[Resolved] implode() not working as expected - ARGH!!!

[ywickham]

I have one page with a form that uses an array ($order) to print out ordered items. This page then posts to a second page to get personal information from the person ordering. Before posting the form, I implode the array into another variable ($items_ordered), so that I can print a summary of the items ordered on the second page. (The following code is all within the <form> tags.):

//Get count of total elements listed in array
$total_elements = count($order);

//Reset total price
$total_price = 0;

//Create lines listing items ordered
for ($i = 0; $i < $total_elements; $i++) {

//Determine row color
if ($i % 2 == 0) {
	$alt = 0;
} else {
	$alt = 1;
}

//Print items ordered
$items_ordered .= "<tr>\n";
$items_ordered .= "<td class=\"".$colors[$alt]."\" valign=\"top\">".$order[$i][2]."</td>\n";
$items_ordered .= "<td class=\"".$colors[$alt]."\">".$order[$i][0]."</td>\n";
$items_ordered .= "<td class=\"".$colors[$alt]."\" align=\"right\" valign=\"top\">$".number_format(($order[$i][1]*$order[$i][2]), 2)."</td>\n";
$items_ordered .= "</tr>\n";

//Add this item to grand total
$total_price += ($order[$i][1]*$order[$i][2]);
}

//Print total price for all items ordered
$total_price = "$".number_format($total_price, 2);
$items_ordered .= "<tr>\n";
$items_ordered .= "<td class=\"header-white\" align=\"right\" colspan=\"2\">Total for all items ordered:</td>\n";
$items_ordered .= "<td class=\"header-white\" align=\"right\">".$total_price."</td>\n";
$items_ordered .= "</tr>\n";

print $items_ordered;
.
.
.		
reset($order);
$items_ordered = implode(",",$order);
print("<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"items_ordered\" value=\"".$items_ordered."\">\n");

Now, the results on the second page have not been as expected. It seems that the value getting passed by the $items_ordered variable is actually "Array" and not that of the array elements as a string with my designated separator. I've verified this by printing out the $items_ordered variable after setting it in the code above.

I have searched the forums and found references on how to use the implode() function, so I have verified that my separator is not one used in the array and that I am using correct syntax. I did not find someone who had run into my problem though. 🙁

I've been messing with this for two days. What is going on? Why am I getting "Array", instead of the actual array elements made into a string?

Thanks!

[barand]

Each element of $orders array is itself an array. Hence your results.

You need to process the individual arrays

foreach ($orders as $an_array) {
  $items_ordered_array[] = implode(',' , $an_array); 
}

//Now repeat with the resulting single array

$items_ordered = implode(',' , $items_ordered_array); 

hth

[ywickham]

Thank you Barand, but for some reason the solution did not work for me.

However...

I was able to fix my problem. With your help, I determined that I could not pass an array as a hidden variable without converting it to a string variable first.

To fix my problem, I first placed each element of the multi-dimensional array into a single dimension array with a delimiter. This was easy to do while I was still processing the array in another part of my script:

$items_listing[$i] = $order[$i][0].",".$order[$i][1].",".$order[$i][2];

After which, I imploded the new single-dimension array into a string and passed it in the form as a hidden variable:

$items_ordered = implode(',' , $items_listing);
.
.
.
print("<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"items_ordered\" value=\"".$items_ordered."\">\n");

On the page receiving the post variables, I pulled the array string and dumped it into a variable. Using loops, I ran through and created a new multi-dimensional array with the following code:

//Get string of items ordered
$items_ordered = $_POST['items_ordered'];
$i = 0;

//Process string
while (!empty($items_ordered)) {

for ($loop = 0; $loop <= 2; $loop++) {

	//Get location of next comma
	$comma_pos = strpos ($items_ordered, ",");

	if ($comma_pos) {

		//Dump first value in array element
		$order[$i][$loop] = substr($items_ordered, 0, $comma_pos);

		//Set items ordered string to newest value
		$items_ordered = substr($items_ordered, $comma_pos + 1);
	} else {

		//Dump first value in array element
		$order[$i][$loop] = $items_ordered;

		//Set items ordered string to newest value
		$items_ordered = "";
	}
}
$i++;
}

I could then call/manipulate the array as normal.

This is the fix that worked for me. I hope it helps someone else out (or even me, again, in the future.)
🙂