json decode in php

Question

I have the following json string and I want to retrieve just the email address from it. How do I do it in php?

{"communications":{"communication":[{"@array":"true","@id":"23101384","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/1111","household":{"@id":"111111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/5465465"},"person":{"@id":"","@uri":""},"communicationType":{"@id":"1","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/1","name":"Home Phone"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"1111","searchCommunicationValue":"2693240758","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111111","household":{"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/11111"},"person":{"@id":"2222222","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/22222222"},"communicationType":{"@id":"2","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/2","name":"Work Phone"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"11111","searchCommunicationValue":"789787987","listed":"false","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2009-08-09T15:49:27","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"11111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/11111","household":{"@id":"1111","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},"person":{"@id":"244404","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/1111"},"communicationType":{"@id":"3","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/3","name":"Mobile"},"communicationGeneralType":"Telephone","communicationValue":"22222","searchCommunicationValue":"5475454","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:40:02"},{"@array":"true","@id":"15454","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/111111","household":{"@id":"14436295","@uri":"xyz/v1/Households/1111"},"person":{"@id":"244444474","@uri":"xyz/v1/People/111111"},"communicationType":{"@id":"4","@uri":"xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/4","name":"Email"},"communicationGeneralType":"Email","communicationValue":"email@needthis.com","searchCommunicationValue":"email@needthis.com","listed":"true","communicationComment":null,"createdDate":"2008-11-10T12:31:26","lastUpdatedDate":"2009-08-11T23:39:06"}]}}

Answer 1

Considering you have json_decoded you data this way :

$data = json_decode($json);

You can use var_dump (well, it's output looks way better if used with the Xdebug extension, which is nice to have on a development machine, btw) to know what's in your data :

// Allows you to know what's in the data ;-)
var_dump($data);

You'll get something like this :

object(stdClass)[1]
  public 'communications' => 
    object(stdClass)[2]
      public 'communication' => 
        array
          0 => 
            object(stdClass)[3]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '23101384' (length=8)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/1111' (length=26)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[4]
                  public '@id' => string '111111' (length=6)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/5465465' (length=25)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[5]
                  public '@id' => string '' (length=0)
                  public '@uri' => string '' (length=0)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[6]
                  public '@id' => string '1' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/1' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Home Phone' (length=10)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '1111' (length=4)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '2693240758' (length=10)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          1 => 
            object(stdClass)[7]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/111111111' (length=31)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[8]
                  public '@id' => string '14436295' (length=8)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/11111' (length=23)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[9]
                  public '@id' => string '2222222' (length=7)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/22222222' (length=22)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[10]
                  public '@id' => string '2' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/2' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Work Phone' (length=10)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '789787987' (length=9)
              public 'listed' => string 'false' (length=5)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2009-08-09T15:49:27' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          2 => 
            object(stdClass)[11]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '11111' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/11111' (length=27)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[12]
                  public '@id' => string '1111' (length=4)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/1111' (length=22)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[13]
                  public '@id' => string '244404' (length=6)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/1111' (length=18)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[14]
                  public '@id' => string '3' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/3' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Mobile' (length=6)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Telephone' (length=9)
              public 'communicationValue' => string '22222' (length=5)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string '5475454' (length=7)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:40:02' (length=19)
          3 => 
            object(stdClass)[15]
              public '@array' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public '@id' => string '15454' (length=5)
              public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/111111' (length=28)
              public 'household' => 
                object(stdClass)[16]
                  public '@id' => string '14436295' (length=8)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Households/1111' (length=22)
              public 'person' => 
                object(stdClass)[17]
                  public '@id' => string '244444474' (length=9)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/People/111111' (length=20)
              public 'communicationType' => 
                object(stdClass)[18]
                  public '@id' => string '4' (length=1)
                  public '@uri' => string 'xyz/v1/Communications/CommunicationTypes/4' (length=42)
                  public 'name' => string 'Email' (length=5)
              public 'communicationGeneralType' => string 'Email' (length=5)
              public 'communicationValue' => string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
              public 'searchCommunicationValue' => string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
              public 'listed' => string 'true' (length=4)
              public 'communicationComment' => null
              public 'createdDate' => string '2008-11-10T12:31:26' (length=19)
              public 'lastUpdatedDate' => string '2009-08-11T23:39:06' (length=19)

Which means you should be able to access the data you're looking for with something like this :

foreach ($data->communications->communication as $communication) {
    if ($communication->communicationGeneralType == 'Email') {
        var_dump($communication->communicationValue);
        var_dump($communication->searchCommunicationValue);
    }
}

Which will get you :

string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)
string 'email@needthis.com' (length=18)

"communications" is an object, that contains "communication", which is an array of objects, each one containing a communicationGeneralType, which allows you to determine whether the current communication is an EMail or not.

WHen it is, you can use the communicationValue or searchCommunicationValue fields.

And I don't really see a way of doing this without iterating over every communication element...

Hope this helps!