Structure PHP array to pass to JS correctly - php

Question

This works when we do this:
$db = $connection->messages;
$collection = $db->messagesCollection;
$messageArray = $collection->find(array('IDto' => '4'));
foreach($messageArray as $messageData){
$messageFrom = $messageData['IDfrom'];
$messageTo = $messageData['IDto'];
$messageTitle = $messageData['messageTitle'];
$messageIfRead = $messageData['ifRead'];
}
$JSONData = array('true', $messageFrom, $messageTo, $messageTitle, $messageIfRead);
echo $_GET['callback']."(".json_encode($JSONData).")";
But when we do this:
$db = $connection->messages;
$collection = $db->messagesCollection;
$messageArray = $collection->find(array('IDto' => '4'));
$JSONData = array('true', $messageArray);
echo $_GET['callback']."(".json_encode($JSONData).")";
and in the Javascript do this:
$.getJSON("mySite.com/pullData/getMail.php?callback=?",{
request: requestVar},
function(recievedData) {
alert(recievedData);
})
We get an alert of true, [object Object]
When using console log we get Object {}
How do we send that table data correctly?

Answer 1

I believe your biggest problem is the MongoCursor:
$messageArray = $collection->find(array('IDto' => '4'));
$JSONData = array('true', $messageArray);
echo $_GET['callback']."(".json_encode($JSONData).")";
You are trying to encode an object of MongoCursor there, hence the string representation is [object Object].
Try:
$messageArray = $collection->find(array('IDto' => '4'));
$JSONData = array('true', iterator_to_array($messageArray));
echo $_GET['callback']."(".json_encode($JSONData).")";
Instead. All find functions in MongoDB return a MongoCursor, the reason why your first code works is because you iterate the cursor building up your objects:
foreach($messageArray as $messageData){
$messageFrom = $messageData['IDfrom'];
$messageTo = $messageData['IDto'];
$messageTitle = $messageData['messageTitle'];
$messageIfRead = $messageData['ifRead'];
}
Note as well that the default json_encode of a document will contain objects, such as MongoId and MongoDate that do not encode too well into reusable JSON syntax. As such you will need to handle these types yourself.
Edit
Maybe a better way is to actually redo the indexes manually:
$messageArray = $collection->find(array('IDto' => '4'));
$d = array();
foreach($messageArray as $row){
$d = $row;
}
$JSONData = array('true', $d);
echo $_GET['callback']."(".json_encode($JSONData).")";
This way you will have a 0 based incrementing index instead of the ObjectId as each index base.