Question

I am pulling an array from a mysql database. A pretty simple select statement that then gets put into your run-of-the-mill multi-dimension array (rows and columns) to generate some HTML. So far so good.

I want to be able to store that array somewhere (DOM?) on the client-side so that clients can re-use and manipulate that data (via jQuery) without having to re-query the database for the same data each time.

So… lets say my php array is:

$fruits = array ( "fruits"  => array ( "a" => "orange",
                                       "b" => "banana",
                                       "c" => "apple"
                                     ),
                  "numbers" => array ( 1,
                                       2,
                                       3,
                                       4,
                                       5,
                                       6
                                     ),
                  "holes"   => array (      "first",
                                       5 => "second",
                                            "third"
                                     )
                );

How do I store $fruits on the client-side so I can re-use the data on command via javascript?

Answer 1

How about storing it as a simple javascript object? Something like the folllowing:

//yourphpfile.php
<script type="text/javascript">
var obj = JSON.parse('<?php echo json_encode($my_arr,JSON_HEX_TAG|JSON_HEX_APOS); ?>');
console.log(obj);
</script>

The client side will have the entire data into the obj object.