Passing JavaScript array to PHP through jQuery $.ajax

Question

I want to manipulate a JavaScript array in PHP. Is it possible to do something like this?

$.ajax({
 type: "POST",
 url: "tourFinderFunctions.php",
 data: "activitiesArray="+activities,
 success: function() {
 $("#lengthQuestion").fadeOut('slow');
 }
 });

Activities is a single dimensional array like:

var activities = ['Location Zero', 'Location One', 'Location Two'];

The script does not complete when I try this... How can I fix it?

• Anthon: possible duplicate of Pass a PHP string to a Javascript variable (and escape newlines)

Answer 1

data: { activitiesArray: activities },

That's it! Now you can access it in PHP:

<?php $myArray = $_REQUEST['activitiesArray']; ?>

• Vian Esterhuizen: Why was this answer so hard to find!? Thank you, this is exactly what I needed.
• Arashtad: As simple as a hacker! Well done! You made me laugh at myself :D.

Answer 2

You'll want to encode your array as JSON before sending it, or you'll just get some junk on the other end.

Since all you're sending is the array, you can just do:

data: { activities: activities }

which will automatically convert the array for you.

See here for details.

Answer 3

You need to turn this into a string. You can do this using the stringify method in the JSON2 library.

http://www.json.org/

http://www.json.org/js.html

The code would look something like:

var myJSONText = JSON.stringify(myObject);

So

['Location Zero', 'Location One', 'Location Two'];

Will become:

"['Location Zero', 'Location One', 'Location Two']"

You'll have to refer to a PHP guru on how to handle this on the server. I think other answers here intimate a solution.

Data can be returned from the server in a similar way. I.e. you can turn it back into an object.

var myObject = JSON.parse(myJSONString);

Answer 4

I know it may be too late to answer this, but this worked for me in a great way:

1. Stringify your javascript object (json) with var st = JSON.stringify(your_object);

2. Pass your POST data as "string" (maybe using jQuery: $.post('foo.php',{data:st},function(data){... });

3. Decode your data on the server-side processing: $data = json_decode($_POST['data']);

That's it... you can freely use your data.

Multi-dimensional arrays and single arrays are handled as normal arrays. To access them just do the normal $foo[4].

Associative arrays (javsacript objects) are handled as php objects (classes). To access them just do it like classes: $foo->bar.

Answer 5

I should be like this:

$.post(submitAddress, { 'yourArrayName' : javaScriptArrayToSubmitToServer },
 function(response, status, xhr) {
 alert("POST returned: \n" + response + "\n\n");
 })

Answer 6

Use the JQuery Serialize function

http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax/serialize

Serialize is typically used to prepare user input data to be posted to a server. The serialized data is in a standard format that is compatible with almost all server side programming languages and frameworks.

Answer 7

This worked for me:

$.ajax({
 url:"../messaging/delete.php",
 type:"POST",
 data:{messages:selected},
 success:function(data){
 if(data === "done"){
 }
 info($("#notification"), data);
 },
 beforeSend:function(){
 info($("#notification"),"Deleting "+count+" messages");
 },
 error:function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorMessage){
 error($("#notification"),errorMessage);
 }
});

And this for your PHP:

$messages = $_POST['messages']
foreach($messages as $msg){
 echo $msg;
}

Answer 8

Use the PHP built-in functionality of the appending the array operand to the desired variable name.

If we add values to a Javascript array as follows:

acitivies.push('Location Zero');
acitivies.push('Location One');
acitivies.push('Location Two');

It can be sent to the server as follows:

$.ajax({ 
 type: 'POST',
 url: 'tourFinderFunctions.php',
 'activities[]': activities
 success: function() {
 $('#lengthQuestion').fadeOut('slow'); 
 }
});

Notice the quotes around activities[]. The values will be available as follows:

$_POST['activities'][0] == 'Location Zero';
$_POST['activities'][1] == 'Location One';
$_POST['activities'][2] == 'Location Two';

Answer 9

This is because PHP reads your value as a string. If I don't want to pass my data as an object (like in the previous answers, which are also fine), I just do this in my PHP:

 $activitiesString = $_POST['activitiesArray'];
 $activitiesArray = (explode(",",$activitiesString));

The last line splits string into bits after every comma. Now $activitiesArray is also an array. It works even if there is no comma (only one element in your javascript array).

Happy coding!