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Im a newbie in PHP (also JSON for that matter) but I am not sure/confident of the format of the json data i have. I am converting a mysql into json for use in another application, and the format i am getting is as follows:

[{"category":{"catId":"1","categoryName":"BABY FOOD","categoryNotes":"ONLY baby food varieties which have been listed below should be used. However if your doctor or pediatrician requires a specific diet please contact your Rabbi for further advice."}},{"category":{"catId":"2","categoryName":"BAKING INGREDIENTS","categoryNotes":""}},{"category":{"catId":"131","categoryName":"BEER","categoryNotes":"See Alcoholic Drinks"}},{"category":{"catId":"4","categoryName":"BEVERAGES - Powdered","categoryNotes":""}},{"category":{"catId":"5","categoryName":"BISCUITS","categoryNotes":"Locally produced biscuits usually contain fats, oils or improvers of non-kosher origin. There is a very large range of Israeli, South African and American kosher biscuits available locally. Even these imported biscuits and crackers (including Israeli produced goods) should only be used if marked with a reliable Rabbinic Hechsher. A 'K' on the packet alone is insufficient. Please note which products are dairy or pareve."}},{"category":{"catId":"6","categoryName":"BREAD AND BAKERY GOODS","categoryNotes":"Bread usually contains or comes in contact with Non-Kosher oils, fats or improvers and cannot be accepted as kosher without thorough investigation and subsequent authorisation"}},{"category":{"catId":"7","categoryName":"BREAD\/CORN\/RICE CRUMBS","categoryNotes":""}},{"category":{"catId":"8","categoryName":"BUTTER AND DAIRY BLENDS","categoryNotes":"Soft butters, butter spreads & dairy blends are NOT ACCEPTABLE unless specifically listed. Butter made from whey cream is NOT ACCEPTABLE unless produced under Rabbinic supervision"}},{"category":{"catId":"9","categoryName":"BUTTERMILK and LEBEN ","categoryNotes":""}},{"category":{"catId":"10","categoryName":"CAKES & CAKE SHOPS","categoryNotes":"Cakes and cake mixes usually contain Non-Kosher ingredients, and must only be used if they are produced under supervision Cakes bought in a Non-Kosher cake shop, even if containing only kosher ingredients are NOT ACCEPTABLE because of the Non-Kosher utensils used in their preparation"}},{"category":{"catId":"11","categoryName":"CEREALS ","categoryNotes":""}}, .... and so forth.

Now I am not sure if this is the right format, but my code to generate this is as follows:

            <?php


            /* soak in the passed variable or set our own */
            // $approved_prod_date = $_GET['date'];



            $link = mysql_connect('localhost','root','broncos') or die('Cannot connect to the DB');
            mysql_select_db('iKosher',$link) or die('Cannot select the DB');

            /* grab the categories from the db */
            $query=  "SELECT c.id as catId, c.name as categoryName,     c.notes as categoryNotes
                FROM        cat c
                WHERE       1=1\n";


            if(isset($_GET['catid']) && intval($_GET['catid'])) {
                $query.="AND c.id = ";
                $query.= $_GET['catid'];
            }   


            if(isset($_GET['startIndex']) && intval($_GET['startIndex'])) {
                if(isset($_GET['numItems']) && intval($_GET['numItems'])) {
                    $query .= "\nLIMIT ";
                    $query .= $_GET['startIndex'];
                    $query .= ","; 
                    $query .= $_GET['numItems'];
                }
            }




             // $query = "SELECT post_title, guid FROM wp_posts WHERE post_author = $user_id AND post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT $number_of_posts";
            $result = mysql_query($query,$link) or die('Errant query:  '.$query);
            $num=mysql_numrows($result);


            /* create one master array of the records */
              $categories = array();
              if($num) {
                while($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
                  $categories[] = array('category'=>$category);
                }
              }
                header('Content-type: application/json');
                echo json_encode($categories);
            ?>

Based on my code, am i doing this right? Is the array converted correctly into JSON?

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1 Answer

up vote 5 down vote accepted

json_encode() will produce valid JSON. If necessary, you can verify this for yourself by copy-and-pasting the JSON output into an online validator like the one at http://www.jsonlint.com/

If you're not sure if your data is being placing into the array with the correct organization, that's another matter. But given a valid PHP array/object/pretty much whatever, json_encode() will produce it encoded properly in the JSON format.

EDIT: Inside your while loop, this code:

        while($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
          $categories[] = array('category'=>$category);
        }

Builds an array that looks like this: ("category" => [$catId, $categoryName, etc.], "category" => [$catId, $categoryName, etc], and so on) I think you'd be better off (and happier with the JSON produced) if you changed it to:

        while($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
          $categories[] = $category;
        }

The original code is adding each and every category to the $categories array with the same "category" key. But since this key is duplicated for each category, it serves no real purpose.

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i have done that before and it shows valid, just that i have feeling that the json isn't correct anyway. Like it should have: ["category":{"catId":"1"," ... instead of [{"category":{"catId":"1","c – Doz Mar 5 '11 at 10:29
That's because your $categories is an array of associative arrays, and inside your while loop you're saying that "category" is the key of the array containing catId, categoryName, etc. – Eric G Mar 5 '11 at 10:34
Expanded the answer to address the comment above. – Eric G Mar 5 '11 at 10:40
JSON doesn't have assoc arrays like php does. e.g. ["key1":"value1","key2":"value2"] is invalid. For assoc arrays it uses an object as container. {"key1":"value1","key2":"value"} – Bob Fanger Mar 5 '11 at 11:05
So what does that mean? that mine is wrong because its using associat arrays? – Doz Mar 5 '11 at 21:35
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