I've used Google, Yahoo, AND Bing, but I can't find any good answers. I've seen jLinq, but I want to be able to query JSON in PHP in hopes of having a not an SQL database, but instead all data storage within the filesystem on my server. No, I don't care how bad it sounds.
Ideas nonetheless? I would think that there would be a PHP class on this.
-----EDIT-----
Guys, thanks for your answers so far, but I don't think that json_encode and json_decode are of much use. What I want to be able to do is encode/decode JSON, and be able to search it for specific keys with specific values. Albeit I have PROVEN to myself that I can do so, it's a lot of code for something that should be so simple. Anything else you have in mind?
You can use JsonQ package. This package can query over JSON data like Query Builder.
https://github.com/nahid/jsonq
You can call json_encode to convert your data to a string, and write this string to a file. Then when you want to use it, you read the entire file and call json_decode to convert it back to data. When you're done processing it, repeat the encode/write steps.
But if you have multiple processes doing this, they'll completely overwrite what each other is doing. So it's not a very good way to manage shared data.
You could try JSONPath it allows you to query json with xpath as you would xml.
Look into json_decode. This lets you take JSON as a string and parse it into an object in PHP. You could theoretically store the strings as files, and use file_get_contents to retrieve the string from the file.
You would have to write your own searching/indexing/updating/etc algorithms, but if you don't want to use a real database solution (since you said, No, I don't care how bad it sounds.), then I guess this would work.
To search for values in the object you get from json_decode, look into in_array and array_search
Related
I am trying to find the correct (or best) content type to pass to header() when outputting serialized PHP data. The best I could find when searching was a proposal for application/vnd.php.serialized and another person asking the same question without a definitive answer. I was considering using just text/plain and moving on.
The data being serialized is an associative array, 1-3 levels nested. Values are always string/int/bool, in order of occurrence.
For reasoned I'd rather not get into, my application is using PHP4. Otherwise I would be using JSON and be on my way.
Edit: My question is not about how to work with JSON in PHP.
For those interested: I am handling JSON encode/decode using the 'Services_JSON' PEAR package , however I've noticed performance issues which PHP serialized resolves.
I did not find a real official answer, but the best matching answer I can find is:
application/php-serialized
or better
application/php-serialized; charset=UTF-8
I can't find this anywhere. I have some old basic programs I am working on (thanks to qb64 that came out, now they work on winxp - win7)
in order to serialize (like php) I need to know how this process works so that i can convert BASIC do it. it does not have to be fancy, but I would like to get an understanding how it works.
I like the way php does it, although since BASIC can not do 'associative" arrays, i would think it is much easier.
so in simple terms, is there a source for serialize/unserialize ?
looks like you'd serialize it with simple string concatenation. Use something like "||" as your seperator. Since there are no associative arrays, you don't have to worry about names, just value.
Then you'd use instr() and left$() or mid$() to split them back out.
For multidimensional arrays, it would be considerably more complex and I haven't given it the time to figure out exactly how I'd do it, but I thought about using seperatators like ||0|0|| for array(0,0) and ||0|1|| for array(0,1) or even ||0|1|1|| for array (0,1,1)
I just started doing jQuery last week, and so far I already made some basic systems with ajax, like basic jQuery CRUD and simple chat system without referencing on other's work for I decided to test myself on how far I can do systems alone in jQuery(without JSON and XML yet).
But when I decided to look at other's work (hoping to get/learn good practices and codes out there) many or almost every program that deals with ajax have some JSON in it. So I decided to study and read JSON specially this one, but I guess because it's my first time dealing with it, I'm having a problem sinking it into my brain. Yeah I know it is a "lightweight way of describing hierarchical data", I also know how to make JSON like mixing a literal array and object in JS, and how to dsplay it in js.
But my question is, what's the difference and what's the advantage than not using it?
When I can still get and store data on the server using ajax and database without JSON.
By the way I haven't focus on XML yet because based from my research it's better to use JSON in AJAX.
