php - Cannot use object of type stdClass as array

Question

I keep getting this error for my twitter plugin:

Fatal error: Cannot use object of type stdClass as array in C:.... on line 72

It only shows at times, however my twitter counter doesn't change for a considerable time. Please can you help? The code is below, regarding line is in the middle: update_option('pyre_twitter_followers', $json[0]->user->followers_count);

<?php if(get_option('pyre_twitter_id')): ?>
<div class="social-box">
  <a href='http://twitter.com/<?php echo get_option('pyre_twitter_id'); ?>'>
  <img src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/images/twitter.png" alt="Follow us on Twitter" width="48" height="48" /></a>
  <?php
  $interval = 3600;

  if($_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] > get_option('pyre_twitter_cache_time')) {
    @$api = wp_remote_get('http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/' . get_option('pyre_twitter_id') . '.json');
    @$json = json_decode($api['body']);

    if(@$api['headers']['x-ratelimit-remaining'] >= 1) {
      update_option('pyre_twitter_cache_time', $_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] + $interval);
      update_option('pyre_twitter_followers', $json[0]->user->followers_count);
    }
  }
  ?>
  <div class="social-box-text">
    <span class="social-arrow"></span>
    <span class="social-box-descrip"><?php _e('Follow us on Twitter', 'pyre'); ?></span>
    <span class="social-box-count"><?php echo get_option('pyre_twitter_followers'); ?> <?php _e('Followers', 'pyre'); ?></span>
  </div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

Arrays and objects have different syntaxes:

$array = array(
    'foo' => 'bar',
);
$object = (object)$array;

var_dump($array['foo'], $object->foo);

A Cannot use object of type stdClass as array error message on this line refers to the array syntax (square brackets):

update_option('pyre_twitter_followers', $json[0]->user->followers_count);
                                             ^^^

If it works some times, then there're cases where $json is an object and cases when it's an array. The variable comes from here:

$json = json_decode($api['body']);

The docs for json_decode() inform us that second parameter decides whether to generate an object or an array:

mixed json_decode ( string $json [, bool $assoc = false [, int $depth = 512 [, int $options = 0 ]]] )

assoc When TRUE , returned objects will be converted into associative arrays.

Answer 2

The json_decode() function takes two parameters. If you want an array representation, you need to pass true as the second parameter value. Otherwise it generates an object representation by default.

http://php.net/json_decode