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[[php_json_objects]]
=== Dealing with JSON arrays and objects in PHP

A common source of confusion with the client revolves around JSON arrays and 
objects, and how to specify them in PHP. In particular, problems are caused by 
empty objects and arrays of objects. This page shows you some common patterns
used in {es} JSON API and how to convert that to a PHP representation.

[discrete]
==== Empty Objects

The {es} API uses empty JSON objects in several locations which can cause 
problems for PHP. Unlike other languages, PHP does not have a "short" notation 
for empty objects and many developers are unaware how to specify an empty 
object.

Consider adding a highlight to a query:

[source,json]
----
{
    "query" : {
        "match" : {
            "content" : "quick brown fox"
        }
    },
    "highlight" : {
        "fields" : {
            "content" : {} <1>
        }
    }
}
----
<1> This empty JSON object is what causes problems.

The problem is that PHP will automatically convert `"content" : {}` into 
`"content" : []`, which is no longer valid {es} DSL. We need to tell PHP that 
the empty object is explicitly an object, not an array. To define this query in 
PHP, you would do:

[source,json]
----
$params['body'] = array(
    'query' => array(
        'match' => array(
            'content' => 'quick brown fox'
        )
    ),
    'highlight' => array(
        'fields' => array(
            'content' => new \stdClass() <1>
        )
    )
);
$results = $client->search($params);
----
<1> We use the generic PHP stdClass object to represent an empty object. The 
JSON now encodes correctly.

By using an explicit stdClass object, we can force the `json_encode` parser to 
correctly output an empty object, instead of an empty array. This verbose 
solution is the only way to acomplish the goal in PHP... there is no "short"
version of an empty object.

[discrete]
==== Arrays of Objects

Another common pattern in {es} DSL is an array of objects. For example, consider 
adding a sort to your query:

[source,json]
----
{
    "query" : {
        "match" : { "content" : "quick brown fox" }
    },
    "sort" : [  <1>
        {"time" : {"order" : "desc"}},
        {"popularity" : {"order" : "desc"}}
    ]
}
----
<1> "sort" contains an array of JSON objects.

This arrangement is very common, but the construction in PHP can be tricky since 
it requires nesting arrays. The verbosity of PHP tends to obscure what is 
actually going on. To construct an array of objects, you actually need an array 
of arrays:

[source,json]
----
$params['body'] = array(
    'query' => array(
        'match' => array(
            'content' => 'quick brown fox'
        )
    ),
    'sort' => array(    <1>
        array('time' => array('order' => 'desc')),  <2>
        array('popularity' => array('order' => 'desc')) <3>
    )
);
$results = $client->search($params);
----
<1> This array encodes the `"sort" : []` array
<2> This array encodes the `{"time" : {"order" : "desc"}}` object
<3> This array encodes the `{"popularity" : {"order" : "desc"}}` object

If you are on PHP 5.4+, we strongly encourage you to use the short array syntax. 
It makes these nested arrays much simpler to read:

[source,json]
----
$params['body'] = [
    'query' => [
        'match' => [
            'content' => 'quick brown fox'
        ]
    ],
    'sort' => [
        ['time' => ['order' => 'desc']],
        ['popularity' => ['order' => 'desc']]
    ]
];
$results = $client->search($params);
----

[discrete]
==== Arrays of empty objects

Occasionally, you'll encounter DSL that requires both of the previous patterns. 
The function score query is a good example, it sometimes requires an array of 
objects, and some of those objects might be empty JSON objects.

Given this query:

[source,json]
----
{
   "query":{
      "function_score":{
         "functions":[
            {
               "random_score":{}
            }
         ],
         "boost_mode":"replace"
      }
   }
}
----

We can build it using the following PHP code:


[source,json]
----
$params['body'] = array(
    'query' => array(
        'function_score' => array(
            'functions' => array(  <1>
                array(  <2>
                    'random_score' => new \stdClass() <3>
                )
            )
        )
    )
);
$results = $client->search($params);
----
<1> This encodes the array of objects: `"functions" : []`
<2> This encodes an object inside the array: `{ "random_score": {} }`
<3> This encodes the empty JSON object: `"random_score": {}`