Develop Reference

Laravel - Modifying data for API only for convenience

Let's assume the following data that is exactly being returned like it's stored into database:
[
{
"user_name": "User 1",
"photo_file": "user1.jpg"
},
{
"user_name": "User 2",
"photo_file": "user2.jpg"
}
// ...
]
I want to use this data in a JavaScript application but I'd like to append a full path of the user's photo, like doing a treatment for the data before returning it to the API. How can I do that using Laravel?

I assume at present you're just converting the results of your query into JSON and returning that. This works, but it does mean the response is tightly coupled to your database structure, which is a bad idea. Ideally you should have a layer of abstraction to handle adding and formatting data, kind of like a view layer in MVC.
There are plenty of solutions for this. I use Fractal for my Laravel API's. It allows you to easily customise the output of a particular endpoint by specifying a transformer that will render that object for you. That way you can easily choose the data to display and format it how you wish.

Accessors are good for this.
Let's assume your data is stored in a model called Customer. I would write an accessor like this:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Customer extends Model
{
protected $appends = ['photo_file']; // In order to see the new attribute in json dumps
public function getPhotoPathAttribute()
{
$name = $this->getAttribute('photo_file');
if(!isset($name))
return null;
return '/full/path/to/image/' . $name;
}
}
This way you can now call $customer->photo_path and it will return `/full/path/to/image/image_name.jpg' (or null if the attribute is not set).
Edit:
In order to show this attribute in jsons (without specifically calling $model->photo_path) you will also need to add protected $appends = ['photo_file'] to the model (updated).
I would recommend against overriding original name (so I leave photo_file attribute untouched).

If you are building Laravel API, sure, as Matthew said, go and check Fractal. But don't forget to Dingo, the best tool for building API at Laravel. And it uses Fractal too.

Converting PHP object to JSON object using only Javascript

I am making a mobile app with Phonegap and using Wordpress as a backend. I am using Advanced Custom Fields with a Google Maps post field which returns a PHP object to the app using JSON API. My Wordpress backend sends a normal JSON object to the app, but inside that object is where a stringified PHP object is returned.
I need to convert the PHP object to a JSON object somehow on the client side(the app which is not in Wordpress). I have looked at other answers that say to use json_encode for this but my problem is that the app is just HTML/Javascript and no PHP. Is there a way to use PHP code in the middle of a Javascript function to do this? Or would it be better to change the backend so that it returns a JSON object instead of a PHP object in the first place? If so, how do I do that?
My experience in PHP is still somewhat limited so any help is appreciated.
edit: To clarify a bit more, I am using Wordpress on a separate domain from my Phonegap app and only using the JSON API plugin on the Wordpress end. I am then using jQuery Ajax calls to retrieve data from the Wordpress backend.
Also the returned PHP object looks like this: a:3:{s:7:\"address\";s:48:\"8915 W 159th St, Orland Hills, IL, United States\";s:3:\"lat\";s:17:\"41.60111599999999\";s:3:\"lng\";s:11:\"-87.8364575\";}
Another way I just thought of as well, would it be possible to just leave it as a PHP object and still read out the values from it somehow? I don't NEED it to be a JSON array, I just need a way to read the individual elements in the array in one way or another.
Here is also a tiny snippet of the JSON returned to clarify what I'm talking about.
"custom_fields": {
"location": [
"a:3:{s:7:\"address\";s:48:\"8915 W 159th St, Orland Hills, IL, United States\";s:3:\"lat\";s:17:\"41.60111599999999\";s:3:\"lng\";s:11:\"-87.8364575\";}"
]
}
That of course isn't the entire JSON object but it gives you an idea of what I'm dealing with.

I know you have a solution that works on the front end, but I still think it'd be better to fix this on the server.
Based on our conversation in the comments, I've had a closer look the code in the WordPress forum. The problem seems to be that the location field is an array of strings, not just a string. maybe_unserialize (and is_serialized, which it uses) don't handle arrays. Here's the updated code, which you should be able to drop into your theme's functions.php. I did a quick test, and it works for me.
class unserialize_php_arrays_before_sending_json {
function __construct() {
add_action( 'json_api_import_wp_post',
array( $this, 'json_api_import_wp_post' ),
10,
2 );
}
function json_api_import_wp_post( $JSON_API_Post, $wp_post ) {
foreach ( $JSON_API_Post->custom_fields as $key => $custom_field ) {
if (is_array($custom_field)) {
$unserialized_array = array();
foreach($custom_field as $field_key => $field_value) {
$unserialized_array[$field_key] = maybe_unserialize( $field_value );
}
$JSON_API_Post->custom_fields->$key = $unserialized_array;
}
else {
$JSON_API_Post->custom_fields->$key = maybe_unserialize( $custom_field );
}
}
}
}
new unserialize_php_arrays_before_sending_json();

