defs",
"units": "meter",
"maxzoom": "0",
"mobileacess": "f",
"bgcolor": "#417893",
"wmsaccess": null,
"modified": 1483563473,
"accessed": 1483563473,
"created": 1483021672,
"description": "",
"maptype": null,
"assets": null,
"rating": "0",
"units_proj4": "meter",
"visited": "45",
"resource_id": "6102603",
"measure_unit": "meter",
"share": "f",
"bounds": "{\"xmin\":-8027263.8364526,\"xmax\":-7741847.9728358,\"ymin\":-4075469.474109,\"ymax\":-3939258.6897048}"
},
{
"id": "edited",
"name": "Mapa M&IC",
"owner": "edited",
"epsg": "900913",
"active": "1",
"copyright": "",
"proj4": "+proj=merc +a=6378137 +b=6378137 +lat_ts=0.0 +lon_0=0.0 +x_0=0.0 +y_0=0 +k=1.0 +units=m +nadgrids=#null +no_defs",
"units": "meter",
"maxzoom": "0",
"mobileacess": "f",
"bgcolor": "#417893",
"wmsaccess": null,
"modified": 1483563449,
"accessed": 1483563449,
"created": 1483021672,
"description": "",
"maptype": null,
"assets": null,
"rating": "0",
"units_proj4": "meter",
"visited": "35",
"resource_id": "6102604",
"measure_unit": "meter",
"share": "f",
"bounds": "{\"xmin\":-8028181.080792,\"xmax\":-7742765.2171752,\"ymin\":-4074552.2297696,\"ymax\":-3938341.4453654}"
}
]
}
These are the different ways that i've tried to decode this json and put it into a variable.
$json = curl_exec($ch);
// Number 1
$data = var_dump(json_decode($json));
echo $data['data'][0]['id'];
exit;
// Number 1 returns
object(stdClass)[21]
public 'code' => string 'FATAL' (length=5)
public 'msg' => string 'Internal error' (length=14)
// Number 2
$data = json_decode($json,true);
echo $data['data'][0]['id'];
// Number 2 returns
PHP Undefined index: data
I've tried several other similar functions, like print_r. Or change some values there and here, but nothing has worked.
I would appreciate a lot some help on this!
Some extra info:
There's no problem with curl. It executes correctly.
Yes, the server answers with a json file.
UPDATE
Using json_last_error() (no need of parameters) I was able to debbug. The function returns an int depending of the type of error. Mine was 0meaning that there's no error.
I think I ran out of ideas for this.

Answer 1

Loose the var_dump() thats just for debugging and it is stoppping the json_decode() from returning a PHP Object from the json_decode().
Then use the correct object syntax to address the object
$json = curl_exec($ch);
$data = json_decode($json);
// debug code
if ( json_last_error() > 0) {
echo json_last_error_msg();
} else
// this should print the data structure
print_r($data);
}
// end debug code
echo $data->data[0]->id;
If you want all the id's from all the occurances you can do
$json = curl_exec($ch);
$data = json_decode($json);
foreach ($data->data as $idx => $obj ){
echo "Occurance $idx = " . $obj->id;
}

Answer 2

Object syntax:
$json = curl_exec($ch);
$json_data = json_decode($json);
foreach ( $json_data->data as $data_item){
echo '<p>ID: ' . $data_item->id . ' -- Name: ' . $data_item->name . '</p>';
}
Array Syntax:
Get the data as an associated array by adding a second parameter TRUE to json_decode() php docs
$json = curl_exec($ch);
$data_array = json_decode($json, true);
foreach ( $data_array['data'] as $item){
echo '<p>ID: ' . $item['id'] . ' -- Name: ' . $item['name'] . '</p>';
}

Answer 3

i dont preferable to use cURL In this situation , you can use
file_get_contents
so here is a simple code
$userdata = json_decode(file_get_contents("JSON_URL_GOES_HERE"), true)
$u_ID = $userdata['data'][0]['id'];
and so on
see :file_get_contents