Question

I have some JSON that I am trying to decode — it is correctly extracting the value, but also generating an error.

Here is the var_dump:

["success"]=>
bool(true)
["providers"]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
object(stdClass)#5 (15) {
  ["address1"]=>
  string(14) "3240 W Lake St"
  ["address2"]=>
  NULL
  ["city"]=>
  string(11) "Minneapolis"
  ["crossStreet"]=>
  string(26) "Lake Street & Market Plaza"
  ["description"]=>
  string(55) "test location28402 description of services/prices/hours"
  ["distance"]=>
  float(0.42900015862223)
  ["lat"]=>
  float(44.948469)
  ["lon"]=>
  float(-93.321155)
  ["name"]=>
  string(17) "testlocation28402"
  ["phone"]=>
  string(10) "6125551212"
  ["precise"]=>
  bool(true)
  ["state"]=>
  string(2) "MN"
  ["url"]=>
  string(41) "http://www.testlocation28402.com?id=28402"
  ["urlCaption"]=>
  string(25) "www.testlocation28402.com"
  ["zip"]=>
  string(9) "554164512"
}
[1]=>
object(stdClass)#6 (15) {
  ["address1"]=>
  string(19) "4335 Excelsior Blvd"
  ["address2"]=>
  NULL
  ["city"]=>
  string(16) "Saint Louis Park"
  ["crossStreet"]=>
  NULL
  ["description"]=>
  string(55) "test location26358 description of services/prices/hours"
  ["distance"]=>
  float(0.91979730006713)
  ["lat"]=>
  float(44.935773)
  ["lon"]=>
  float(-93.33489)
  ["name"]=>
  string(17) "testlocation26358"
  ["phone"]=>
  string(10) "6125551212"
  ["precise"]=>
  bool(true)
  ["state"]=>
  string(2) "MN"
  ["url"]=>
  string(41) "http://www.testlocation26358.com?id=26358"
  ["urlCaption"]=>
  string(25) "www.testlocation26358.com"
  ["zip"]=>
  string(9) "554164811"
}
  } 
["errors"]=>array(0) {
}
}

Above is the var_dump of the variable $json. I am trying to extract the CITY field with:

$json = json_decode($surescript);

foreach ($json as $providers){
foreach($providers as $onespot) {
echo "*";
echo $onespot->city;
echo "\n";
}
}

This outputs:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/content/96/7973196/html/channels/MIL432/storeFinder_2.php on line 153
*Minneapolis
*Saint Louis Park

So, it is getting the correct nested variable, but also throwing off an error on the second foreach loop.

What am I doing incorrectly?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

You’re iterating over everything in the JSON in your outer loop, meaning that it’s trying to parse the success section, the providers section, as well as the errors section.

When you try to parse the success, you can’t iterate over the contents in the inner loop, hence the error. The errors section is an array, so you can iterate over it – since there’s nothing in it, no error/warning for trying to access city, which wouldn’t exist in it.

To only parse the providers:

$json = json_decode($surescript);

foreach ($json->providers as $provider){
    echo "*";
    echo $provider->city;
    echo "\n";
}