Create asymmetrical multidimensional array in PHP

Question

I have a small issue I can't seem to figure out easily. The fix is probably quite easy but I am too much of a noob to fix it myself. Perhaps you guys could shed some light on this.

The issue

I need to create a multidimensional array in PHP. This works just fine. However, the last nested array sometimes consists of 2 elements, other times of 3. Hence "asymmetrical" in the title of this post.

The issue is most likely caused by the creation of the nested array based on the switch variables in my PHP code. When a variable is not defined ($button in case 'inactive' for example), the key is put inside the $elements array anyway but without a value.

The PHP code

$player = Array();
$data = @$_POST['players'];

if (!empty($data) && is_array($data)) {
    foreach($data as $id){

        $player_info = mysqli_query($connection, "SELECT * FROM players WHERE id = '$id'");
        $player_info = mysqli_fetch_assoc($player_info);

        switch ($player_info['status']) {
            case 'active':
                $color = '#30B490';
                $status = 'active';
                $button = 'buttons';
                break;
            case 'inactive':
                $color = '#A1A1A1';
                $status = 'inactive';
                break;
            case 'standby':
                $color = '#F0AD4E';
                $status = 'standby';
                $button = 'buttons';
                break;
            default:
                $color = '#4FA1D9';
                $status = 'unknown';
                break;
        }

        // THIS PART SEEMS TO CAUSE MY ISSUE
        $elements = array(
            "indicator" => $color,
            "status" => $status,
            "button" => $button
        );
        // THIS PART SEEMS TO CAUSE MY ISSUE

        foreach ($elements as $label => $element) {
            $player[$id][$label] = $element;
        }
    }
}

print_r($player);

print_r() results

Currently

Array (
    [1] => Array (
        [indicator] => #A1A1A1
        [status] => inactive
        [button] =>
    )
    [2] => Array (
        [indicator] => #30B490
        [status] => active
        [button] => yes
    )
    [3] => Array (
        [indicator] => #4FA1D9
        [status] => standby
        [button] => yes
    )
)

What it should be

Array (
    [1] => Array (
        [indicator] => #A1A1A1
        [status] => inactive
    )
    [2] => Array (
        [indicator] => #30B490
        [status] => active
        [button] => yes
    )
    [3] => Array (
        [indicator] => #4FA1D9
        [status] => standby
        [button] => yes
    )
)

You can see the difference between the 2 results. Look at [button] =>. When I json_encode() the entire multidimensional array the result shows a value null which just doesn't seem right.

{"1":{"indicator":"#A1A1A1","status":"inactive","button":null},"2":{"indicator":"#30B490","status":"active","button":"buttons"},"3":{"indicator":"#4FA1D9","status":"unknown","button":"buttons"}}

What I'd like

I would like the multidimensional array to be clean (without empty values) like shown in the "what is should be" print_r() result.

Any idea what I should edit in my PHP code in order to create a proper multidimensional array?

Best regards, Peter de Leeuw

Answer 1

Yep this causes the issue

    // THIS PART SEEMS TO CAUSE MY ISSUE
    $elements = array(
        "indicator" => $color,
        "status" => $status,
        "button" => $button
    );

What happens is that your define the key button with an empty var $button also the next iteration $button isn't reset and your script could result in some unexpected behavior

Why not assign the $element like this?

    switch ($player_info['status']) {
        case 'active':
            $elements = array(
            'color' => '#30B490',
            'status' => 'active',
            'button' => 'buttons');
            break;
        case 'inactive':
            $elements = array(
            'color' = '#A1A1A1',
            'status' = 'inactive');
            break;
        case 'standby':
            $elements = array(
            'color' => '#F0AD4E',
            'status'  => 'standby',
            'button' => 'buttons');
            break;
        default:
            $elements = array(
              'color' => '#4FA1D9';
              'status' => 'unknown');
            break;
    }

Or even like this:

    $player[$id]['status'] = $player_info['status'];
    switch ($player_info['status']) {
        case 'active':
            $player[$id]['color'] = '#30B490';
            $player[$id]['button'] = 'buttons';
            break;
        case 'inactive':
            $player[$id]['color'] = '#A1A1A1';
            break;
        case 'standby':
            $player[$id]['color'] = '#F0AD4E';
            $player[$id]['button'] = 'buttons';
            break;
        default:
            $player[$id]['color'] = '#F0AD4E';
            $player[$id]['status'] = 'unknown'; //overwrite status from database to unknown
            break;
    }

Or smaller

//Outside the loop
$colors = array('active' =>'#30B490', 'inactive' => '#A1A1A1', 'standby' => '#F0AD4E');

//Inside the loop
$player[$id]['status'] = $player_info['status'];
$player[$id]['color'] = isset($colors[$player_info['status']) ? $colors[$player_info['status'] : '#4Fa1D9'; 
if($player[$id]['status'] == 'active' || $player[$id]['status'] == 'standby') 
    $player[$id]['buttons'] = 'buttons';