Sending an array to PHP via AJAX

Question

I declare my array:

p.myArray = [];

I add to the array in a loop:

 self.myArray.push($(this).data('id')); // [1,2,3,4]

I then send this via AJAX to PHP via POST:

$.ajax({
 url: '/gateway',
 data: {data: self.myArray}, 
 dataType: 'json',
 type: 'POST',
})

I was wondering, do I need to have a key/value pair? Can I just send through the array? Does it need serialising?

• Rory McCrossan: You do need a key/value pair, but you're sending one. The key is data, the value is the array. You code should work - are you having issues with it?
• panthro: No issues, I was just wondering if I had to have a key/value pair AND if I need to seralize the array?
• Rory McCrossan: jQuery will serialise the array for you, so you don't need to worry about it.
• Kodr.F: if you are working with static inputs use $('#formid').serialize(); , and if you are working with dynamic variables u have to set every key inside the array

Answer 1

Passing an object to data will cause jQuery to serialise it for you.

The array will be available in $_POST['data'][]

---

It would be clearer if you didn't use the same name for different things.

data: { theArray: self.myArray }, 

goes to:

$_POST['theArray'][]

Answer 2

Note that if you are using dataType: 'json' your PHP script will have to return JSON serialised data or jQuery will ignore the response.

i.e:

$myArray = $_POST['myArray'];
echo json_encode($myArray);