How to store a variable in an array? - php

Question

I have data from a form submission stored in a variable called $post_data. When I do print_r($post_data); I get the following array:
Array
(
[element_3] => John Doe
[element_2] => john#example.com
[element_14] => City
[element_15] => Country
[form_id] => 1
[submit] => Submit
);
I want to store some of the fields in another array to pass to another script. Will my code below work? If not, how do I fix it?
$submitted_data = array(
'Fields' => array(
array(
'Key' => 'Name',
'Value' => $post_data['element_3']
)
array(
'Key' => 'Email',
'Value' => $post_data['element_2']
)
)
)
Also, a PHP noob question, do I need another comma (,) in between the Name and Email array?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm not exactly sure why you would want to do this, but depending on the field name you can consider using loops to help automate the entire process.
$field_map = array(
'element_3' => 'Name',
'element_2' => 'E-mail',
'element_14' => 'City',
'element_15' => 'Country'
);
$submitted_data = array('fields' => array());
foreach ( $field_map as $key => $label)
{
$submitted_data['fields'][] = array(
'key' => $key, // e.g. element_2
'label' => $label, // e.g. E-mail
'value' => $post_data[$key] // e.g. john#example.com
);
}
This separates the storage/mapping of key/label pairs from the part which processes it, making it easier to maintain and modify in the future.

Answer 2

Another way might be (depending on how "fixed" the second script is, if you can alter it).
$submitted_data['Name']=$post_data['element_3'];
$submitted_data['Email']=$post_data['element_2'];
To get a result more like the one in your question:
$submitted_data['Fields']['0']['Key']='Name';
$submitted_data['Fields']['0']['Value']=$post_data['element_3'];
$submitted_data['Fields']['1']['Key']='Email';
$submitted_data['Fields']['1']['Value']=$post_data['element_2'];