how to iterate over JSON property not knowing if it's array or not?

Question

I have this problem where an API responds to me with DEPARTURESEGMENT sometimes containing only one object, and sometimes containing an array of objects. Depending on which case

Answer 1

How about checking whether it's an array or not with is_array? I made a simple example of it's usage here - http://codepad.org/WNjbIPZF

Answer 2

You have a few methods that can help you:

• is_array
• is_object
• instanceof // if you receive specific object
• gettype
• json_decode second parameter, which if is set to true, tries to decode the json as an array

In you situation, you would probably be fine by doing the following:

if (is_object($entry)) {
    handleObject($entry);
} elseif (is_array($entry) && count($entry)) {
    foreach ($entry as $e) {
        handleObject($e);
    }
}

Answer 3

I have this little useful function in my standard repertoire:

function iter($x) {
    if(is_array($x))
        return $x;
    if(is_object($x)) {
        if($x instanceof \Iterator)
            return $x;
        if(method_exists($x, 'getIterator'))
            return $x->getIterator();
        return get_object_vars($x);
    }
    return array($x);
}

This way you can use any variable with foreach without having to check it beforehand:

 foreach(iter($whatever) as $item)
    ...