PHP - Pulling array and splitting the strings

Question

Not sure how to title this properly but here's the issue I am running into currently. I built a cart and checkout system and it loads all the data into a database when it finalized the order. To save some space, I stored just the item IDs originally but then I ran into the issue of if I deleted the item from the database (because it was discontinued or whatever) then it wouldn't return the info I needed. And if they ordered more then 1 item the database record would be wrong. So I stored the data like so:

Itemid:Quantity:Price:name, itemid2:quantity2:price2:name2
OR
1:3:20.00:Flower Hat, 2:1:17.75:diamonds

The issue I have right now that I need help with is this. I need to seperate the four values into variables like $price, $item, $id, $ammount so I can display them on the order history page and I need to loop through all items on the array so I can print a row for each item with all four fields respective to that item.

I use strpos already to get the shipping info from the same database field which is formatted as METHOD:Price but since I have 3 :'s on my string I'm not sure how to go through each one. Thanks.

php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php

AbraCadaver
– AbraCadaver

2016-06-16 19:41:59 +00:00
Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 19:41 — AbraCadaver
– AbraCadaver, Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 19:41

I wrestled a bear once. · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16 19:51:53Z

1

Here's a function

function parseItems($dbjunk){
    $cart = array();
    $items = explode(",",$dbjunk);
    foreach($items as $i){
        $chunks = explode(":", $i);
        $cart[] = array(
            "ItemID" => $chunks[0] ,
            "Quantity" => $chunks[1] ,
            "Price" => $chunks[2] ,
            "name" => $chunks[3]
        );
    }
    return $cart;
}

Example usage:

$dbjunk = "Itemid:Quantity:Price:name, itemid2:quantity2:price2:name2";
$parsed = parseItems($dbjunk);
print_r($parsed);

See: https://3v4l.org/rBkXF

If you need variables instead of an array you can use list(), like this..

$dbjunk = "Itemid:Quantity:Price:name, itemid2:quantity2:price2:name2";
$parsed = parseItems($dbjunk);
foreach($parsed as $p){
    list($itemID, $Quantity, $Price, $name) = array_values($p);
    var_dump($itemID, $Quantity, $Price, $name);
}

see: https://3v4l.org/l4vsn

answered Jun 16, 2016 at 19:51

I wrestled a bear once.

23.5k20 gold badges74 silver badges122 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Kaboom Over a year ago

I used this function and it solved my problem right away. Thanks for the responses guys.

user3303864 · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16 19:53:59Z

0

You should not physically delete items from your database. Instead, put a new column named 'is_active' or something like that to indicate whether the product is active/non-deleted. Answering your question, here is my suggestion:

$orderString = '1:3:20.00:Flower Hat, 2:1:17.75:diamonds';
$items = array();
foreach(explode(', ', $orderString) as $itemString) {
    $itemData = explode(':', $itemString);
    $items[] = array(
        'id' => $itemData[0],
        'amount' => $itemData[1],
        'value' => $itemData[2],
        'description' => $itemData[3]
    );
}

with this code, you will obtain an array with the data of all the items in the string, no matter how much items are in the string

answered Jun 16, 2016 at 19:53

user3303864

Comments

Griehle · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16 19:54:42Z

0

try something like

$data = 1:3:20.00:Flower Hat, 2:1:17.75:diamonds
list($price, $item, $uid, $id, $ammount) = explode(":", $data);
echo $user; 
 echo $item;

answered Jun 16, 2016 at 19:54

Griehle

1141 silver badge10 bronze badges

Comments

Alex Howansky · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16 19:54:59Z

Read about First Normal Form. Basically, you want to store one value in one field. So, instead of this:

shipping = "method:price"

You want something like this:

shipping_method = "method"
shipping_price = "price"

Don't concern yourself with space -- it's essentially free nowadays.

Regarding your deleted items dilemma, your initial implementation was the way to go:

I stored just the item IDs originally

In addition to reverting to this technique, I would recommend two things:

Add a boolean field to your item table to represent if the item is currently available or not. This gives you the additional feature of being able to toggle items on/off without having to delete/insert records and change ids.
Before deleting an item, check to see if it's ever been ordered. If not, it's ok to delete. If so, instead just deactivate it.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP - Pulling array and splitting the strings

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related