Insert into MySQL using JSON not working - php

Question

What do I have wrong in the following code:
<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$dbname = "practice";
// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo "Connection made...";
//$payload_dump = $_POST['payload']
$payload = '{"device":"gabriel","data_type":"data","zone":1,"sample":4,"count":0,"time_stamp":"00:00"}'
$payload_array = json.decode($payload,true);
//get the data_payload details
$device = $payload_array['device'];
$type = $payload_array['data_type'];
$zone = $payload_array['zone'];
$sample = $payload_array['sample'];
$count = $payload_array['count'];
$time = $payload_array['time_stamp'];
$sql = "INSERT INTO data(device, data_type, zone, sample, count, time_stamp) VALUES('$device', '$type', '$zone', '$sample', '$count', '$time')";
if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
echo "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . $conn->error;
}
$conn->close();
?>
I get the following error:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$payload_array' (T_VARIABLE) in /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/insert_from_json.php on line 18
This PHP file receives the "payload" from a python file via JSON. The PHP file inserts that data into a table. $payload is a test variable to "simulate" the data coming in from the python code in the line above it. The payload could contain multiple rows. Maybe there is a better way to insert multiple rows than what I am attempting?

Answer 1

On line 18 you have the following:
$payload_array = json.decode($payload,true);
When it should be
$payload_array = json_decode($payload,true);
You used a period (.) instead of an underscore (_).