Unable to get posted array from jQuery - php

Question

I am trying to post a group of arrays using the jQuery post method, but I am having trouble getting the value of the arrays. How can I get the values of the array that I have sent?
If somebody could help me i would be grateful....
Here is what i have done:
$(document).ready( function()
{
$("#submit_info").click (
function()
{
var batchArr= new Array();
batchArr=arrPush('batch');
var facultyArr= new Array();
facultyArr=arrPush('faculty');
var levelArr= new Array();
levelArr=arrPush('level');
var sectionArr= new Array();
sectionArr=arrPush('section');
var shiftArr= new Array();
shiftArr=arrPush('shift');
$.post("server_side/college_info_insert.php",{
batchArr:batchArr,
facultyArr:facultyArr,
levelArr:levelArr,
sectionArr:sectionArr,
shiftArr:shiftArr
}, function(data)
{
alert(data);
});
}
);
function arrPush(opt)
{
var Arr= new Array();
Arr.push($("#"+opt+"_1").val());
var count= $("#"+opt).val();
var i=0;
for(i;i<=count;i++)
{
if(i==0)
{
Arr.push($("#txt"+opt).val());
}
else
{
Arr.push($("#txt"+opt+i).val());
}
}
return Arr;
}
}
);
How can I get the array values in the next page "college_info_insert.php" ??

Answer 1

okay, so this is actually a really common issue. It's unclear that you can't just send an array as-is from javascript to PHP and have it recognized.
The problem is that PHP doesn't know how to read in multiple values from a POST request - typically things like that require the PHP author to use brackets like: varname[].
So, basically you must send variables as strings. Using JSON you can send even complicated objects as strings to PHP using a single variable name. Typically you'd use JSON.stringify or something along those lines - but if you have a simple array you might not even need it.
Here's a full example of the problem/solution, found using jquery and $.post:
Asume you have a file myurl.php:
<?php
print_r($_POST);
?>
And in a separate file (or the console), you try:
var myarray = Array('some','elements','etc');
var mydata = {postvar1: 'string', postvar2: myarray};
$.post('myurl.php', mydata, function(response) {
alert("response: " + response);
});
This doesn't work! The result is that postvar2 only contains "etc".
The solution is force the array into a JSON string that can be decoded from PHP.
var myarray = Array('some','elements','etc');
var json_array = $.map(myarray,function(n) {
return '"'+n+'"';
});
var mydata = {postvar1: 'string', postvar2: '['+json_array+']' };
$.post('myurl.php', mydata, function(response) {
alert("response: " + response);
});
ON the PHP side you now must use: json_decode($_POST['myarray']); to get your results in a proper array.
Note, this example assumes very simple strings or numbers in your array. If you have complex objects, you will need to use a JSON.stringify function which will take care of extra quotes, escaping special characters, etc.

Answer 2

Not sure if i understood the question but wouldn't something like this work
if (isset($_POST['batchArr'])) {
$batchArr = $_POST['batchArr'];
// Then populate your html here e.g
echo $batchArr[0];
}