Build multidimensional array for json output

Question

Looking to output json in the following format:

 [{"Montgomery":[{"red":"12:34:56","yellow":"11:44:46","orange":"10:54:36","green":"9:24:26","purple":"8:14:16"}],"Suburban":[{"red":"12:34:56","yellow":"11:44:46","orange":"10:54:36","green":"9:24:26","purple":"8:14:16"}],"Shady Grove Adventist":[{"red":"12:34:56","yellow":"11:44:46","orange":"10:54:36","green":"9:24:26","purple":"8:14:16"}],"Holy Cross":[{"red":"12:34:56","yellow":"11:44:46","orange":"10:54:36","green":"9:24:26","purple":"8:14:16"}],"Washington Adventist":[{"red":"12:34:56","yellow":"11:44:46","orange":"10:54:36","green":"9:24:26","purple":"8:14:16"}]}]

My code:

 $xyz[] = array("Montgomery"=> array("Red" => "12:00", "Yellow" => "14:00"));
 $xyz[] = array("Suburban"=> array("Yellow" => "16:00"));
 echo '[' . json_encode($xyz) . ']';

My results:

[[{"Montgomery":{"Red":"12:00","Yellow":"14:00"}},{"Suburban":{"Yellow":"16:00"}}]] 

Answer 1

This will give you the structure:

$container = array();
$container['Montgomery'] = array(array('red' => '12:34:56', 'yellow' => '11:44:46'));
$container['Suburban'] = array(array('red' => '12:34:56', 'yellow' => '11:44:46'));
echo json_encode(array($container));

• BarclayVision: Perfect, that was exactly what I was looking for... @wwwslinger: I wanted to keep it all in an array and not create a class, but excellent options, thank you both.

Answer 2

You could use objects, something like this (you'll want to clean it up a bit):

class Church {
 public $red = "";
 public $yellow = "";
 public $orange = "";
 public $green = "";
 public $purple = "";
}
class XYZ {
 public $Montgomery = new Church();
 public $Shad_Grove_Adventist = new Church();
 public $Holy_Cross = new Church();
 public $Washington_Adventist = new Church();
}
$xyz = new XYZ();
$xyz->Montgomery->red = "12:00";
...

then output your JSON:

echo '[' . json_encode($xyz) . ']';

It won't be a perfect match to your desired JSON output, but it will give better readability and much more flexibility.

• Jakub: how is this a valid variable with a space? public $Shad_Grove Adventist ? ;)
• wwwslinger: Sorry, it needs underscores.

Answer 3

You're desired output has an array [] as its top level item. [] in JSON corresponds to a numeric array in PHP. A JSON array is used to contain an ordered collection of items.

Your top-level array contains one item, a JSON object {}. A PHP object (stdClass) or associative array will convert to this in JSON. A JSON object is used to create collections of key-value pairs.

To produce your desired output, build your data in PHP like this:

// Top-level numeric array.
$container = array();
// Only item in top-level array.
$item = array();
// The value of each of these items will be a numeric array.
$item['Montgomery'] = array();
// Create a new associative array, and push that onto the list array.
$subItem = array("red" => "12:34:56",
 "yellow" => "11:44:46",
 "orange" => "10:54:36",
 "green" => "9:24:26",
 "purple" => "8:14:16");
$item['Montgomery'][] = $subItem;
$container[] = $item; 
// ...Add more items...
print json_encode($container);

Or, if you want to build it all at once:

$container = array(
 array(
 "Montgomery" => array(
 array("red" => "12:34:56",
 "yellow" => "11:44:46",
 "orange" => "10:54:36",
 "green" => "9:24:26",
 "purple" => "8:14:16"
 )
 )
 // ...More items...
 )
);
print json_encode($container);

Notice that there are places that have an array inside an array. This is to build an associative array and add it as the only member of a numeric array. This corresponds to having a {} inside [].