Can you give me some actual scenario dealing with
s1. ajax php mysql (this with what disadvantages?)
and
s2. ajax php mysql json (this with what advantages?)
I mean, my focus is to send and get data, and I already can do it with s1.
Sorry if you find my question stupid. Tia. :)
Why use JSON? The answer is portability and structure.
JSON is portable because parsers and writers are available for many, many languages. This means that JSON that a PHP script generates can be very easily understood by a JavaScript script. It is the best way to transmit complex structures like arrays and objects, and have it still be compatible with multiple languages.
JSON provides structure because the data you transmit with it can have consistent formatting. This is instead of transmitting back plain-text (i.e. unformatted) data, like comma-separated or delimited data.
Data that is merely delimited (for example, "BookName1,BookName2,BookName3") is more difficult for humans to understand, debug, and work with. If you wanted to debug a response between your server and your browser and the data was delimited (like my example above), you might have a hard time understanding it. Also, if you want to add different data types, provide separate records, etc., then your custom data format becomes more complicated. Eventually, you might end up reinventing JSON.
As a side note, JSON is indeed better than XML. It is much more efficient space-wise. There are no tag names to take up space. Structure is created via nested braces, instead of verbose tags.
Resources
Here is an interesting article on the differences and pros/cons of XML and JSON: http://www.json.org/xml.html
Examples
Per your request, here is an example of encoding JSON with PHP. This is ripped from the docs:
$arr = array ('a'=>1,'b'=>2,'c'=>3,'d'=>4,'e'=>5);
echo json_encode($arr);
Output:
{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}
Contrast this to something like this, without JSON:
a,1
b,2
c,3
d,4
e,5
To parse that, you'd have to iterate through each line, split the values yourself, and then create the array. This isn't that difficult, but imagine you have a nested object:
$arr = array ('a'=> array(1,2,3),'b'=> array('a' => 1, 'b' => 2),'c'=>3,'d'=> array(1,2,3,4,5) ,'e'=>5); // etc.
With JSON, it's no different to encode it. Just use json_encode. But, encoding this manually, and then decoding it manually would be significantly more work.
Programming in any sort of programming language, you have several different types of data at your disposal, including the very useful array type.
Interchanging data between Javascript and any server side language can only happen through strings. I.e. you can send and return any text, but there's no way to send a native array or number type.
JSON is an elegant way to express array and other types using only a string. This way you can pass arbitrary data back and forth between different environments and are not limited to pure text. XML solves the same kind of problem, but is often overkill for simple AJAX requests.
I am (trying) to build a web app, first one :)
I need to call a JSON object though, and I am using a simple search form to get a word that I will append to the call, but I need PHP to handle the object when it is returned. How can I do this?
Basically I had the form submit calling a function that, ideally, would go get the object and do what it needs to, then return the results formatted how I want. Does that make sense even?
Thank you!
PHP 5.x has some built in functions: json_decode() and json_encode(). They are worth looking into and should answer your question. If you have less then PHP 5.x the user comments at both of those pages should have alternatives to use in it's place.
Does anybody know a quick way to convert a SimpleXMLElement to a normal STDClass object, without iterating through each branch manually? I would feel better working with a normal object after fetching the data.
$my_std_class = json_decode(json_encode($my_simplexmlelement));
$my_assoc_array = json_decode(json_encode($my_simplexmlelement), true);
I suggest looking into using XMLReader, which lends itself well to extracting data and storing it as whatever data type one wishes, instead of SimpleXML. It's especially good for regularly-used documents (I use it, extended as RSSReader, for RSS), is much faster than might be expected, and as a bonus uses less memory than SimpleXML.
Another way is:
(object)(array)$my_simplexmlelement
Unfortunately if you have children they remain as SimpleXMLElement
I don't know if there's a way to convert the object without iterating through it. My guess is that you can't.
You can check this thread out, it shows you how to convert a SimpleXML to an array, you can adapt that.