Pass Javascript Array -> PHP

Let's say I have a javascript array with a bunch of elements (anywhere from 50-200).

I want to send that to PHP (prepared statement) using ajax. Currently, I .load a php file many times inside of a loop, but I want to convert that into an array and send the array once, loading the PHP file once instead of 50-200 times.

array[i] = variable;

You could use JSON.stringify(array) to encode your array in JavaScript, and then use $array=json_decode($_POST['jsondata']); in your PHP script to retrieve it.

AJAX requests are no different from GET and POST requests initiated through a <form> element. Which means you can use $_GET and $_POST to retrieve the data.

When you're making an AJAX request (jQuery example):

// JavaScript file

elements = [1, 2, 9, 15].join(',')
$.post('/test.php', {elements: elements})

It's (almost) equivalent to posting this form:

<form action="/test.php" method="post">
  <input type="text" name="elements" value="1,2,9,15">
</form>

In both cases, on the server side you can read the data from the $_POST variable:

// test.php file

$elements = $_POST['elements'];
$elements = explode(',', $elements);

For the sake of simplicity I'm joining the elements with comma here. JSON serialization is a more universal solution, though.

Here's a function to convert js array or object into a php-compatible array to be sent as http get request parameter:

function obj2url(prefix, obj) {
        var args=new Array();
        if(typeof(obj) == 'object'){
            for(var i in obj)
                args[args.length]=any2url(prefix+'['+encodeURIComponent(i)+']', obj[i]);
        }
        else
            args[args.length]=prefix+'='+encodeURIComponent(obj);
        return args.join('&');
    }

prefix is a parameter name.

EDIT:

var a = {
    one: two,
    three: four
};

alert('/script.php?'+obj2url('a', a)); 

Will produce

/script.php?a[one]=two&a[three]=four

which will allow you to use $_GET['a'] as an array in script.php. You will need to figure your way into your favorite ajax engine on supplying the url to call script.php from js.

So use the client-side loop to build a two-dimensional array of your arrays, and send the entire thing to PHP in one request.

Server-side, you'll need to have another loop which does its regular insert/update for each sub-array.

You can transfer array from javascript to PHP...

Javascript... ArraySender.html

<script language="javascript">

//its your javascript, your array can be multidimensional or associative

plArray = new Array();
plArray[1] = new Array(); plArray[1][0]='Test 1 Data'; plArray[1][1]= 'Test 1'; plArray[1][2]= new Array();
plArray[1][2][0]='Test 1 Data Dets'; plArray[1][2][1]='Test 1 Data Info'; 
plArray[2] = new Array(); plArray[2][0]='Test 2 Data'; plArray[2][1]= 'Test 2';
plArray[3] = new Array(); plArray[3][0]='Test 3 Data'; plArray[3][1]= 'Test 3'; 
plArray[4] = new Array(); plArray[4][0]='Test 4 Data'; plArray[4][1]= 'Test 4'; 
plArray[5] = new Array(); plArray[5]["Data"]='Test 5 Data'; plArray[5]["1sss"]= 'Test 5'; 

function convertJsArr2Php(JsArr){
	var Php = '';
	if (Array.isArray(JsArr)){	
		Php += 'array(';
		for (var i in JsArr){
			Php += '\'' + i + '\' => ' + convertJsArr2Php(JsArr[i]);
			if (JsArr[i] != JsArr[Object.keys(JsArr)[Object.keys(JsArr).length-1]]){
				Php += ', ';
			}
		}
		Php += ')';
		return Php;
	}
	else{
		return '\'' + JsArr + '\'';
	}
}


function ajaxPost(str, plArrayC){
	var xmlhttp;
	if (window.XMLHttpRequest){xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();}
	else{xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");}
	xmlhttp.open("POST",str,true);
	xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
	xmlhttp.send('Array=' + plArrayC);
}

ajaxPost('ArrayReader.php',convertJsArr2Php(plArray));
</script>

and PHP Code... ArrayReader.php

<?php 

eval('$plArray = ' . $_POST['Array'] . ';');
print_r($plArray);

?>