Adding array of objects to javascript from PHP

Question

This is a part of my script in template file where php code is used to generate js field of objects:

<?php $count = count($events); $counter = 1; ?>

<script>
  var events = [

  <?php foreach($events as $event) { ?>

    {
      date: '<?php echo $event['date']; ?>',
      linkTarget: "_blank",
      content: "<?php echo $event['content']; ?>",
      class: "<?php echo $event['class']; ?>"
    }
    <?php if($counter!=$count) { echo ','; $counter++; } ?>
  <?php } ?>

  ];
<script>

I know that we can add js variable by drupal_add_js(array('myModule' => array('key' => 'value')), 'setting'); but how can we create the same js array as in example above in order not to use php code in js?

Answer 1

You can pass an array to JS like this:

drupal_add_js(array('my_module' => array('events' => $events)), 'setting');

In javascript you can get the values like this:

Drupal.settings.my_module.events;

Answer 2

You can try something like this in your custom module:

// build your associative array into $events variable
$events = json_encode(join(',', $events);
drupal_add_js(array('custom_module' => array('events' => $events)), 'setting')

And then in your template:

<?php print $events; ?>