JSON returning NULL in Perl - json

Question

When trying to run my perl script via cmd prompt my json string is returning [] I have read other posts, and fixed my database to be utf8 and the error still persists. I have tried two didfferent way to encode my perl string the first was $json = encode_json #temp_array which returns this error hash- or arrayref expected (not a simple scalar, use allow_nonref to allow this However, when I use this line $json_text = $json->encode(#temp_array) I just get []
Here is my perl:
my $json_text;
my $json = JSON->new->utf8;
my #temp_array =[];
my $temp_array;
while (#data = $query_handle->fetchrow_array())
{
my %json_hash = ();
my $hash_ref;
%json_hash = (
"User ID" => $data[0],
"Status" => $data[1],
"Last Password Reset" => $data[2],
"Reset Needed" => $data[3]
);
$hash_ref = \%json_hash;
push (#temp_array, $hash_ref);
}
print $json = encode_json #temp_array . "\n"; #encode with error
print $json_text = $json->encode(#temp_array) . "\n"; #encode with []
print $cgi->header(-type => "application/json", -charset => "utf-8");
print $json_text; #Prints []
So in my own testing, via the cmd prompt I know the while is retrieving the data from my db correctly and is building a hash, which I am assuming is correct.
Is it the fact I am pushing my hash reference to the array instead of the hash itself? Once I get this string built correctly, I will be calling it to an html via jquery
Thank you.

Answer 1

JSON expects references:
print $json = encode_json(\#temp_array) . "\n";
print $json_text = $json->encode(\#temp_array) . "\n";
Edit: Unless you enable allow_nonref.
Another edit: This line is wrong--
my #temp_array =[]; ## should be my #temp_array = ();
and this line overwrites the $json variable:
print $json = encode_json #temp_array . "\n"; ## the next line in your script shouldn't work
Last edit - untested:
my $json = JSON->new->utf8;
my #temp_array;
while (my #data = $query_handle->fetchrow_array()) {
my %json_hash = (
"User ID" => $data[0],
"Status" => $data[1],
"Last Password Reset" => $data[2],
"Reset Needed" => $data[3]
);
push (#temp_array, \%json_hash);
}
print $json->encode(\#temp_array) . "\n";