Using json_encode on objects in PHP (regardless of scope)

Question

I'm trying to output lists of objects as json and would like to know if there's a way to make objects usable to json_encode? The code I've got looks something like

$related = $user->getRelatedUsers(); echo json_encode($related); 

Right now, I'm just iterating through the array of users and individually exporting them into arrays for json_encode to turn into usable json for me. I've already tried making the objects iterable, but json_encode just seems to skip them anyway.

edit: here's the var_dump();

php > var_dump($a); object(RedBean_OODBBean)#14 (2) {   ["properties":"RedBean_OODBBean":private]=>   array(11) {     ["id"]=>     string(5) "17972"     ["pk_UniversalID"]=>     string(5) "18830"     ["UniversalIdentity"]=>     string(1) "1"     ["UniversalUserName"]=>     string(9) "showforce"     ["UniversalPassword"]=>     string(32) ""     ["UniversalDomain"]=>     string(1) "0"     ["UniversalCrunchBase"]=>     string(1) "0"     ["isApproved"]=>     string(1) "0"     ["accountHash"]=>     string(32) ""     ["CurrentEvent"]=>     string(4) "1204"     ["userType"]=>     string(7) "company"   }   ["__info":"RedBean_OODBBean":private]=>   array(4) {     ["type"]=>     string(4) "user"     ["sys"]=>     array(1) {       ["idfield"]=>       string(2) "id"     }     ["tainted"]=>     bool(false)     ["model"]=>     object(Model_User)#16 (1) {       ["bean":protected]=>       *RECURSION*     }   } } 

and here's what json_encode gives me:

php > echo json_encode($a); {} 

I ended up with just this:

    function json_encode_objs($item){            if(!is_array($item) && !is_object($item)){                return json_encode($item);            }else{                $pieces = array();                foreach($item as $k=>$v){                    $pieces[] = "\"$k\":".json_encode_objs($v);                }                return '{'.implode(',',$pieces).'}';            }        }    

It takes arrays full of those objects or just single instances and turns them into json - I use it instead of json_encode. I'm sure there are places I could make it better, but I was hoping that json_encode would be able to detect when to iterate through an object based on its exposed interfaces.

Answer 1

All the properties of your object are private. aka... not available outside their class's scope.

Solution for PHP >= 5.4

Use the new JsonSerializable Interface to provide your own json representation to be used by json_encode

class Thing implements JsonSerializable {     ...     public function jsonSerialize() {         return [             'something' => $this->something,             'protected_something' => $this->get_protected_something(),             'private_something' => $this->get_private_something()         ];     }     ... } 

Solution for PHP < 5.4

If you do want to serialize your private and protected object properties, you have to implement a JSON encoding function inside your Class that utilizes json_encode() on a data structure you create for this purpose.

class Thing {     ...     public function to_json() {         return json_encode(array(             'something' => $this->something,             'protected_something' => $this->get_protected_something(),             'private_something' => $this->get_private_something()                         ));     }     ... } 

A more detailed writeup