How to save JSON data in cakephp - json

Question

I'm using CakePHP v2.2.1 stable. I have a UsersController with the action add(). I'm trying to send the user info via ajax (from the home page to /users/add) and save the data. My code is something like this:
// /app/View/Pages/home.ctp
<?php
$data = array('User' => array('username' => 'vegeta_super_sayajin',
'password' => 'over9000!', 'email' => 'vegeta#supersayajin.com',
'profile_pic' => '/home/pics/scouter.jpg', 'firstname' => 'Vegeta',
'lastname' => 'Vegeta', 'level_id' => '9001'));
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
var data = <?php echo json_encode($data); ?> //convert $data into json format
$.ajax({url: '/users/add', data: "data="+data, type: 'post'});
</script>
How do I receive this data in the UsersController, so that I can process and save it?
Currently, I'm trying:
// /app/Controller/UsersController.php
function add() {
if($this->request->is('post') {
//returns "Error: [object Object] in logfile
$this->log($this->request->data);
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__("The user could not be saved :("));
}
$this->autoRender = false;
}
$this->log($this->request->data) returns Error: [object Object] in the /app/tmp/logs/error.log file, and this user info does not exist in any of $this->request->params's indexes. All my googling so far has returned only complicated cakephp v1.3 techniques. How is this done in cakephp v2.2.1?

Answer 1

You can try the following code. It will work for you.
<?php
$data = array(
'User' => array(
'username' => 'vegeta_super_sayajin',
'password' => 'over9000!',
'email' => 'vegeta#supersayajin.com',
'profile_pic' => '/home/pics/scouter.jpg',
'firstname' => 'Vegeta',
'lastname' => 'Vegeta',
'level_id' => '9001')
);
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
var data = [<?php echo json_encode($data); ?>] //convert $data into json format
$.ajax({
url: 'checks/add',
data: "data="+JSON.stringify(data),
type: 'post'});
</script>
And in your controller's code:
// /app/Controller/UsersController.php
function add() {
if($this->request->is('post') {
$this->log(json_encode($this->request->data, true)); //returns "Error: [object Object] in logfile
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__("The user could not be saved :("));
}
$this->autoRender = false;
}
Here is the json_decode documentation. The second parameter true will convert the object into an array.