Posting Arrays

kidcardboard · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:25 pm **Posts:** 54

I have a form that contains two lists of check boxes for filtering. Now what I'd like to be able to do is pass all the selected values as a single array so the name for the first list would filterby[category][] and the second would be filterby[neighborhood][]. Now my problem is I can't access the values of the second level array from $params (ignore for the moment that there is no module id on those names, that isn't the issue and have been remove for legibility).

If I call the value of $params['filterby'] I get an array containing two indexes. Great that's what I'm expecting, but if I try $params['filterby']['category'] or $params['filterby']['neighborhood'] all I get returned is 'Array'. The cms seems to be to-stringing the value in the second level array.

Does anyone know a way around this or am I going to have to stick with using $_POST and sanitizing the data myself?

spcherub · **Joined:** Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:54 pm **Posts:** 345

You may want to do something like print_r($params['filterby']) and see exactly what is coming back. This will show you exactly how the variable is structured and you can write your code accordingly.

-S

kidcardboard · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:25 pm **Posts:** 54

It comes back exactly as I described it

Code:

Array
(
    [category] => Array
    [neighborhood] => Array
)

spcherub · **Joined:** Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:54 pm **Posts:** 345

Curious. print_r is support to be recursive. Try

Code:

print_r($params['filterby'].category);
or 
print_r($params['filterby']['category']);

-S

kidcardboard · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:25 pm **Posts:** 54

print_r($params['filterby'].category); returns

Code:

Notice: Use of undefined constant category - assumed 'category' in...
Arraycategory

print_r($params['filterby']['category']); returns

Code:

Array

fredp · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:10 am

Hmmm. What is returned when you execute this statement...

Code:

echo is_array($params['filterby']['category']) ? 'Array' : 'not an Array';

kidcardboard · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:25 pm **Posts:** 54

it returns

Code:

not an Array

aswell as

Code:

Notice: Array to string conversion in /var/www/.../httpdocs/lib/misc.functions.php on line 417

which I suppose I should've mentioned before because this message isn't new (I hinted to it in the op though) but it might spark something for you guys

fredp · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:46 am

kidcardboard wrote:

it returns

Code:

not an Array

aswell as

Code:

Notice: Array to string conversion in /var/www/vhosts/meetingscalgary.com/subdomains/dev/httpdocs/lib/misc.functions.php on line 417

which I suppose I should've mentioned before because this message isn't new (I hinted to it in the op though) but it might spark something for you guys

Hmm. That's what I suspected--not an Array.

Without knowing the version of CMSMS that you're using, it's hard to tell what code is at line 417 in the lib/misc.functions.php installed on your site.

kidcardboard · **Joined:** Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:25 pm **Posts:** 54

I suppose I could've included that too eh...lol. I'm running 1.9.4.2 "Faanui"

tomgsd · **Joined:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:00 am **Posts:** 74

I've just come across the same issue so I did some checking.

On the front end, parameters are passed to the cleanParamHash method in misc.functions.php for cleaning. Unfortunately, this method does't recurse down the arrays so they are interpreted as strings, hence the "Array to string..." notice.

It doesn't look to me like there's a way round this, short of adding it as a feature request. I think the best option in this case is to just register the params separately or like you said, use $_POST and sanitize yourself.

fredp · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:23 pm

tomgsd wrote:

...
It doesn't look to me like there's a way round this, short of adding it as a feature request. I think the best option in this case is to just register the params separately or like you said, use $_POST and sanitize yourself.

@kidcardboard
I'm not sure if it would help much, but you might explore registering your "array of arrays" param as CLEAN_NONE. You'd still need to clean the array elements yourself, as with $_POST, but that would keep param handling as consistent as possible... until your feature request gets implemented. Just a thought.

Posting Arrays

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