2 common issues in php based apis

jsonarrayfun.php

<?php

// Issue 1, empty associative arrays (dictionaries) become regular arrays.

$dictionary = array('key' => 'value');
var_dump(json_encode($dictionary)); // gives '{"key":"value"}';

unset($dictionary['key']);

var_dump(json_encode($dictionary)); // Gives '[]' -> json dictionary turned into array

var_dump(json_encode((Object)$dictionary)); // Gives '{}' -> json dictionary stays dictionary

// Issue 2, array manipulations that involve the array indexes, turn numeric arrays into dictionaries.

$fruits = array("apples", "oranges");

var_dump(json_encode($fruits)); // Gives ["apples", "oranges"]

unset($fruits[0]); // Don't like apples.

var_dump(json_encode($fruits)); // Gives '{"1":"oranges"}' -> wow, array turned into dictionary.

Ergo:

1. unsetting elements in an associative array keeps it associative, until you unset the last element.
2. unsetting elements in a numeric array makes it associative.

I encountered this when dealing with an API a few weeks back and was an absolute nightmare to debug.

i had this problem dealing with mongoDB records. I pulled out most of my hair trying to debug