PHP can't convert array to JSON object in foreach loop

Question

I want to parse this JSON Object later in C# but can't convert the array in the foreach loop to the correct format for JSON Object.

$data = [];

$servers = $srv->getAllSrv();

foreach ($servers as $server) {
    
    $server->status();
    $ip_port = $server->addr() . ':' . $server->port();
    $hostname = $server->hostname();
    
    $data["hostname"] = $hostname;
    $data["ip_port"] = $ip_port;
    
    $data_json = json_encode($data, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT);
    echo $data_json;
    
    }

// output: 

{"hostname":"Server 1","ip_port":"1.1.1.1:1"}{"hostname":"Server 2","ip_port":"1.1.1.1:1"}{"hostname":"Server 3","ip_port":"1.1.1.1:1"}{"hostname":"Server 4","ip_port":"1.1.1.1:1"}{"hostname":"Server 5","ip_port":"1.1.1.1:1"}

Why there is no commas between them? and I don't think this is a JSON object

Answer 1

Why there is no commas between them?

Because you didn't echo any.

and I don't think this is a JSON object

You are correct; it is a sequence of JSON objects next to each other, because that's what you asked PHP to produce.

In your loop, you are taking each array, and echoing it as JSON; but at no point are you joining those together in any way . If you want them all to be part of one JSON object at the end, you need to combine them first, and then run json_encode once. For example:

// start with an empty structure to add things to
$combined_data = [];

foreach ($servers as $server) {
   // your code to build the item here
   $data = ...
   
   // add the item to the combined structure; in this case, adding it to a list
   $combined_data[] = $data;
   // Note: no echo here!
}

// output the whole thing as one JSON string; in this case, a JSON array
echo json_encode($combined_data);

Answer 2

Your problem is when you store $data in $combined_data, you're doing it in the wrong way. use array_push() function instead, as I suggest:

$combined_data = [];

$servers = $srv->getAllSrv();

foreach ($servers as $server) {
    
    $server->status();
    $ip_port = $server->addr() . ':' . $server->port();
    $hostname = $server->hostname();
    
    $data["hostname"] = $hostname;
    $data["ip_port"] = $ip_port;
    
    // don't do it in this way => $combined_data[] = $data;
    // do this instead
    array_push($combined_data, $data);
    //this will solve your problem
}

echo json_encode($combined_data);