Converting an Object to an Array with PHP - php

Question

I have a script which retrieves data from the Magento API If I run the following code:
$category_tree = $client->catalogCategoryTree($session_id);
print_r($category_tree);
The output is as follows:
stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 1
[parent_id] => 0
[name] => Root Catalog
[position] => 0
[level] => 0
[children] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 2
[parent_id] => 1
[name] => Root Category
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 1
[level] => 1
[children] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 8
[parent_id] => 2
[name] => Designer
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 1
[level] => 2
[children] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 12
[parent_id] => 8
[name] => Chanel
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 1
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
[1] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 13
[parent_id] => 8
[name] => Chanel
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 2
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
[2] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 14
[parent_id] => 8
[name] => Chanel
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 3
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
[3] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 15
[parent_id] => 8
[name] => Chanel
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 4
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
[4] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 16
[parent_id] => 8
[name] => Chanel
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 5
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
)
)
[1] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 7
[parent_id] => 2
[name] => Shop Bags
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 2
[level] => 2
[children] => Array
(
)
)
[2] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 5
[parent_id] => 2
[name] => DifferentCategory
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 3
[level] => 2
[children] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 6
[parent_id] => 5
[name] => 1
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 1
[level] => 3
[children] => Array
(
)
)
)
)
[3] => stdClass Object
(
[category_id] => 4
[parent_id] => 2
[name] => Sample Category
[is_active] => 1
[position] => 6
[level] => 2
[children] => Array
(
)
)
)
)
)
)
When attempting to convert this to an array whilst storing the name values, I receive the following errors upon executing the print_r() function:
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\create_products.php on line 151
Array ( [0] => [1] => [2] => [3] => [4] => [5] => )
My code is below:
$result = [];
foreach ($category_tree as $designer_category) {
$result[] = $designer_category->name;
}
print_r($result);
I need to be able to store the values for name as an array. I've tried typecasting $category_tree to an array with no luck.
Could anybody please shed some light on where I'm going wrong here? Thank you very much in advance for any insight that you can offer.

Answer 1

It will not work, because you have object, not array.
You must go deeper and deeper through all childrens.
Try use recursion, it isn't ideal example, but shows idea:
function goDeeper($object, &$results) {
if (!empty($object->name)) {
$results[] = $object->name;
}
if (!empty($object->children)) {
foreach ($object->children as $child) {
goDeeper($child, $results);
}
}
}
$results = [];
$category_tree = $client->catalogCategoryTree($session_id);
goDeeper($category_tree, $results);
print_r($results);