How would I make an associative array (or some parable alternative) in jQuery AND send that array via ajax to a php page so that I can use php to handle it?

Something like this...

// jQuery

if($something == true) {
    data[alt] = $(this).attr('alt');
    data[src] = $(this).attr('src');
else if ($something == "something else") {
    data[html] = $(this).html();
}

Then, send this array using the .ajax() function

// jQuery

$.ajax({
    data: /* somehow send my array here */,
    type: 'POST',
    url: myUrl,
    plete: function(){
        // I'll do something cool here
    }
});

Finally, parse this data with php...

// php

<img alt="<?PHP echo $_POST['alt']; ?>" src="<?PHP echo $_POST['src']; ?>" />

I've done a little googling on the subject and have read that you cannot make an associative array with javascript so I'm really just looking for some alternative. Thanks in advance.

How would I make an associative array (or some parable alternative) in jQuery AND send that array via ajax to a php page so that I can use php to handle it?

Something like this...

// jQuery

if($something == true) {
    data[alt] = $(this).attr('alt');
    data[src] = $(this).attr('src');
else if ($something == "something else") {
    data[html] = $(this).html();
}

Then, send this array using the .ajax() function

// jQuery

$.ajax({
    data: /* somehow send my array here */,
    type: 'POST',
    url: myUrl,
    plete: function(){
        // I'll do something cool here
    }
});

Finally, parse this data with php...

// php

<img alt="<?PHP echo $_POST['alt']; ?>" src="<?PHP echo $_POST['src']; ?>" />

I've done a little googling on the subject and have read that you cannot make an associative array with javascript so I'm really just looking for some alternative. Thanks in advance.

• php
• javascript
• jquery
• ajax
• arrays

Share Improve this question Follow asked Aug 17, 2010 at 1:47 JohnJohn 3,91666 gold badges3434 silver badges3939 bronze badges

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 4

You can pass the data as an object to $.ajax(), like this:

var data = {};
if ($something == true) {
    data.alt = $(this).attr('alt');
    data.src = $(this).attr('src');
}else if ($something == "something else") {
    data.html = $(this).html();
}

$.ajax({
    data: data,
    type: 'POST',
    url: myUrl,
    plete: function(){
        // I'll do something cool here
    }
});

This will get serialized for the post, internally using $.param(obj) to convert it for the POST, for example:

alt=thisAlt&src=thisSrc

or:

html=myEncodedHtml

Won't it be simpler to just send some json to the php side, then use the json_decode function in php to get an associative array on the php side?

Associative array is sortof a PHP thing. But you can have something similar via curly braces ({}). In fact, you're already using it in your $.ajax() call. Notice the '{}' parts. In this case, you can use json_decode() in the PHP server to decode the 'data' parameter:

 $.ajax({  
     url: myUrl,  
     data: {   foo: 0,   bar: 1,   baz: 2   }, 
     success: function() {   }, 
     dataType: 'json'  
 });

`

Using json_decode() will get you something like:

php array('foo' => 0, 'bar' => 1, 'baz' => 2);