If you're using a JSON API to retrieve the data, then why don't you deliver the data in JSON format to your app? Otherwise you seem to remove much of the point of using an API in the first place... You could of course parse that string in JavaScript if you really want to but that's a very ugly and error prone solution.
The JSON API plugin does seem to use JSON:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/json-api/screenshots/

I need to convert the PHP object to a JSON object somehow on the client side(the app which is not in Wordpress).
This bit here leaves me confused. You do not have PHP objects on the client-side, PHP is a back-end technology. What is returned to the client is a string which can be HTML, XML, JSON, plaintext on any other form of encoding.
That said, saying you have an object $obj in PHP, you could pass it to your front-end application creating an end-point retrieve_object.php and in there:
echo json_encode($obj);
So long as that is the only thing your are outputting, you lient-side app can make a request (Eg: AJAX) to retrieve_object.php and get the json object.
BUT , and this is important (!) in doing so you serialize object properties. You will lose any PHP object method. If any object property is an object itself (EG: A DB Connection) then this will be lost too.
Hope this helps!

Insert object data into JSON file

I know that it's possible to read and get data of JSON file, but I didn't find any information on how to write an object to JSON file using jQuery. I understand some jQuery, but I dont have any idea how I could do this.
This is the structure of my JSON file:
{
"1": [
"6-5-2015",
"7-5-2015",
"10-5-2015"
]
}
This is an object variable that I want to write into JSON file:
var object = {"2": ["9-5-2015", "14-5-2015", "22-5-2015"]};
How can I push or insert this object to the end of my JSON file and save it, so that the JSON file could look like this?
{
"1": [
"6-5-2015",
"7-5-2015",
"10-5-2015"
],
"2": [
"9-5-2015",
"14-5-2015",
"22-5-2015"
]
}

You cannot write a file locally with Javascript, that would be a major security concern. I suggest you to move the file to your server and do a Public Api where you send the new content and write it server-side. Then request by GET the file in order to read it. Remember that you will have to lock and release the file accordingly in order to avoid loosing changes between requests.

You can't.
JavaScript does not access your disc so it can't directly write into file, so You should have some server side logic.
Reason why it can read that file because on your dist location of that file is URL. But URL on Your drive.

You cannot write a file locally but you can save cookies locally.
For managing cookies with JS you can use a plugin available here..
https://github.com/carhartl/jquery-cookie
//set
var object = {"2": ["9-5-2015", "14-5-2015", "22-5-2015"]};
$.cookie("mydata", object );
....
//get
var object = jQuery.parseJSON($.cookie('mydata'));

Passing objects from NodeJS to client and then into KnockoutJS viewmodel

So thanks to SO I can pass an object from node to the client, but then getting it into a knockout view model is a bit awkward. These are the steps I have so far (I've included links to the relevant lines as they appear in my github project. Thought the context might help.):
Apply JSON.stringify and pass to the jade file
recipeJSON: JSON.stringify(recipe);
Wrap this in a function in a header script that just parses the JSON and returns the result
script
function getRecipeObject() {
var r = '!{recipeJSON}';
return JSON.parse(r);
}
Call this function and pass the result to a view model constructor
self.recipe = ko.observable(new Recipe(getRecipeObject()));
This works but is there a better way?
Question clarification (Edit): I feel step 2 shouldn't be necessary. Is there a way to directly pass the JSON from node to the Recipe() constructor, without the getRecipeObject() acting as an intermediate step? I tried passing recipeJSON in directly like so
self.recipe = ko.observable(JSON.parse('!{recipeJSON}'));
That doesn't work I think because its not a jade template and has no access to the variable.

According to the answer to this question rendering data into scripts is bad practice and I should instead make an XHR call on page load instead.

