Ambiguity in PHP array - php

Question

I want to display the Itinerary details from developer.ean.com API. By passing the customer's Itinerary ID and Email ID I got the details of reservation.
The result is comming in json format so I decoded it and creating array by using :
$array=json_decode($result);
The problem is whatever the result comming from API contain problem like :
For some records it providing array like this:
[Itinerary] => stdClass Object
(
[HotelConfirmation] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[supplierId] => 13
[chainCode] => EP
[arrivalDate] => 07/24/2012
[departureDate] => 07/26/2012
)
[Hotel] => Array
(
[0] => stdClass Object
(
[hotelId] => 394808
[statusCode] => A
[name] => Barkston Youth Hostel
)
)
)
)
In this case the HotelConfirmation and Hotel is Array which contain [0] as object
and for some records it providing array like this:
[Itinerary] => stdClass Object
(
[HotelConfirmation] => stdClass Object
(
[supplierId] => 13
[chainCode] => EP
[arrivalDate] => 07/24/2012
[departureDate] => 07/26/2012
)
[Hotel] => stdClass Object
(
[hotelId] => 394808
[statusCode] => A
[name] => Barkston Youth Hostel
)
)
and In this case the HotelConfirmation and Hotel is itself an object
I providing only few data here actually its big array and I want to provide list of it. But the array containing ambiguity like this. How can I handle this issue. Is there any solution.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Pass true as the second argument to json_decode. This will create an array instead of stdClass
$array=json_decode($result, true);

Answer 2

you can normalize the input like so:
// get objects as arrays
$array = json_decode($result, true);
// remove the sub-level [0], when necessary
foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
if (is_array($value[0])) {
$array[$key] = $value[0];
}
}
Then the result always looks the same:
[Itinerary] => Array
(
[HotelConfirmation] => Array
(
[supplierId] => 13
[chainCode] => EP
[arrivalDate] => 07/24/2012
[departureDate] => 07/26/2012
)
[Hotel] => Array
(
[hotelId] => 394808
[statusCode] => A
[name] => Barkston Youth Hostel
)
)

Answer 3

First do this:
$array = json_decode($result, true);
Which will convert objects into associative arrays
And do adjustment like this:
if (isset($array['HotelItineraryResponse']['Itinerary']['HotelConfirmation'][0])) {
$array['HotelItineraryResponse']['Itinerary']['HotelConfirmation'] = $array['HotelItineraryResponse']['Itinerary']['HotelConfirmation'][0];
}
It will definitly work.

Answer 4

You can use is_array() to check for it:
if (is_array($hotel)) {
$hotel = $hotel[0];
}

Answer 5

just change to this:
$array=json_decode($result,TRUE);
and handle arrays always?

Answer 6

Looks like you may have to account for both possibilities in your model... Checking to see if the hotel node contains and array or an obj and operating accordingly.

Answer 7

you can type case the object inside of an array.
$array = json_decode($result);
$array = (array)$array
or alternatively you can pass true as the second argument in your json_decode();
according to php documentation
When TRUE, returned objects will be converted into associative arrays.
$array = json_decode($result, true);

Answer 8

Check for object or array:
if( is_object($Itinerary -> HotelConfirmation)) {
// do one thing or nothing
} elseif( is_array($Itinerary -> HotelConfirmation)) {
$Itinerary -> HotelConfirmation = array_shift( $Itinerary -> HotelConfirmation );
}