Send array from php to javascript - php

Question

I'm screen scraping a site with a php script which creates an array in the end that I want to send back to the javascript caller function. In the code below I've tried to print it out with 'print_r', which doesn't give me any results at all (?). If I echo out on of the elements (e.g $addresses[1]) the element is shown.
So, why ain't I getting anything out from the php function, and what is really the best way to send back the array to the calling js function?
Thanks a lot in advance!
js:
$.post(
"./php/foo.php",
{
zipcode: zipcode
},
function(data) {
$('#showData').html(data);
}
);
php:
$tempAddresses = array();
$addresses = array();
$url = 'http://www.foo.com/addresses/result.jspv?pnr=' . $zipcode;
$html = new simple_html_dom();
$html = file_get_html($url);
foreach($html->find('table tr') as $row) {
$cell = $row->find('td', 0);
array_push($tempAddresses, $cell);
}
$tempAddresses = array_unique($tempAddresses);
foreach ($tempAddresses as $address) {
array_push($addresses, $address);
}
print_r($addresses);

Answer 1

You can use JSON to return an array back to the client-side, it can be send by AJAX same what you are doing on your existing code.
Use json_encode() of PHP, this function will make your PHP array into a JSON string and you can use it to send back to your client by using AJAX
In your PHP code(Just for demonstration how it works)
json.php
<?php
$addresses['hello'] = NULL;
$addresses['hello2'] = NULL;
if($_POST['zipcode'] == '123'){ //your POST data is recieved in a common way
//sample array
$addresses['hello'] = 'hi';
$addresses['hello2'] = 'konnichiwa';
}
else{
$addresses['hello'] = 'who are you?';
$addresses['hello2'] = 'dare desu ka';
}
echo json_encode($addresses);
?>
then in your client script(much better you use the Jquery's long AJAX way)
$.ajax({
url:'http://localhost/json.php',
type:'post',
dataType:'json',
data:{
zipcode: '123' //sample data to send to the server
},
//the variable 'data' contains the response that can be manipulated in JS
success:function(data) {
console.log(data); //it would show the JSON array in your console
alert(data.hello); //will alert "hi"
}
});
references
http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php
http://json.org/

Answer 2

js should be
$.ajax({
url:'your url',
type:'post',
dataType:'json',
success:function(data) {
console.log(JSON.stringify(data));
}
});
server
$tempAddresses = array();
$addresses = array();
$url = 'http://www.foo.com/addresses/result.jspv?pnr=' . $zipcode;
$html = new simple_html_dom();
$html = file_get_html($url);
foreach($html->find('table tr') as $row) {
$cell = $row->find('td', 0);
array_push($tempAddresses, $cell);
}
$tempAddresses = array_unique($tempAddresses);
foreach ($tempAddresses as $address) {
$arr_res[] =$address;
}
header('content-type:application/json');
echo json_encode($arr_res);