appending array to FormData and send via AJAX

Question

You can also send an array via FormData this way:

var formData = new FormData;
var arr = ['this', 'is', 'an', 'array'];
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
    formData.append('arr[]', arr[i]);
}

So you can write arr[] the same way as you do it with a simple HTML form. In case of PHP it should work.

You may find this article useful: How to pass an array within a query string?

You have several options:

Convert it to a JSON string, then parse it in PHP (recommended)

JS

var json_arr = JSON.stringify(arr);

PHP

$arr = json_decode($_POST['arr']);

---

Or use @Curios's method

Sending an array via FormData.

---

Not recommended: Serialize the data with, then deserialize in PHP

JS

// Use <#> or any other delimiter you want
var serial_arr = arr.join("<#>"); 

PHP

$arr = explode("<#>", $_POST['arr']);

Typescript version:

export class Utility {      
    public static convertModelToFormData(model: any, form: FormData = null, namespace = ''): FormData {
        let formData = form || new FormData();
        let formKey;

        for (let propertyName in model) {
            if (!model.hasOwnProperty(propertyName) || !model[propertyName]) continue;
            let formKey = namespace ? `${namespace}[${propertyName}]` : propertyName;
            if (model[propertyName] instanceof Date)
                formData.append(formKey, model[propertyName].toISOString());
            else if (model[propertyName] instanceof Array) {
                model[propertyName].forEach((element, index) => {
                    const tempFormKey = `${formKey}[${index}]`;
                    this.convertModelToFormData(element, formData, tempFormKey);
                });
            }
            else if (typeof model[propertyName] === 'object' && !(model[propertyName] instanceof File))
                this.convertModelToFormData(model[propertyName], formData, formKey);
            else
                formData.append(formKey, model[propertyName].toString());
        }
        return formData;
    }
}

Using:

let formData = Utility.convertModelToFormData(model);

This is an old question but I ran into this problem with posting objects along with files recently. I needed to be able to post an object, with child properties that were objects and arrays as well.

The function below will walk through an object and create the correct formData object.

// formData - instance of FormData object
// data - object to post
function getFormData(formData, data, previousKey) {
  if (data instanceof Object) {
    Object.keys(data).forEach(key => {
      const value = data[key];
      if (value instanceof Object && !Array.isArray(value)) {
        return this.getFormData(formData, value, key);
      }
      if (previousKey) {
        key = `${previousKey}[${key}]`;
      }
      if (Array.isArray(value)) {
        value.forEach(val => {
          formData.append(`${key}[]`, val);
        });
      } else {
        formData.append(key, value);
      }
    });
  }
}

This will convert the following json -

{
  name: 'starwars',
  year: 1977,
  characters: {
    good: ['luke', 'leia'],
    bad: ['vader'],
  },
}

into the following FormData

 name, starwars
 year, 1977
 characters[good][], luke
 characters[good][], leia
 characters[bad][], vader

add all type inputs to FormData

const formData = new FormData();
for (let key in form) {
    Array.isArray(form[key])
        ? form[key].forEach(value => formData.append(key + '[]', value))
        : formData.append(key, form[key]) ;
}

here's another version of the convertModelToFormData since I needed it to also be able to send Files.

utility.js

const Utility = {
  convertModelToFormData(val, formData = new FormData, namespace = '') {
    if ((typeof val !== 'undefined') && val !== null) {
      if (val instanceof Date) {
        formData.append(namespace, val.toISOString());
      } else if (val instanceof Array) {
        for (let i = 0; i < val.length; i++) {
          this.convertModelToFormData(val[i], formData, namespace + '[' + i + ']');
        }
      } else if (typeof val === 'object' && !(val instanceof File)) {
        for (let propertyName in val) {
          if (val.hasOwnProperty(propertyName)) {
            this.convertModelToFormData(val[propertyName], formData, namespace ? `${namespace}[${propertyName}]` : propertyName);
          }
        }
      } else if (val instanceof File) {
        formData.append(namespace, val);
      } else {
        formData.append(namespace, val.toString());
      }
    }
    return formData;
  }
}
export default Utility;

my-client-code.js

import Utility from './utility'
...
someFunction(form_object) {
  ...
  let formData = Utility.convertModelToFormData(form_object);
  ...
}