Ajax array only returns 1 value?

Question

I am new to PHP and Ajax so please bear with me. I've searched around and found some answers but still am having trouble. I have an array of check box input values. If a user checks an item it is added to my array list. An example would be:

listOfPrograms = [chrome, firefox, sqlworkbench]

I want to send this array list to a PHP script on my server. My current Ajax script is as follows:

function ajaxPostToPhp(listOfPorgrams)
{
  $.ajax
  ({
      url: 'script.php',
      type: 'post',
      data: ("listOfPrograms" : listOfPrograms), // I believe this is where my issues lies as I do not know exactly that this is doing. I have read the PHP documentation. I tried converting to JSON and kept getting a 500 error.
      success: function(data)
      {
         console.log(data);
      }
   });
}

My PHP script is as folllows:

$myArray = $_Request['listOfPrograms'];
echo $myArray;

This returns only 1 item from the array. I tried setting myArray = [] but I get an undefined index.

Thanks for your help! Sorry for such a noob question.

Hackerman · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-26 18:26:11Z

1

You need to fix a few things:

1- Javascript array:

var listOfPrograms = ['chrome', 'firefox', 'sqlworkbench'];

2- Ajax Data:

function ajaxPostToPhp(listOfPrograms)
{
  myListData = {};
  myListData['Programs'] = listOfPrograms; 
  $.ajax({
     url: 'script.php',
     type: 'post',
     data: myListData, 
  success: function(data)
  {
     console.log(data);
  }
});
}

3- Php Code:

$myArray = $_POST['Programs'];
var_dump($myArray);

answered Feb 26, 2015 at 18:26

Hackerman

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1 Comment

Hackerman Over a year ago

@dan08 Just for testing purposes, i assume the OP is familiar with the php language....

ByteHamster · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-26 18:18:52Z

0

You are passing an array as post parameter but they can only be strings. You should convert the array to a JSON string first. An easy function for that purpose is JSON.stringify()

var listOfPrograms = ["chrome", "firefox", "sqlworkbench"] 
// I guess you need strings here

function ajaxPostToPhp(listOfPorgrams) {
  $.ajax ({
      url: 'script.php',
      type: 'post',
      // Convert listOfPrograms to a string first
      data: ("listOfPrograms" : JSON.stringify(listOfPrograms)),
      success: function(data) {
         console.log(data);
      }
   });
}

answered Feb 26, 2015 at 18:18

ByteHamster

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5 Comments

Dan Over a year ago

Also, in your php file, you should use echo json_encode($myArray);

BearForceOne Over a year ago

Great! I tried this and it works. Two questions: (1) what is "listOfPrograms" : JSON.stringify(listOfPrograms) actually doing? It is converting the array to JSON format... then what? (2) Why does listOfPrograms need to be in quotes? Also, it returns "[\"chrome\",\"firefox\"]" not as individual items but as characters. For example myArray[2] = "c". I would like to be able to pull each item "chrome" and "firefox" to do some manipulation.

ByteHamster Over a year ago

(1) What do you mean? It just converts the array to a JSON string. (2) are chrome, firefox variables or do you want to transfer the text? If you want to transfer text, you need the " quotes. (3) I would like to be able to pull each item - In php?

BearForceOne Over a year ago

Sorry if I was unclear. The program names are just text inside of an array. In PHP I would like to be able to pull each name(text) out using a for loop. How I would do it in java is: for int i = 0; i < myArray.size(); i++ then myArray.get(i). Which would return "chrome", "firefox", and "sqlworkbench". I would like to do something similar in PHP. However, if I use the index I am only getting a single character when using myArray[3].

ByteHamster Over a year ago

Then you definitely need quotes. Additionally, you need to translate the JSON string back to an array in php. $myArray = json_decode($_Request['listOfPrograms']);

chiliNUT · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-26 18:25:30Z

0

jquery will kindly turn array values in ajax post data to an array for you. the issue is that in php you can't just echo an array. as a commenter stated, your php file needs to look like

$myArray = $_Request['listOfPrograms']; 
echo json_encode($myArray);

also you should consider using $_POST over $_REQUEST

answered Feb 26, 2015 at 18:25

chiliNUT

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1 Comment

BearForceOne Over a year ago

I tried this and it only returned one item of the array. Thank you for the suggestions though.

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