Looping through JSON fails with json_decode

Question

I am pulling JSON data from a URL and attempting to display a list of just the display names.

In a way, this would be very easy too loop through if I knew that X amount of results would return each time. However, the results returned will vary from 0 to 50+.

I have done plenty of searches that all say "just use json_decode"... not so much the case.

I have the following JSON:

{
    "ACK": "SUCCESS",
    "ERROR": null,
    "AGENT": {
        "has_results": 1,
        "agents": [
            {
                "display_name": "Alex",
                "time_in_state": "5214",
                "state": "Aux",
                "callstakentoday": null,
                "callsouttoday": null,
                "agntpriority": null,
                "skill_num": "76"
            },
            {
                "display_name": "Bill",
                "time_in_state": "6312",
                "state": "Aux",
                "callstakentoday": null,
                "callsouttoday": null,
                "agntpriority": null,
                "skill_num": "76"
            },
            {
                "display_name": "Carrie",
                "time_in_state": "5982",
                "state": "Aux",
                "callstakentoday": null,
                "callsouttoday": null,
                "agntpriority": null,
                "skill_num": "76"
            },
            {
                "display_name": "David",
                "time_in_state": "4226",
                "state": "Aux",
                "callstakentoday": null,
                "callsouttoday": null,
                "agntpriority": null,
                "skill_num": "76"
            }
        ]
    },
    "SKILL": {
        "has_results": 1,
        "num_skills": 1,
        "skills": [
            {
                "display_name": "Phone Skills",
                "skill_num": "76",
                "callsinqueue": "0",
                "callstoday": "9",
                "abandtoday": "0",
                "lwt": "0",
                "ewt": "0",
                "servicelvl": "100",
                "avgspeedans": "6",
                "talktime": "289"
            }
        ]
    },
    "TIME": 1383766541
}

From the examples and documentation I have read, the following code has been created:

<?php
    $url="http://myjsonurl.local";

    $json = file_get_contents($url);
    //echo $json; 

    $json = json_decode($json);
    foreach($json as $item->display_name)
    {
            echo $item->agents->display_name;
    }
?>

My end goal is to have a list of only names which I can then display in an alternate webpage.

So my question is... how do I read this page and format the data nicely (perhaps an array I can just print?) so I can utilize it in the future?

Amal · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-07 18:03:24Z

3

You have the following in your code:

foreach($json as $item->display_name)

This is incorrect and doesn't do what you want. As you can see by doing a print_r($json), the names are in $json->AGENT->agents, so you'll want to loop through those items and then traverse the display_name using arrow syntax ($item->display_name). Once you have the display name, you can push it into an array, and use it however you want.

Your loop should look like below:

$names = array(); // initialize empty array
foreach($json->AGENT->agents as $item)
{
    $names[] = $item->display_name;
}

print_r($names); // see the array contents

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => Alex
    [1] => Bill
    [2] => Carrie
    [3] => David
)

Demo.

Note: If you don't know the structure of the JSON object beforehand, then you can use a nested foreach loop to retrieve the names.

edited Nov 7, 2013 at 18:03

answered Nov 7, 2013 at 17:52

Amal

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4 Comments

Fairplay89 Over a year ago

Thank you Amal. This is definitely going in the right direction now. Another quick question if I may... I thought it would be cool to color code names based on their state in the JSON. I could change the JSON decode to store the state, but how would I best tie the names and states together to display the data?

Amal Over a year ago

@Fairplay89: That's a different problem (and beyond the scope of this answer, I think). Can you please post that as a new question and explain what you're trying to do in more detail? :)

Fairplay89 Over a year ago

Sorry... just brainstorming out loud. Let me do some digging on my own before clobbering up the boards. Thanks!

Amal Over a year ago

@Fairplay89: That's a good idea. Read this meta post :)

geomagas · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-07 17:50:30Z

1

The array you want to iterate is $json->AGENT->agents. Also, your foreach syntax is wrong.

Try:

foreach($json->AGENT->agents as $item)
{
        echo $item->display_name;
}

answered Nov 7, 2013 at 17:50

geomagas

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Comments

Jules Colle · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-07 17:49:22Z

0

If you want to get the JSON data as an array rather then an object, use json_decode($json, true) instead. This tells the function to return it as an associative array, as you can read here: http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php

answered Nov 7, 2013 at 17:49

Jules Colle

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Comments

Ziv · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-07 17:51:13Z

0

You have an error in your foreach loop.

foreach($json as $item->display_name)
    {
            echo $item->agents->display_name;
    }

$item is not an object and you are actually trying in this line to access property "display_name" of none object ($item)

foreach($json as $item)

answered Nov 7, 2013 at 17:51

Ziv

1618 bronze badges

2 Comments

GolezTrol Over a year ago

@iambriansreed Pointing to an error like this should often be enough for OP to see what went wrong and how to fix it. Certainly not worth a downvote.

iambriansreed Over a year ago

@GolezTrol I agree, not worth a down vote, which is why I didn't.

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