PHP array to JSON in CakePHP

It is an often asked question on the CakePHP google groups, how to pass a php array to javascript. The answer is to convert the PHP array to JSON, I have seen several solutions recommended which included using vendor classes, the PHP 5 extension for JSON - however the recommended way is to use the 'Object' method of javascript helper. Being a pure PHP solution it works in both PHP 4 as well 5

Using it is as simple as using any other helper, suppose you have some arrays in your controller, just pass them to the view and use.

OK! here is stripped down code snippet with output

Controller code

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. $my_array = array(1,2,3,4,5);
  2. $my_array2= array('one'=>'1','two'=>'2','3');
  3. $this->set(compact('my_array','my_array2'));

View code

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  1. echo $javascript->Object($my_array);
  2. echo $javascript->Object($my_array2);

The output is

PLAIN TEXT
JavaScript:
  1. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  2. {"one":1, "two":2, "0":3}

A more complex output from the result of findAll in Cheesecake-Photoblog is shown below.

PLAIN TEXT
PHP:
  2. (
  3.     [0] => Array
  4.         (
  5.             [Photo] => Array
  6.                 (
  7.                     [id] => 2
  8.                     [filename] => 1180944624_3dgreen.png
  9.                     [title] => 3D Green
  10.                     [created] => 2007-06-04 13:40:00
  11.                 )
  12.  
  13.         )
  14.  
  15.     [1] => Array
  16.         (
  17.             [Photo] => Array
  18.                 (
  19.                     [id] => 1
  20.                     [filename] => 1180938295_FreshFlower.jpg
  21.                     [title] => Fresh Flower
  22.                     [created] => 2007-06-04 11:54:00
  23.                 )
  24.  
  25.         )
  26.  
  27. )

Resultant JSON

PLAIN TEXT
JavaScript:
  1. [{"Photo":{"id":2, "filename":"1180944624_3dgreen.png", "title":"3D Green", "created":"2007-06-04 13:40:00"}}, {"Photo":{"id":1, "filename":"1180938295_FreshFlower.jpg", "title":"Fresh Flower", "created":"2007-06-04 11:54:00"}}]

What you now do with the JSON output is entirely upto you

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Published:
6.4.07 / 5pm
Category:
CakePHP, Javascript, PHP
Author:
Tarique Sani
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