converting multidimensional array into json - php

Question

this is my multidimensional array..i know how to encode array to json but not getting actual json expected json result
array (
1 =>
array (
'text' => 'Dashboard',
'spriteCssClass' => 'rootfolder',
'expanded' => 'true',
'id' => '1',
'item_name' => 'Dashboard',
'menu_type' => 'item',
'parent' => '0',
'items' =>
array (
9 =>
array (
'text' => 'Application',
'spriteCssClass' => 'html',
'id' => '9',
'item_name' => 'Application',
'menu_type' => 'header',
'parent' => '1',
'items' =>
array (
),
),
),
),
)
after encoding it into json i am getting the following result
for encodin i used json_encode($array);
{
"1": {
"text": "Dashboard",
"spriteCssClass": "rootfolder",
"expanded": "true",
"id": "1",
"item_name": "Dashboard",
"menu_type": "item",
"parent": "0",
"items": {
"9": {
"text": "Application",
"spriteCssClass": "html",
"id": "9",
"item_name": "Application",
"menu_type": "header",
"parent": "1",
"items": {}
}
}}}
i want the following encoded json
{
"text": "Dashboard",
"spriteCssClass": "rootfolder",
"expanded": "true",
"id": "1",
"item_name": "Dashboard",
"menu_type": "item",
"parent": "0",
"items": [
{
"text": "Application",
"spriteCssClass": "html",
"id": "9",
"item_name": "Application",
"menu_type": "header",
"parent": "1",
"items": {}
}]
}
i tried almost everything but not getting my expected json result
i want remove the array indexing from json like "1" { and also want to add "[" this after every items: column

Answer 1

It looks like you just want to json_encode($yourData[1]) instead of just json_encode($yourData)...

Answer 2

Your array is not 0 indexed, therefore json_encode assumes its an assoc array.
If you 0 index your array, you should get the expected result, or maybe even remove the index assignment completelely:
array (
array (
'text' => 'Dashboard',
'spriteCssClass' => 'rootfolder',
'expanded' => 'true',
'id' => '1',
'item_name' => 'Dashboard',
'menu_type' => 'item',
'parent' => '0',
'items' =>
array (
9 =>
array (
'text' => 'Application',
'spriteCssClass' => 'html',
'id' => '9',
'item_name' => 'Application',
'menu_type' => 'header',
'parent' => '1',
'items' =>
array (
),
),
),
),
)
EDIT***
to remove all numerical indexes / convert all "non-assoc" to normal use:
function normaliseArray($arr,$recurse=True) {
if (!is_array($arr))
return $arr;
if (count(array_filter(array_keys($arr), 'is_numeric')) == count($arr))
$arr = array_values($arr);
if ($recurse) {
foreach($arr as $k => $a) {
$arr[$k] = normaliseArray($a,$recurse);
}
}
return $arr;
}
json_encode(normaliseArray($array));
try that.

Answer 3

json_encode will encode it as is. The best you can do is force the array to start at 0 which would be the same as []:
$array = array_values($array);
$array[0]['items'] = array_values($array[0]['items']);