Drupal PHP serialize and unserialize - php

Question

In Drupal, I first serialized emails that appear in the body of private messages and stored them is MySQL like this:
function prvtmsg_list($body) {
$notify = array();
if (isset($body->emails)) {
$notify['mid'] = $body->mid;
$notify['emails'] = serialize($body->emails);
}
if (isset($body->vulgar_words) {
$notify['mid'] = $body->mid;
$notify['vulgar_words'] = serialize($message->vulgar_words);
}
if (isset($notify['mid'])) {
drupal_write_record('prvtmsg_notify', $notify);
}
}
When I later try to retrieve them, email userialization fails, I retrieve them like this:
function prvtmsg_list_notify() {
// Select fields from prvtmsg_notify and Drupal pm_message tables
$query = db_select('prvtmsg_notify', 'n');
$query->leftJoin('pm_message', 'm', 'n.mid = m.mid');
$query->fields('n', array('mid', 'emails', 'vulgar_words'));
$query->fields('m', array('mid', 'author', 'subject', 'body', 'timestamp'));
orderBy('timestamp', 'DESC');
$query = $query->extend('PagerDefault')->limit(20);
$result = $query->execute()->fetchAll();
$rows = array();
foreach ($result as $notify) {
$rows[] = array(
$notify->author,
$notify->subject,
implode(', ', unserialize($notify->emails)),
implode(', ', unserialize($notify->vulgar_words)),
);
}
$build = array();
$build['table'] = array(
'#theme' => 'table',
'#header' => array(
t('Author'),
t('Message subject'),
t('Emails captured'),
t('Vulgar Words Captured'),
),
'#rows' => $rows,
);
$build['pager']['#theme'] = 'pager';
return $build;
}
Maybe the way I serialized the emails is wrong? because:
dpm(unserialize($notify->emails);
gives Array, Array, Array - which means:
Array(
[0] => Array() [1] => Array() [2] => Array() [3] => Array()
)
Surprisingly, the unserialized vulgar words are showing okay! I'm not sure is it possible to serialize the emails like this:
$notify['emails'] = serialize (array($body->emails));
I faced the exact situation in the past where unserialization did not work for me, there is something not clear to me and I need to learn it. Could anyone confirm or tell me what's wrong?
N.B. The above code is from memory and may not be accurate as I currently don't have access to it.

Answer 1

if i am reading this correctly you are writing an array into a db
drupal_write_record('prvtmsg_notify', $notify);
should be:
drupal_write_record('prvtmsg_notify', serialize($notify));
you will most likely no longer need
$notify['emails'] = serialize($body->emails);
and can instead write:
$notify['emails'] = $body->emails;
after retrieving it from the db you can unserialize the array and iterate over it ex:
$array = unserialize(someFunctionToGetPrvtmsg_notifyFromTheDb());
//the array should be the same as the one you serialized