"Nested" array within db response using Codeigniter - php

Question

I am trying to create a "nested" array within an object that I am returning from a database.
I can have more than one footnote per "thing".
This is what I am currently getting back:
JSON
{
"data": [{
"id": "123",
"type": "foo",
"color": "bar",
"footnote_id": "1",
"footnote_text": " Footnote one"
}]
}
Here is the result I'm trying to generate:
JSON
{
"data": [{
"id": "123",
"type": "foo",
"color": "bar",
"footnotes": [{
"footnote_id": "1",
"footnote_text": " Footnote one"
},
{
"footnote_id": "2",
"footnote_text": "Footnote two"
}]
}]
}
I have a footnotes table that has all kinds of footnotes (footnote_id and such).
I have a type table that has all kinds of things in it (type_id and such).
I also have a type_footnotes table that only has two columns: type_id and footnote_id
I'm not sure how to create the footnotes property of the response object - then display the results within that array.
Thank you for your time!
EDIT
Here is the query - I thought I had posted this as well. My apologies.
PHP
public function get_thing($type_id) {
$this->db->select('type.type_id, type.type, type.type_color');
$this->db->join('footnotes', 'footnotes.footnote_id, footnotes.footnote_text');
$this->db->join('type_footnotes, type_footnotes.type_id = type.type_id');
$query = $this->db->get_where('type', array('type.type_id' => $type_id), 1);
if ($query->num_rows() > 0) {
return $query->result();
}
}

Answer 1

Remove the limit, and post here what do you get as result :
$query = $this->db->get_where('type', array('type.type_id' => $type_id));