JSON and PHP driven slideshow not working - php

Question

I have inherited a project from a client that uses JSON and PHP to display real estate property listings from a online realty service. The data provided by the service loads, but the properties and agents associated with them get mixed up. Sometimes all of the properties are displayed, but have only one agent associated with them. Other times the data loads, but does not transition after a few properties have been displayed. The transitions are being controlled by the jQuery cycle plugin.
I have included all of the code below. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Mike
<?php
function decode_json_string($json){
$objects = array();
$start_pos = strpos($json, '[');
$end_pos = strpos($json, ']');
$dataString = substr($json, ++$start_pos, ($end_pos - $start_pos));
while(strpos($dataString, '{') !== FALSE){
$start_pos = strpos($dataString, '{');
$end_pos = strpos($dataString, '}');
$objectString = substr($dataString, ++$start_pos, ($end_pos - $start_pos));
$tempString = $objectString;
$formattedString = "";
while(strpos($tempString, ':') !== FALSE){
$valueStart = strpos($tempString, ':');
if($tempString[++$valueStart] != '"'){
$substring1 = substr($tempString, 0, $valueStart);
if(strpos($tempString, ',', $valueStart) !== FALSE){
$valueEnd = strpos($tempString, ',', $valueStart);
$substring2 = substr($tempString, $valueStart, ($valueEnd - $valueStart));
}
else{
$valueEnd = $valueStart + 1;
$substring2 = substr($tempString, $valueStart);
}
$formattedString .= $substring1 . '"' . $substring2 . '"';
$tempString = substr($tempString, $valueEnd);
}
else{
$valueEnd = strpos($tempString, '",') + 1;
$formattedString .= substr($tempString, 0, $valueEnd);
$tempString = substr($tempString, $valueEnd);
}
}
$tempArray = explode('",', $formattedString);
foreach($tempArray as $tempValue){
$tempValueArray = explode( ":", $tempValue);
$key = format_string($tempValueArray[0]);
$value = format_string($tempValueArray[1]);
$object[$key] = $value;
}
$objects[] = $object;
$dataString = substr($dataString, ++$end_pos);
}
return $objects;
}
function format_string($string){
$string = str_replace("'", "", $string);
$string = str_replace('"', "", $string);
return trim($string);
}
function get_agent_properties_json($agentID){
global $BASE_URL;
$date = time();
$dataType = '3'; // Data Type = Properties
$url = $BASE_URL . '/FeaturedDataHandler.c?r=' . $date . '&DataType=' . $dataType . '&CompanyID=' . $companyID . '&agentID=' . $agentID;
// create a new cURL resource
$ch = curl_init();
// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
// grab URL and pass it to the browser
$response = curl_exec($ch);
// close cURL resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);
return $response;
}
function get_agent_properties($agentID){
$agent_properties_json = get_agent_properties_json($agentID);
$properties = decode_json_string($agent_properties_json);
return $properties;
}
function print_property_details(&$property, &$agent){
global $BASE_URL;
if($property['ListingStatusCode'] != 'SOLD'){
$address = $property['Address'];
$shortaddr = substr($address, 0, -12);
echo "<div class='propertySlide'>";
echo "<div class='title'>";
echo "<div class='box1'>";
echo "<span class='price'>". $property['Price'] ."</span>";
echo "<span class='address'>". $shortaddr ."</span>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<div class='box2'>";
echo "<span class='style'><strong>Style:</strong> ". $property['Style'] ."</span>";
echo "<span class='footage'><strong>Sq. Feet:</strong> ". $property['SqFootage'] ."</span>";
echo "<span class='beds'><strong>Beds:</strong> ". $property['Bedrooms'] ."</span>";
echo "<span class='baths'><strong>Baths:</strong> ". $property['Bathrooms'] ."</span>";
echo "<span class='year'><strong>Year Built:</strong> ". $property['YearBuilt'] ."</span>";
echo "</div>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<div class='imagebox'><img class='listingImage' src='". $BASE_URL . $property['Image'] ."' /></div>";
echo "<div class='agentbox'>";
echo "<img class='agentImage' src='" . $BASE_URL . "/Users/pic" . $agent['WTLUserID'] . ".jpg' />";
echo "<span class='agent'><strong>Agent:</strong> ". $agent['DisplayName'] ."</span>";
echo "</div>";
echo "</div>";
}
}
?>
$date = time();
$dataType = '4'; // Data Type = Agents
$companyID = '2119'; // Red Deer - Century 21 Advantage
$url = $BASE_URL . '/FeaturedDataHandler.c?r=' . $date . '&DataType=' . $dataType . '&CompanyID=' . $companyID;
// create a new cURL resource
$ch = curl_init();
// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
// grab URL and pass it to the browser
$response = curl_exec($ch);
// close cURL resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);
$agents = decode_json_string($response);
foreach($agents as $agent){
$properties = get_agent_properties($agent['WTLUserID']);
foreach($properties as $property){
print_property_details($property, $agent);
}
}
<?php
$BASE_URL = 'http://www.century21.ca';
$date = time();
$dataType = '4'; // Data Type = Agents
$companyID = '2119'; // Red Deer - Century 21 Advantage
$url = $BASE_URL . '/FeaturedDataHandler.c?r=' . $date . '&DataType=' . $dataType . '&CompanyID=' . $companyID;
// create a new cURL resource
$ch = curl_init();
// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
// grab URL and pass it to the browser
$response = curl_exec($ch);
// close cURL resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);
$agents = decode_json_string($response);
foreach($agents as $agent){
$properties = get_agent_properties($agent['WTLUserID']);
foreach($properties as $property){
print_property_details($property, $agent);
}
}

Answer 1

Before trying to debug the decode_json_string() function here you should try PHP's built-in json_decode() http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php
If you have an older version of PHP that lacks json_decode() you can find a compatible one in upgrade.php