Question

I am performing a query which returns a list of comments as shown below:

$sQuery = "
        select cp_comments.*,users.user_login, users.user_url, users.display_name, users.ID as avatar, cp_comments.id as replies

         from ".$wpdb->prefix."cp_comments cp_comments
            left join ".$wpdb->prefix."users users on users.ID=cp_comments.uid
            where songid='$id'
            order by cp_comments.id asc
    ";
    $result1 = mysql_query( $sQuery, $gaSql['link'] ) or die(mysql_error());

I then loop through the results and encode a json array like so:

/*
 * Output
 */
$output = array(

    "comments" => array()

);


while ( $aRow = mysql_fetch_array( $result1, MYSQL_ASSOC ) )
{

    $row = array();

    for ( $i=0 ; $i<count($aColumns) ; $i++ )
    {

        if ( $aColumns[$i] == "playtime" )
        {
            /* Special output formatting for 'playtime' column */
            $row[$aColumns[$i]] = ($aRow[ $aColumns[$i] ]) / $duration * 100;
        }           
        else if ( $aColumns[$i] == "avatar" )
        {
            /* Special output to render Avatar by user id */
            $row[$aColumns[$i]] = commentplayer_get_user_avatar($aRow[ $aColumns[$i] ]);
        }
        else if ( $aColumns[$i] != ' ' )
        {
            /* General output */
            $row[$aColumns[$i]] = $aRow[ $aColumns[$i] ];
        }
    }

    $output['comments'][] = $row;

}

echo json_encode($output);

This produces a JSON response as shown:-

{ "comments" : [ { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "More tests....",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "26",
        "playtime" : 36.206896551699998,
        "posttime" : "2011-10-08 11:11:55",
        "cid" : "26",
        "songid" : "30",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"

      },
      { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "test comment",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "70",
        "playtime" : 29.597701149399999,
        "posttime" : "2011-10-13 15:51:01",
        "cid" : "70",
        "songid" : "30",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
      },
      { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "Another genius comment....",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "71",
        "playtime" : 48.8505747126,
        "posttime" : "2011-10-13 15:55:38",
        "cid" : "71",
        "songid" : "30",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
      }
    ] }

However I need to retrieve the ‘replies’ to each comment (which are stored in a seperate table and nest them within the same JSON object.

So that the final encoded JSON is output like so:-

{ "comments" : [ { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "More tests....",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "26",
        "playtime" : 36.206896551699998,
        "posttime" : "2011-10-08 11:11:55",
        "cid" : "26",
        "songid" : "30",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
        "cid": "1",
        "replies" : [ { "cid" : "26",
                        "body" : "test reply",
                        "posttime" : "2011-10-08 11:11:55"
                      }]

      },

I can’t seem to work out how to nest the results of a second mysql query into each row (assuming any replies exist at all)

The query I would like to run to return the replies for a given comment (linked as ‘cid’ in the two tables) is:-

$sql = "select cp_replies.*,users.user_login, users.user_url, users.display_name, users.ID as avatar 

    from ".$wpdb->prefix."cp_replies cp_replies
                left join ".$wpdb->prefix."users users on users.ID=cp_replies.uid
                where cp_replies.cid= $cid
                order by cp_replies.id asc";

$result2 = mysql_query( $sql, $gaSql['link'] ) or die(mysql_error());

With the variable $cid needing to be passed dynamically to the query depending on which ‘cid’ of each row for th first query. (I hope that makes sense).

I tried creating a seperate function containing the query, passed it the ‘cid’ as variable but kept getting ‘null’ returned when I tried to retrieve the array.

I really am stuck here guys and truly hope someone can help me.

EDIt:

Having made the changes suggested by StuR, it is clear that I am getting closer but it’s still not as intended. My JSON (assuming I have implemented his suggestions correctly, is now as follows:-

{ "comments" : [ { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "comment at 0:48",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "2",
        "playtime" : 17.977528089900002,
        "posttime" : "2011-09-28 14:38:41",
        "songid" : "24",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
      },
      { "replies" : { "body" : "haha reply",
            "cid" : "2",
            "id" : "1",
            "posttime" : "2011-09-28 15:14:56",
            "uid" : "1",
            "user_login" : "admin"
          } },
      { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "asdasd",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "3",
        "playtime" : 0.74906367041199995,
        "posttime" : "2011-09-28 14:43:11",
        "songid" : "24",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
      },
      { "replies" : { "body" : "haha reply",
            "cid" : "2",
            "id" : "1",
            "posttime" : "2011-09-28 15:14:56",
            "uid" : "1",
            "user_login" : "admin"
          } },
      { "avatar" : "http://www.songbanc.com/wp-content/uploads/avatars/1/8bb11e958a26913e2c13393014e854d5-bpthumb.jpg",
        "body" : "test",
        "display_name" : "admin",
        "id" : "10",
        "playtime" : 36.329588014999999,
        "posttime" : "2011-10-06 14:15:12",
        "songid" : "24",
        "uid" : "1",
        "user_login" : "admin",
        "user_url" : "http://www.songbanc.com/members/admin/"
      },
      { "replies" : { "body" : "haha reply",
            "cid" : "2",
            "id" : "1",
            "posttime" : "2011-09-28 15:14:56",
            "uid" : "1",
            "user_login" : "admin"
          } }
    ] }

Any builds on this?

Answer 1

$output['comments'][] = $row;

This is creating a nested array under ‘comments’ for each row it loops, so before encoding it to JSON your array structure would look something like:

$output['comments'][]['id'] = 26;
$output['comments'][]['songid'] = 30;

So you want to put your replies into:

$output['comments'][]['replies'] = $replies;

What I would do is put your second query within your while loop, and then do this:

while ( $replies = mysql_fetch_array( $result2, MYSQL_ASSOC ) )
{
    $output['comments'][$cid]['replies'][] = $replies;
}

And change in your first while:

$output['comments'][] = $row;

to

$output['comments'][$cid] = $row;