sort json results in foreach loop - php

Question

I am running a foreach loop to display json results, when certain conditions are met, and would like to sort them by the name field. I am trying usort(), but can't seem to figure it out.
JSON:
{
"Shawn Taylor":{
"name":"Shawn Taylor",
"title":"",
"photo_url":"house_165 (1).jpg",
},
"Another Name": {
"name":"Another Name",
"title":"Title is here",
"photo_url":"Person.jpg",
}
}
PHP:
$data_json = file_get_contents('data.json');
$data_array = json_decode($data_json, true);
$i = 0;
foreach($data_array as $key => $person){
if($person['title'] == 'some title'){
include('card.php');
if(++$i % 4 === 0) {
echo '<div class="clearfix"></div>'; // inserts a clearfix every 4 cards
}
}
}
So this returns the all the results I expect, but not sorted. I've tried usort() a few different ways, but just fell on my face terribly:) Please help!

Answer 1

use json_decode first to convert to php array, set the flag to TRUE for associative array $myarr = json_decode($array, TRUE)
the try custom usort
// Sort the multidimensional array
usort($myarr, "custom_sort");
// Define the custom sort function
function custom_sort($a,$b) {
return $a['name']>$b['name'];
}
I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Your json is improperly formatted. There's a couple extra commas, one after each JPG item. Removed below.
Then, json_decode the json string to a PHP associative array, and, since you're using the names as json indexes, ksort (key sort) the resulting array.
$json_string = '{
"Shawn Taylor":{
"name":"Shawn Taylor",
"title":"",
"photo_url":"house_165 (1).jpg"
},
"Another Name": {
"name":"Another Name",
"title":"Title is here",
"photo_url":"Person.jpg"
}
}';
$data_array = json_decode($json_string, true);
ksort($data_array);
// the remaining code
A print_r after the ksort displays:
Array
(
[Another Name] => Array
(
[name] => Another Name
[title] => Title is here
[photo_url] => Person.jpg
)
[Shawn Taylor] => Array
(
[name] => Shawn Taylor
[title] =>
[photo_url] => house_165 (1).jpg
)
)
If you need to sort by a nested index, and you want to maintain the associative array, use uasort:
uasort($data_array, 'sort_name_index');
function sort_name_index($a, $b) {
return $a['name'] > $b['name'];
}