Invalid JSON format from PHP json encode

Question

I have a PHP file that encodes Json data and when i view the JSON output when its a single data block i get a valid json code syntax this is an example : single data block

But when the JSON results in a multiple data block it generates an invalid JSON format like this: multiple data blocks

This is my PHP code:

<?php 
header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8', true,200);
DEFINE('DATABASE_USER', 'xxxxx');
DEFINE('DATABASE_PASSWORD', 'xxxxxx');
DEFINE('DATABASE_HOST', 'xxxxxxxxxxx');
DEFINE('DATABASE_NAME', 'xxxxxxxx');

// Make the connection:
$dbc = @mysqli_connect(DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASSWORD,
 DATABASE_NAME);
$dbc->set_charset("utf8");
if (!$dbc) {
 trigger_error('Could not connect to MySQL: ' . mysqli_connect_error());
}


if(isset($_GET['keyword'])){//IF the url contains the parameter "keyword"
$keyword = trim($_GET['keyword']) ;//Remove any extra  space
$keyword = mysqli_real_escape_string($dbc, $keyword);//Some validation

$query = "select name,franco,alpha,id,url,songkey,chord from song where name like '%$keyword%' or franco like '%$keyword%'";
//The SQL Query that will search for the word typed by the user .

$result = mysqli_query($dbc,$query);//Run the Query

if($result){//If query successfull
 if(mysqli_affected_rows($dbc)!=0){//and if at least one record is found
 while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result,MYSQLI_ASSOC)){ //Display the record

 $data = array();
 $data = $row;  
 echo $_GET[$callback]. ''.json_encode($data).'';
 }
 }else {
 echo 'No Results for :"'.$_GET['keyword'].'"';//No Match found in the Database
 }

}
}else {
 echo 'Parameter Missing in the URL';//If URL is invalid
}
?>

Answer 1

It is because you are JSON-encoding a single line of the result set at at time. This is not a valid JSON structure if the calling client is expecting such.

Likely, you will want to put each row as an entry in an array, and then JSON-encode and echo the resulting array.

Like this:

if($result){//If query successfull
    if(mysqli_affected_rows($dbc)!=0){//and if at least one record is found
        $array = array();
        while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result,MYSQLI_ASSOC)){ //Display the record
            $array[] = $row;
        }
        echo json_encode($array);
    }
}