A simple PHP helper for working JSON including a short demo

database-helper.php

<?php

  // Get content from the DB
  function readDatabase($path) {
    return (array)json_decode(file_get_contents($path));
  }
  
  // Save content to the DB
  function saveDatabase($path, $content) {
    file_put_contents($path, json_encode($content));
  }
  
  // Find a user by 'username'
  function findUser($username) {
    $users = readDatabase('users.json');
    foreach($users as $user) {
      if($user->username == $username) {
        return $user;
      }
    }
  }
  
  function addUser($user) {
    $users = readDatabase('users.json');
    return array_push($users, $user);
  }

how-to-use.php

<?php

  // Create object for user json
  $new_user = array(
    'username' => 'max-mustermann',
    'password' => hashPassword('myPassword!')
  );
  
  // Add new user
  $users = addUser($new_user);
  
  saveDatabase('users.json', $users);
  
  // Will dump something like 'array(2) [ object(2) => ... ]
  var_dump(readDatabase('users.json'));
  
  

password.php

<?php
  // Salt hash for password
  define('SALT', 'Fa-N#l3atc3q%^jhgxjgFwwy-!BwR%7(M)Z#N2TA');
  
  // Hash a password (algorhytm)
  function hashPassword($pass) {
    return sha1($pass . md5(SALT . $pass));
  }

users.json

[
  {
    username: "admin",
    password: "testpw"
  },
  {
    username: "tanner",
    password: "testpw2"
  }
]