how to get mixed or multi array response in rest API magento2

Question

i have my custom api which will return multi dimension array , which will have key pair value, where key and value are dynamic from database in that case how to achieve in rest api of magento2

Answer 1

to achieve multi dimension array where key and value are dynamic we can follow below steps but magento discourage this solution if any better solution please let me know out put

{
"name": "Test Name"
"key": "value"
"key2": "value2"
"multi": {
"name": "Test Name"
"key": "value"
"key2": "value2"
}-
}

where key and value are from db or dynamic

to create custom api follow my post in How do I get a response from REST API in JSON format in Magento 2?

and do the below changes

in di.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
/**
 * Copyright 2015 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
-->
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../../../lib/internal/Magento/Framework/ObjectManager/etc/config.xsd">
 <preference for="Magento\Framework\Webapi\ServiceOutputProcessor" type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\ServiceOutputProcessor" />
 <preference for="Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\TestInterface"
 type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Test" />
 <preference for="Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\TestdataInterface" type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Testmodel" />
</config>

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\TestInterface.php

use @return array (which i not allowed in magento2 default ) that is

<?php
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api;
use Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\TestdataInterface;
interface TestInterface
{
 /**
 * Retrieve list of info
 *
 * @throws \Magento\Framework\Exception\NoSuchEntityException If ID is not found
 * @return array
 */
 public function getinfo();
}

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Test.php

public function getinfo() {
 $page_object = $this->dataFactory->create();
 $page_object->setName('eee');
 $page_object->setExtData(['key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2']);
 //return $page_object;
 return ['name'=>'Test Name','key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2',
 'multi'=>['name'=>'Test Name','key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2']
 ]; 
 }

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\ServiceOutputProcessor.php

<?php
/**
 * Copyright © 2015 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Model;;
/**
 * Data object converter for REST
 */
class ServiceOutputProcessor extends \Magento\Framework\Webapi\ServiceOutputProcessor
{
 */
 public function process($data, $serviceClassName, $serviceMethodName)
 {
 /** @var string $dataType */
 $dataType = $this->methodsMapProcessor->getMethodReturnType($serviceClassName, $serviceMethodName);
 if($dataType == 'array'){
 return $data; 
 }else{
 return $this->convertValue($data, $dataType);
 }
 }
}

if any better solution guy please post

• Alex Paliarush: Use mixed return type instead of introducing new array type with custom processing, result should be the same.
• Pradeep Kumar: @ale:- there i no mixed type if i used mixed then through error
• Alex Paliarush: There is, and it is even used in core already, see \Magento\Sales\Api\Data\TransactionInterface::setAdditionalInformation. Also check \Magento\Framework\Reflection\TypeProcessor::ANY_TYPE. The only difference, in your case it is as @return, not @param. Try to specify it for some param, to verify if it works for you in this case.
• Pradeep Kumar: but array of array i not possible in that case
• Alex Paliarush: Try mixed[] for now. Also consider creating pull request with the proposed improvement on Magento 2 github (\Magento\Framework\Reflection\TypeProcessor::processSimpleAndAnyType is a good starting point for improving current behavior)

Answer 2

I am using mixed for the time being. It takes an array of objects just fine. I did not need to use the bracket notation indicating an array of things.

@param mixed

• Erfan: This actually does not seem to work any more in Magento 2.2. Instead it seems to do a json_encode on your return type to return a string..

Answer 3

Although this question is quite old, I was stumbling across the same issue. I solved it by using a new class and define that class in the annotations of the method in the interface.

So ...

Create a new Interface like the file Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface\InfoListInterface

<?php 
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface;
interface InfoListInterface
{
 /**
 * @return string
 */
 public function getName();
 /**
 * @return string
 */
 public function getValue();
}

Then your main interface for the data object of the response should look like:

<?php 
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data;
interface MainDataInterface
{
 /**
 * Retrieve list of info
 *
 * @return \Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface\InfoListInterface[]
 */
 public function getInfo();
 /**
 * @param array
 */
 public function setInfo(array $infoList);
}

Create classes that implement those interfaces.

In your script to populate the data-objects, there should be something like ... (of course that can be realised through various methods)

...
public function receiveInfos() {
 ...
 $infoListArr[] = $infoListFactory->create()
 ->setData('name','name1')
 ->setData('value','value1');
 $infoListArr[] = $infoListFactory->create()
 ->setData('name','name2')
 ->setData('value','value2'); 
 $mainData = $MainDataFactory->create();
 $mainData->setInfo($infoListArr);
 ...
 return $mainData;
}

Then for the api-request, you will receive:

{
 "info": [
 {
 "name","name1"
 "value","value1"
 },
 {
 "name","name2"
 "value","value2"
 }
 ]
}

With this method, you also have a correct swagger documentation, when going on www.yourmagentoshop.com/swagger

• theSeeker: This answer actually works