Json and PHP

[Langdale]

Hi,

I am trying to create and read, using php, a Json file for a restaurant menu which will be updated regularly.

I have the following json file.

{
    "courses": 
        {
            "starters": [
                {
                    "meal": "Nachos to share enough for two",
                    "notes": "Lightly salted tortilla chips, melted mozzarella and jalopenos with salsa, sour cream and guacamole",
                    "price": "5.95"
                }
            ],
            "mains": [
                {
                    "meal": "Beer Battered Cod Large or small",
                    "notes": "With mushy peas and our own spicy pickled onion, Tartar sauce and chips",
                    "price": "12.95"
                }
            ]
        }

}

Not a lot to it but it does validate in jsonLint.

Obviously in reality the file will contain many more 'Courses' and 'meals' for each course, but for now I'm just trying to learn how to use json with php.

My problem arises in that I will not know prior to run time what courses are on the menu, nor the number of different meals in each course.

I am using $data = json_decode($json,true); to grab the data but am struggling to iterate through the resulting data object using counters & for loops and not key names such as "starters" etc.

Can someone please edify me in the correct use and implementation of both the json file and how to parse it using php without prior knowledge of the array key names.

Thanks in advance.

[Bonesnap]

Have you tried reading the PHP manual page for json_decode? It has several examples on its use.

In the meantime can you post any code you've tried, including a var_dump() or print_r() of the value returned from json_decode()?

[Langdale]

Hello Bonesnap,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Yes, I have read json_decod on php.net et al, but must confess to being little the wiser.

Below is the formatted result of Print_r($data) and beneath that the the output from a var_dump.

	Array ( 
		[courses] => Array ( 
			[starters] => Array ( 
				[0] => Array ( 
					[meal] => Nachos to share enough for two 
					[notes] => Lightly salted tortilla chips, melted mozzarella and jalopenos with salsa, sour cream and guacamole 
					[price] => 5.95 
				) 
			) 
			[mains] => Array ( 
				[0] => Array ( 
					[meal] => Beer Battered Cod Large or small 
					[notes] => With mushy peas and our own spicy pickled onion, Tartar sauce and chips 
					[price] => 12.95 
				) 
			) 
		) 
	)

array(1) { ["courses"]=> array(2) { ["starters"]=> array(1) { [0]=> array(3) { ["meal"]=> string(30) "Nachos to share enough for two" ["notes"]=> string(99)
"Lightly salted tortilla chips, melted mozzarella and jalopenos with salsa,
sour cream and guacamole" ["price"]=> string(4) "5.95" } } ["mains"]=> array(1) { [0]=> array(3) { ["meal"]=> string(32) "Beer Battered Cod Large or small" ["notes"]=> string(71) "With mushy peas and our own spicy pickled onion, Tartar sauce and chips" ["price"]=> string(5) "12.95" } } } }

The following is essentially the code that I have been playing around with...

<?php
$file = 'menu.json';
$json = file_get_contents($file); //Get the contents of the menu file - menu.json
$data = json_decode($json,true); //decode the data

foreach($data["courses"] as $course){
   print("<div class='course' id='".$data["courses"][0]."'>");
   print("<div class='mnuTitle'>Starters</div><ul>");						
   foreach($course as $item){
		print("<li><span class='menuMain'>");
		print($item["meal"]);
		print("</span><span class='menuSmall'>");
		print($item["notes"]);
		print("</span><span class='menuPrice'>&pound;");
		print($item["price"]);
		print("</span></li>");
	}
	print("</ul></div>");
}

?>

Both of the foreach loops work as expected with the exception that it does not pull out the menu "course" i.e. print("<div class='course' id='".$data["courses"][0]."'>"); I am wanting to use this information, the course name, e.g. Starters, Mains, Deserts, etc, as an ID and title, but so far with little success!!