How to format PHP queries for jSON AJAX requests - php

Question

I have a working AJAX function within WordPress, There I'm looping through HTML to get my posts which then are accessible in my AJAX Success CB where they are appended to their div.
My question:
How would I format my PHP query func values (a while loop, an array and several separate pagination values) for proper use within JavaScript?
Here's what my function looks like as is;
<?php
function _custom_paginate(){
$paged = $_POST['count'];
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => 12,
'category' => 3,
'paged' => $paged,
'post_status' => 'publish'
);
$query = new WP_Query($args);
if ( $query->have_posts() ) :
while ($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post(); ?>
<div class="large-3 three columns box">
<div class="thumb">
<?php the_content();?>
<div class="thumb-foot">
<div class="thumbinfo">
<p>Posted on <?php the_time('m.d.Y') ?></p>
</div>
<div class="thumb-social">
<div class="thumb-twitter"></div>
<div class="thumb-facebook"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php
endwhile;
endif;
//Several pagination values
$total_pages = $query->max_num_pages;
if ($total_pages > 1){
$current_page = max(1, get_query_var('paged'));
?>
<div class="pagi-contain">
<div id="pagi" class="large-12">
<!-- Append pagination here #pagi-->
<ul class="pagi">
<li id="ajaxprev" style="float:left;">prev</li>
<li id="pagenum"><?php echo $current_page; echo ' ... '.$total_pages; ?></li>
<li id="total_pages"></li>
<li id="ajaxnext" style="float:right;">next</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<?php
}
exit;
}
You don't have to rewrite this but a lesson in formatting each value into an accessible array(?) for JS to work with each value separately. I found this person seems to have done what I am trying but the subject here is not PHP side...
Here is an example that is hopefully more clear on what I'm attempting to make work. http://jsfiddle.net/BenRacicot/LRmc3/

Answer 1

I'm not 100% clear what data you want to format, but just do this:
json_encode($variable_you_want_as_json);
To format the entire page's output, use this:
ob_start(); // Start output buffering (echos after this go into the buffer, not to the client)
// all the code and output you want formatted
// example: echo "Some HTML I want to store in a JSON-encoded variable";
$html_data = ob_get_contents(); // Gets the contents of the buffer
ob_end_clean(); // empties the buffer
echo json_encode($html_data); // encodes and echoes whatever you did between ob_start() and ob_get_contents()
It sounds like you want multiple values, so you can just replace the variable in the last line with an array, like this:
$my_array = array('html_data'=>$html_data,
'max_num_pages' => $query->max_num_pages,
'foo'=>$foo,
'bar'=>$bar,
'some_other_var' => $some_other_var);
echo json_encode($my_array);