Question

Having read all the articles I can find I’m left wondering if the json data is valid.

I’m using php to make this request :

$myjson= file_get_contents('http://slhassall.rightboatexpert.com/api/boats');
 var_dump(json_decode($myjson));

and this dumps the below to the page, is it valid json?

object(stdClass)[1]

  public 'pagination' =>

    object(stdClass)[2]

      public 'total' => int 32

      public 'num_per_page' => int 25

      public 'page' => int 1

  public 'results' => 

    array (size=25)

      0 => 

        object(stdClass)[3]

          public 'id' => int 54

          public 'manufacturer' => string 'Utrecht' (length=7)

          public 'condition' => string 'used' (length=4)

          public 'model' => string 'Iron Sailing Barge' (length=18)

          public 'marketing_status' => string 'For Sale' (length=8)

          public 'year' => null

          public 'stock_number' => null

          public 'location' => string 'Suffolk' (length=7)

          public 'description' => string 'Clipper design. Built in Utrecht 1988, 25m in

length, an elegantly converted Dutch sailing barge with fantastic internal and external

 social entertainment /display spaces. Suitable for corporate or pri' (length=201)

          public 'sale_status' => string 'For Sale' (length=8)

          public 'price' => int 149000

          public 'currency' => string 'GBP' (length=3)

          public 'thumbnail' => string '/api/images/262' (length=15)

          public 'boat_image_id' => int 262

      1 => 

        object(stdClass)[4]

          public 'id' => int 51

          public 'manufacturer' => string ' Wood' (length=5)

          public 'condition' => string 'used' (length=4)

          public 'model' => string 'MFV/Guard vessel ' (length=17)

          public 'marketing_status' => string 'For Sale' (length=8)

          public 'year' => int 1959

          public 'stock_number' => null

          public 'location' => string 'Great Yarmouth, Norfolk UK' (length=26)

          public 'description' => string '' (length=0)

          public 'sale_status' => string 'For Sale' (length=8)

          public 'price' => int 35000

          public 'currency' => string 'GBP' (length=3)

          public 'thumbnail' => string '/api/images/219' (length=15)

          public 'boat_image_id' => int 219

      2 => 

I ask because when i attempt to connect to a node:

 $array = (json_decode($myjson));
    echo $array->boat->manufacturer;

I get this error:

Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$boat in C:\wamp\www\json\index.php on line 6

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\wamp\www\json\index.php on line 6

With line 6 being the echo statement.
I have Googled these error codes but can’t figure it out.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

Your JSON is valid, as invalid JSON would result in returning NULL:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php
Though I recommend you to do a checking after calling json_decode so that you know what is going on when you access the object later and found that you are accessing property of non-object (i.e. NULL)

You get the error because your object isn’t structured that way – as your var_dump told you, there is no property boat in the resultant object.

From your var_dump, it means the object has two properties pagination and results. In
results there is an array consisting 25 items. In each item there is an object having properties id, manufacturer, condition and so on.

And, indeed your question contains no JSON, php var_dump does not give you a JSON…

I am not sure what do you want to do. I guess you want to print all manufacturers of each boat, so… (untested)

$object = json_decode($myjson);
if ($object == null) {
    // json is invalid, or $myjson actually contains NULL
} else {
    $array = $object->results;

    foreach ($array as $item) {
        echo $item->manufacturer;
    }
}