Laravel and a While Loop - php

Question

I'm new to Laravel and at the moment I have a piece of code in a Controller which without the while loop it works, it retrieves my query from the database.
public function dash($id, Request $request) {
$user = JWTAuth::parseToken()->authenticate();
$postdata = $request->except('token');
$q = DB::select('SELECT * FROM maps WHERE user_id = :id', ['id' => $id]);
if($q->num_rows > 0){
$check = true;
$maps = array();
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($q)) {
$product = array(
'auth' => 1,
'id' => $row['id'],
'url' => $row['url'],
'locationData' => json_decode($row['locationData']),
'userData' => json_decode($row['userData']),
'visible' => $row['visible'],
'thedate' => $row['thedate']
);
array_push($maps, $product);
}
} else {
$check = false;
}
return response()->json($maps);
}
I am trying to loop through the returned data from $q and use json_decode on 2 key/val pairs but I can't even get this done right.

Answer 1

Don't use mysqli to iterate over the results (Laravel doesn't use mysqli). Results coming back from Laravel's query builder are Traversable, so you can simply use a foreach loop:
$q = DB::select('...');
foreach($q as $row) {
// ...
}
Each $row is going to be an object and not an array:
$product = array(
'auth' => 1,
'id' => $row->id,
'url' => $row->url,
'locationData' => json_decode($row->locationData),
'userData' => json_decode($row->userData),
'visible' => $row->visible,
'thedate' => $row->thedate
);

Answer 2

You're not using $postdata in that function so remove it.
Do not use mysqli in Laravel. Use models and/or the DB query functionality built in.
You're passing the wrong thing to mysqli_fetch_array. It's always returning a non-false value and that's why the loop never ends.
Why are you looping over the row data? Just return the query results-- they're already an array. If you want things like 'locationData' and 'userData' to be decoded JSON then use a model with methods to do this stuff for you. Remember, with MVC you should always put anything data related into models.
So a better way to do this is with Laravel models and relationships:
// put this with the rest of your models
// User.php
class User extends Model
{
function maps ()
{
return $this->hasMany ('App\Map');
}
}
// Maps.php
class Map extends Model
{
// you're not using this right now, but in case your view needs to get
// this stuff you can use these functions
function getLocationData ()
{
return json_decode ($this->locationData);
}
function getUserData ()
{
return json_decode ($this->userData);
}
}
// now in your controller:
public function dash ($id, Request $request) {
// $user should now be an instance of the User model
$user = JWTAuth::parseToken()->authenticate();
// don't use raw SQL if at all possible
//$q = DB::select('SELECT * FROM maps WHERE user_id = :id', ['id' => $id]);
// notice that User has a relationship to Maps defined!
// and it's a has-many relationship so maps() returns an array
// of Map models
$maps = $user->maps ();
return response()->json($maps);
}

Answer 3

You can loop over $q using a foreach:
foreach ($q as $row) {
// Do work here
}
See the Laravel docs for more information.