Edit
I just saw you linked a github repo! So you're already familiar with most of this...you even have an endpoint set up at /recipe/:id/view, so now I'm really confused...what isn't working out for you? Just the last step of deserialization using ko.utils.*?
Sorry about all the exposition -- I thought this was way more rudimentary than it actually was; I hope no offense taken there!
You really don't want to return a script to execute -- instead, treat this as a DTO: an object that just stores data (no behaviors). An example would be:
{
recipeID: 12,
reviewIDs: [42, 12, 55, 31],
rating: 4.2
recipeName: "A super tasty pie!"
}
This object (representation) is a projection -- a simplified version of the full data stored in the database.
The next step is to create an endpoint to access that data on the server. Let's assume you're using Express:
var app = express();
app.get('/recipes/:recipeID', function(req, res) {
var recipeID = req.params.recipeID;
// It would be cool if this existed, huh?
getRecipeAsync(recipeID, function(recipe) {
res.status(200).json(recipe);
});
});
If you send a GET request to your (hypothetical) application (let's say it's https://localhost:8080/recipes/12), you'll get json representing the (admittedly imaginary) recipe with ID 12.
You can accomplish getting the JSON with jQuery (or any other library that makes XHR nice and pretty)
var recipeID = 12;
$.ajax({
url: "/recipes/" + recipeID,
type: "GET"
}).then(function(recipe) {
console.log("Hey! I got the recipe: %O", recipe);
// Note: you might need to use ko.utils.fromJS(recipe) if the returned
// data is JSON that ISN'T deserialized into an object
var recipeObservable = ko.utils.fromJS(recipe);
});
That's about everything you need to know. Obviously, the devil's in the details, but that's basic idea; let me know if that helps!

How should I handle Asp.net MVC URLs in javascript calls?

I am attempting to write a javascript heavy portion of my Asp.net MVC Web App (this portion of the website is a RIA using Extjs). However, I have come up to a standstill at the correct way to handle URLs in the javascript.
For example, right now I have an Ajax call to the List action in the ObjectsController, which resides in the Reading area. The List action takes a parameter of documentId (int). As of right now, this maps to /Reading/Objects/List since I have no changed routing yet (the site is too young at the moment to finalize routes). Normally in a view, to put this URL in a string I would do #Html.Action("List", "Objects", new { area = "Reading", documentId = 3).
However, this doesn't work when dealing with javascript, since javascript isn't parsed by a viewengine.
To get around this, I have a very small view that returns javascript constants, such as URLs, that is loaded prior to my main application's js files. The issue is that I can't call Html.Action for this action because at constant creation time I (obviously) do not know what documentId the ajax calls are going to be, and if you exclude documentId from the Html.Action call an exception occurs. The documentId could change during the normal workflow of the application.
How do I handle this? I don't want to hardcode the URL to /Reading/Objects/List because if I change my routing for this (for a more user friendly json API), or this web app isn't hosted on the root of the domain, the URL will no longer be valid.
How does everyone else handle MVC URLs in their javascript calls?

Here's a safe technique that I've been using. Even if your route changes, your JavaScript will automatically conform to the new route:
<script>
var url = '#Url.Action("List", "Objects", new { area = "Reading", documentId = "_documentId_")';
var id = 100;
var finalUrl = url.replace('_documentId_', id);
</script>
"_documentId_" is essentially a dummy placeholder. Then inside my JavaScript, I replace "_documentId_" with the proper id value once I know what it is. This way, regardless of how your route is configured, your URL will conform.
Update: Dec 20
I just saw this interesting blog post. The author built a library that allows you to build routes inside of your JavaScript file with intellisense support in VisualStudio.
http://weblogs.asp.net/zowens/archive/2010/12/20/asp-net-mvc-javascript-routing.aspx

Personally I use unobtrusive javascript and avoid mixing markup with javascript. AJAX calls are normally triggered by clicking on some buttons or links:
#Html.ActionLink("click me", "List", "Objects",
new { area = "Reading", documentId = 3 }, new { id = "foo" })
and then in a separate js file I would attach and handle the onclick event (example with jquery):
$(function() {
$('#foo').click(function() {
$('#resultDiv').load(this.href);
return false;
});
});
As you can I didn't need to use any hardcoded URL in my javascript file. URLs should always be handled by the routing engine and generated with html helpers.
If it was a <form> instead of a link I would simply handle the onsubmit event (the same way) and use the form's action attribute to get the URL.
UPDATE:
After pointing out in the comments section that the documentId is known only at client-side you could do this:
#Html.ActionLink("click me", "List", "Objects",
new { area = "Reading" }, new { id = "foo" })
And then:
$(function() {
$('#foo').click(function() {
$('#resultDiv').load(this.href, { documentId: '123' });
return false;
});
});

Turns out, this was all solved by using Url.Action() instead of Html.Action(). Url.Action() is (so far) allowing me to generate URLS without all of the parameters. I am assuming that this only works when the route does not specify the parameters in the target URL itself.