PHP: Generate JSON from array in a specific way - php

Question

I would like to create a JSON from Array in a specific way. My array looks like this at the beginning:
array(2) {
[22]=>
array(8) {
["factor"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(2) "12"
[1]=>
string(1) "1"
}
["unit"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(6) "months"
[1]=>
string(5) "times"
}
["value"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(3) "2.5"
[1]=>
string(1) "2"
}
["planid"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(1) "1"
[1]=>
string(1) "1"
}
["position"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(22) "Test 1"
[1]=>
string(21) "Test 2"
}
["vouchervalue"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(1) "0"
[1]=>
string(1) "0"
}
["vouchertype"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(0) ""
[1]=>
string(0) ""
}
["vat"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
int(19)
[1]=>
int(19)
}
}
[23]=>
array(8) {
["factor"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(2) "12"
[1]=>
string(1) "1"
}
["unit"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(6) "months"
[1]=>
string(5) "times"
}
["value"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(3) "2.5"
[1]=>
string(1) "2"
}
["planid"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(1) "1"
[1]=>
string(1) "1"
}
["position"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(22) "Test 3"
[1]=>
string(21) "Test 4"
}
["vouchervalue"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(1) "0"
[1]=>
string(1) "0"
}
["vouchertype"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(0) ""
[1]=>
string(0) ""
}
["vat"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
int(19)
[1]=>
int(19)
}
}
}
This is how the JSON looks like:
string(354) "{"factor":[["12","1"],["12","1"]],"unit":[["months","times"],["months","times"]],"value":[["2.5","2"],["2.5","2"]],"planid":[["1","1"],["1","1"]],"position":[["Test 1","Test 2"],["Test 3","Test 4"]],"vouchervalue":[["0","0"],["0","0"]],"vouchertype":[["",""],["",""]],"vat":[[19,19],[19,19]]}"
But I would like to have it this way:
string(214) "{"factor":["12", "1","12","1"],"unit":["months", "times","months","times"],"value":["2.5","2","2.5", "2"],"planid":["1","1","1","1"],"position":["Test 1","Test 2", "Test 3", "Test 4"],"vouchervalue":["0","0","0","0"],"vouchertype":["","","",""],"vat":[19,19,19,19]}"
The idea is that every order can contain more than 1 position that can be used to create a JSON which can be used in the rest of the application (there is a table that uses JSON).
Well, I've no idea how to solve this so I'm happy about any hint :-)

Answer 1

Let us say you have the data in array $a.
$a = array(
array(
'factor'=> array( '12', '1' ),
'unit'=> array( 'months', 'times' ),
'value'=> array( '2.5', '2' ),
'planid'=> array( '1', '1' ),
'position'=> array( 'Test 1', 'Test 2' ),
'vouchervalue'=> array( '0', '0' ),
'vouchertype'=> array( '', '' ),
'vat'=> array( 19, 19 ),
),
array(
'factor'=> array( '12', '1' ),
'unit'=> array( 'months', 'times' ),
'value'=> array( '2.5', '2' ),
'planid'=> array( '1', '1' ),
'position'=> array( 'Test 3', 'Test 4' ),
'vouchervalue'=> array( '0', '0' ),
'vouchertype'=> array( '', '' ),
'vat'=> array( 19, 19),
),
);
This in your example contains two arrays, you want to combine. This is one way:
$b = array();
foreach( $a[0] as $k=>$v ) {
if ( isset( $a[1][$k] ) ) // Add keys in both arrays
$b[$k] = array_merge( $a[0][$k], $a[1][$k] );
else // Add keys in only first array
$b[$k] = $a[0][$k];
}
foreach( $a[1] as $k=>$v ) {
if ( !isset( $a[0][$k] ) ) // Add keys in only second array
$b[$k] = $a[1][$k];
}
echo json_encode( $b );
This iterates through the first array. If the key ('factor', 'unit') is available in both arrays, it merges them otherwise it just adds the array.
Secondly it iterates through the second array and adds the arrays which has not been added in the first pass (if the key was not in the first array).
In your case, the arrays seem to have the same set of keys, and a second pass might not be necessary, but just to be sure...
This is the result:
{"factor":["12","1","12","1"],"unit":["months","times","months","times"],"value":["2.5","2","2.5","2"],"planid":["1","1","1","1"],"position":["Test 1","Test 2","Test 3","Test 4"],"vouchervalue":["0","0","0","0"],"vouchertype":["","","",""],"vat":[19,19,19,19]}
If you do not want the numbers in the json to be string encoded, like "12" but rather 12, add JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK to json_encode
echo json_encode( $b, JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK );
{"factor":[12,1,12,1],"unit":["months","times","months","times"],"value":[2.5,2,2.5,2],"planid":[1,1,1,1],"position":["Test 1","Test 2","Test 3","Test 4"],"vouchervalue":[0,0,0,0],"vouchertype":["","","",""],"vat":[19,19,19,19]}

Answer 2

You're looking for array_merge_recursive(). Per the docs:
array_merge_recursive() merges the elements of one or more arrays together so that the values of one are appended to the end of the previous one. It returns the resulting array.
If the input arrays have the same string keys, then the values for these keys are merged together into an array, and this is done recursively, so that if one of the values is an array itself, the function will merge it with a corresponding entry in another array too. If, however, the arrays have the same numeric key, the later value will not overwrite the original value, but will be appended.
Using the example inputs that #HasseBjork outlined above in his answer (based on your original input):
$a = array(
array(
'factor'=> array( '12', '1' ),
'unit'=> array( 'months', 'times' ),
'value'=> array( '2.5', '2' ),
'planid'=> array( '1', '1' ),
'position'=> array( 'Test 1', 'Test 2' ),
'vouchervalue'=> array( '0', '0' ),
'vouchertype'=> array( '', '' ),
'vat'=> array( 19, 19 ),
),
array(
'factor'=> array( '12', '1' ),
'unit'=> array( 'months', 'times' ),
'value'=> array( '2.5', '2' ),
'planid'=> array( '1', '1' ),
'position'=> array( 'Test 3', 'Test 4' ),
'vouchervalue'=> array( '0', '0' ),
'vouchertype'=> array( '', '' ),
'vat'=> array( 19, 19),
),
);
All you need to do is:
echo json_encode(array_merge_recursive($a[0], $a[1]));