Question

First of all i am new to php and javascript

I have a web form where users can add multiple contacts ans send to ther server.

Due to some reasons i cant use the normal html elements to store the values ,so i am using an array to store values.

//init array

var contacts = new Array(); //contact array

var tempArray = new Array(); //temp array to store current contacts

//getting the contact info and setting to a temp array

tempArray = {
      name:"username",
      age:12,
      sex:false
     };

//push the content to the `contacts` array

contacts.push(tempArray);

I added many contacts to the contacts array and now i need to submit the array to server.

Problem

I am using Codeignitor and Malsup FORM plugin.

as per malsup i can configure the data option like this

var options = { 

dataType:'json', //type of data
data:[contactArray:contacts], //additional parm

    }; 

and on ajaxSubmit option i can give this option as a parm.

when i do this i am getting the following error

uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80460001 (NS_ERROR_CANNOT_CONVERT_DATA) [nsIDOMFormData.append]"  nsresult: "0x80460001 (NS_ERROR_CANNOT_CONVERT_DATA)"  location: "JS frame :: /js/form.js :: fileUploadXhr :: line 224"  data: no]
temp/jquery.min.js
Line 4

IT WORKS with $.POST in jQuery.

so i tried the JSON.stingify() to convert the data to string.

but on server i am getting like this

'contactArray' => string '[{"name":"username","sex":"12","sex":"false"}]'

If i used the json_decode then i cant use the form validation.

I want to use the FORM VALIDATION LIBRARY IN CODEIGNITOR.

CI supports validation of array of elements.

so

if i get something like name[],age[],sex[] then i can validate easily.

Please help me to solve the problems or give me suggestions.

Thank you.

Answer 1

This code does not create an array:

tempArray = {
      name:"username",
      age:12,
      sex:false
     };

It creates an object (completely overwriting the blank array you assigned to tempArray earlier).

if i get something like name[],age[],sex[] then i can validate easily.

If you want, you can create post data that would look like that, as a prep step prior to sending in your data. It’s fairly easy::

function prepContacts(contacts) {
    var result = []; // Build up string in array, we'll join at the end
    var nameKey, ageKey, sexKey;

    // I've put [] in these because you use PHP
    nameKey = encodeURIComponent("name[]");
    ageKey = encodeURIComponent("age[]");
    sexKey = encodeURIComponent("sex[]");

    for (index = 0; index < contacts.length; ++index) {
        contact = contacts[index];
        result.push(nameKey + "=" + encodeURIComponent(contact.name));
        result.push(ageKey + "=" + encodeURIComponent(contact.age));
        result.push(sexKey + "=" + encodeURIComponent(contact.sex));
    }

    return result.join("&");
}

Then post that via $.ajax:

$.ajax({
    url: "/path/to/resource",
    type: "POST",
    data: prepContacts(contacts),
    success: function(response) {
        // POST worked, but you have to check response for whether
        // it worked at the logic level
    },
    error: function() {
        // POST failed
    }
});