Most efficient method of getting single value from array

[schwim]

Hi there everyone,

I'm utilizing some fantastic code provided by another person for retrieving character data from a game's data servers. One of the things I'm trying to do is to get the characters' reputation standing with the guild. The array provided to me gets the standing with every faction in the game. Here's the code:

$character = $armory->getCharacter('Govannin');
$reputations = $character->getReputation(TRUE,'name','asc');
foreach($reputations as $reputation) {

$rep_name = $reputation['name'];
$standing = $reputation['standingName'];

echo($standing." with ".$rep_name.".<br />");

}

Which produces:

Exalted with Frenzyheart Tribe.
Honored with Gadgetzan.
Neutral with Gelkis Clan Centaur.
Exalted with Gilneas.
Exalted with Gnomeregan.
Exalted with Guardians of Hyjal.
Exalted with Guild.
Exalted with Honor Hold.
Friendly with Hydraxian Waterlords.
Exalted with Ironforge.
Exalted with Keepers of Time.
Exalted with Kirin Tor.
Exalted with Knights of the Ebon Blade.
Exalted with Kurenai.
Exalted with Lower City.
Neutral with Magram Clan Centaur.

Only with a bunch more....

I only need the standing with Guild. I know that I can do an if inside the foreach loop to see if the rep_name equals guild for each result inside the array, but I'm wondering if there's a more efficient way of getting the reputation for just that one entry.

I'm wondering if maybe I can even alter his function to only pull the data for Guild(I think the added benefit of this would be the much lower transfer of data between servers, and thus less time to run):

   	/**
   	 * Get character reputations
   	 * @param Boolean $sort Use to enable sorting
   	 * @param String $sortfield Define the field you want to sort by - Values are: id | name | standing
   	 * @param String $order Define the order of the sorting - Values are: desc | asc
   	 * @return Returns an array with all the reputations
   	 */
   	public function getReputation($sort=FALSE,$sortfield='standing',$order='desc'){
   		$reputations = $this->characterData['reputation'];
   		foreach ($reputations as $key => $reputation){
   			$reputation['standing'] == 0 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Hated':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 1 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'At war':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 2 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Unfriendly':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 3 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Neutral':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 4 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Friendly':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 5 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Honored':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 6 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Revered':FALSE;
   			$reputation['standing'] == 7 ? $reputations[$key]['standingName'] = 'Exalted':FALSE;
   		} 
   		if ($sort){
   			$reputations = $this->sortReputation($reputations, $sortfield, $order);
   		}
   		return $reputations;
   	}

Any thoughts you might have on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

[Bonesnap]

You could try using array_reduce(). It requires the array and a callback function, so your callback would be your comparison.

[NogDog]

Might be interesting(?) to see what is in $this->characterData['reputation'], which is where that method is getting its data.

[schwim]

Hi there Nog and thanks for your reply.

I did a search for characterData in all the files and found 58 results in only this file and no results in the other class files. It's also the only file that "reputation" shows up in.

I'm not savvy enough yet to know how to break down that string, but you can find the complete system here, if you wanted to look for yourself.

Is there a chance that it's being taken care of on the other server's end? It's something I considered but don't know enough about it to say.

[NogDog]

You could add this within the class definition where getReputation() function is defined:

public function getReputationArray()
{
    return $this->characterData['reputation'];
}

Then to see what's in there, in your main script:

$character = $armory->getCharacter('Govannin');
echo "Here is the raw data:\n";
$data = $character->getReputationArray();
echo "<pre>".print_r($data, true)."</pre>";

Then once you see what's in there and figure out what you want from it, instead of echoing it you can extract the desired info.
Then in your script where you

[schwim]

hi there Nog,

Here's an excerpt of what got returned:

[52] => Array
(
[id] => 1012
[name] => Ashtongue Deathsworn
[standing] => 7
[value] => 999
[max] => 999
)

[53] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1015
        [name] => Netherwing
        [standing] => 7
        [value] => 999
        [max] => 999
    )

[54] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1168
        [name] => Guild
        [standing] => 7
        [value] => 999
        [max] => 999
    )

[55] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1171
        [name] => Therazane
        [standing] => 7
        [value] => 999
        [max] => 999
    )

[56] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1173
        [name] => Ramkahen
        [standing] => 7
        [value] => 999
        [max] => 999
    )

The one titled guild is the one I need and I only need standing from it. I need it for each character in the loop, so I'm just trying to find a way to cut down how much happens in the nested loops. I thought there might be a way to only request guild rep, but it seems not to be the case, doesn't it?

[NogDog]

The good news is that you could then access the raw data directly (just have the new function simply return the array instead of outputting it.) The bad news is you would still have to loop through it (or otherwise manipulate it with one or more of the array_*() functions) to get the one with the desired 'name' value.