remove unnecessary hierarchy from json output - php

Question

I am building an admin backend for an android app. My code provides a json output which the android developer then uses in his app. The developer asked me if it is possible to reduce the hierarchy level in the json output
as in remove the highlighted []0 and put the contents directly inside the []data instead.
This is my current php code
if($type == 1 ) //Handle item display
{
try
{
$query = "SELECT category FROM category";
$result= $DBH->query($query);
while($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
{
$cat = $row['category'];
$query1 = "SELECT * FROM item WHERE catagory='$cat'";
$value = $DBH->query($query1);
if($row1 = $value->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_OBJ)){
$main[] = array('data'=>array($row1));
}
else
{
$main[] = array('data'=>array('catagory'=>$row['category']));
}
}
echo json_encode($main);
$result->closeCursor(); //Close database connection free resources
$DBH = null;
}
catch(PDOException $e){
print $e->getMessage ();
die();
}
}
And the json output being generated
[
{
"data": [
[
{
"id": "2",
"name": "rice",
"price": "20",
"description": "Plain Rice",
"image": "4106_rice.jpg",
"time": "12 mins",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": ""
},
{
"id": "3",
"name": "item 1",
"price": "32",
"description": "item 1 description",
"image": "1370_2Ckjikljklkljh.jpg",
"time": "10",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": "Chicken Soup"
},
{
"id": "4",
"name": "hello",
"price": "10",
"description": "fgsdjfsfsdj",
"image": "",
"time": "76",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": ""
}
]
]
},
{
"data": {
"catagory": "Dinner"
}
},
{
"data": {
"catagory": "Soup"
}
},
{
"data": {
"catagory": "Test"
}
}
]
I am not very sure if I can make the changes he asked or if it is possible. Is it doable?

Answer 1

Your json structure is inconsistent and try this approach, will be easier for the developer to parse
{
"response": [
{
"data": [
{
"id": "2",
"name": "rice",
"price": "20",
"description": "Plain Rice",
"image": "4106_rice.jpg",
"time": "12 mins",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": ""
},
{
"id": "3",
"name": "item 1",
"price": "32",
"description": "item 1 description",
"image": "1370_2Ckjikljklkljh.jpg",
"time": "10",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": "Chicken Soup"
},
{
"id": "4",
"name": "hello",
"price": "10",
"description": "fgsdjfsfsdj",
"image": "",
"time": "76",
"catagory": "Lunch",
"subcat": ""
}
]
},
{
"data": [
{
"catagory": "Dinner"
}
]
},
{
"data": [
{
"catagory": "Soup"
}
]
},
{
"data": [
{
"catagory": "Test"
}
]
}
]
}