Why has json decode started returning null #2

#1

Reading the previous post

below my solution (if someone is interested)

Create the function:

// see https://www.the-art-of-web.com/php/http-get-contents/
function http_get_contents($url)
{
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 1);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    //curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_ENCODING ,"");
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_ENCODING , "gzip");   
    if (FALSE === ($retval = curl_exec($ch))) {
        echo curl_error($ch);
    } else {
        return $retval;
    }
}
//////
then:

$live_data_url = ' your http or https address';
$live_data = preg_match("/^http/", $live_data_url) ? http_get_contents($live_data_url) : file_get_contents($live_data_url);
// important ! 
//Take a look here
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17219916/json-decode-//returns-json-error-syntax-but-online-formatter-says-the-json-is-ok
//
if (0 === strpos(bin2hex($live_data), 'efbbbf')) {
   $live_data = substr($live_data, 3);
}
$live_data       = json_decode($live_data, true);
$live_data       =  $live_data[0]; // if data are in  position 0 inside the array
// take a look at your demounted json file
echo '<pre>';
print_r($live_data);
echo '</pre>'; 
// proceed to extract your data
$data1              = $live_data['data1'];
$data2              = $live_data['data2'];
//etc etc

//

Well, bye bye everybody

#2

Have you checked if the JSON file still exists in the location you are trying to pull it from? Have you checked what value the file_get_contents returned? Do you have error reporting on?

Wild guess is that the file doesn't exists anymore and file_get_contents returns then false. And when you run false through json_decode it returns null. This should give you a warning tho.

You can also check last json error with http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-last-error.php after running json_decode, but this is pointless if the file_get_contents doesn't return anything.

#3

Have you checked if the JSON file still exists in the location you are trying to pull it from?
YES

$handle_live = fopen($live_data_url,'r');
 if($handle_live === false){
    $handle_live = 0;                                                                           
    fclose($handle_live);
 } else {  
$live_data = preg_match("/^http/", $live_data_url) ? http_get_contents($live_data_url) : file_get_contents($live_data_url);
…

…
Do you have error reporting on?
YES
using the follow function

function json_validate($string)
{
    // decode the JSON data
    $result = json_decode($string);

    // switch and check possible JSON errors
    switch (json_last_error()) {
        case JSON_ERROR_NONE:
            $error = ''; // JSON is valid // No error has occurred
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_DEPTH:
            $error = 'The maximum stack depth has been exceeded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH:
            $error = 'Invalid or malformed JSON.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR:
            $error = 'Control character error, possibly incorrectly encoded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX:
            $error = 'Syntax error, malformed JSON.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.3.3
        case JSON_ERROR_UTF8:
            $error = 'Malformed UTF-8 characters, possibly incorrectly encoded.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.5.0
        case JSON_ERROR_RECURSION:
            $error = 'One or more recursive references in the value to be encoded.';
            break;
        // PHP >= 5.5.0
        case JSON_ERROR_INF_OR_NAN:
            $error = 'One or more NAN or INF values in the value to be encoded.';
            break;
        case JSON_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_TYPE:
            $error = 'A value of a type that cannot be encoded was given.';
            break;
        default:
            $error = 'Unknown JSON error occured.';
            break;
    }

    if ($error !== '') {
        // throw the Exception or exit // or whatever :)
        exit($error);
    }

    // everything is OK
    return $result;
}

//
#4

<off-topic>
@stefano13 when you post code in the forum, you need to format it. To do so you can either select all the code and click the </> button, or type 3 backticks ``` on a separate line both before and after the code block.
</off-topic>

#5

Have you checked what value the file_get_contents returned? <-- and this? The function returns false on failure. So if that return value is false the file couldn't be read for some reason. Maybe file permissions have changed?

#6

Sorry but I do not understand your question.

Adding
var_dump($live_data);

after

$live_data = preg_match("/^http/", $live_data_url) ? http_get_contents($live_data_url) : file_get_contents($live_data_url);

I check returned json file data:

shot.JPG1366x77 41.8 KB

#7

Consider that adding:

 $output = json_validate($live_data);
 print_r($output);

after

if (0 === strpos(bin2hex($live_data), 'efbbbf')) {
   $live_data = substr($live_data, 3);
}

the function json_validate($live_data) returns the error type in case of wrong json or json contents if json file is well formed.

closed #8

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