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;

Solution 1:

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.

Solution 2:

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.