Re: CentOS 7.3, PostgreSQL 9.6.2, PHP 5.4 deliver array as string

Good morning,

it looks that I failed to provide sufficient information in the first mail,
sorry.

Here again my problem - here is my PHP script:

const SQL_GET_BOARD = '
SELECT
out_bid AS bid,
out_letters AS letters,
out_values AS values
FROM words_get_board(?)
';

try {
$dbh = pgsqlConnect();
$sth = $dbh->prepare(SQL_GET_BOARD);
$sth->execute(array($gid));
if ($row = $sth->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
$bid = $row['bid'];
$letters = $row['letters'];
$values = $row['values'];
}

} catch (PDOException $ex) {
exit('Database problem: ' . $ex);
}

function pgsqlConnect() {
$options = array(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
PDO::ATTR_CASE => PDO::CASE_LOWER);
return new PDO(sprintf('pgsql:host=%s;port=%u;dbname=%s', DBHOST,
DBPORT, DBNAME), DBUSER, DBPASS, $options);
}

Here I run it at psql 9.6.2:

words=> SELECT
out_bid AS bid,
out_letters AS letters,
out_values AS values
FROM words_get_board(1)
;
bid |

letters

|

values

-----+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |
{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NUL
L,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NUL
L,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,К,О,Р,О,Б,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,Р,Е,Я,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,У,
NULL,NULL,П,Э,Р,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,С,П,И,Л,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,О,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL
,NULL,М,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,Б,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,В,А,Н,Н,А,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,
NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}} |
{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,N
ULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NUL
L},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,2,1,2,1,3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,2,1,3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{
NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,3,NULL,NULL,2,10,2,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,2,2,1,2,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,1,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,N
ULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,2,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,2,1,1,1,1,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NU
LL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}
(1 row)

And I get similar output when running the PHP script:

[02-Mar-2017 21:28:33 Europe/Berlin] letters:
{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL
,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,N
ULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,П,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,К,А,Й,Т,NULL,N
ULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,П,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,Ь,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,Е,NULL,
NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,
NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}

But my problem is that the type of the PHP variable $letters is "string"
and not a 2-dimensional array:

[02-Mar-2017 21:40:31 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning: Invalid argument
supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/slova.de/words/board.php on line 64

And my question is how to workaround it?

I am thinking of converting the PostgreSQL array to a JSON-encoded string
in the stored function, would that work? Or is there a better way?

Regards
Alex