Deleting from a json file

Hello @shiva

check your JSON file and validate it

https://jsonlint.com/

there is no issue in your code

@shiva I've Just dropped the block of code you posted into a vanilla Laravel 8 install and have different results to you.

my products.json file:

{
    "product_1": {
        "category_1": "Category 1",
        "category_2": "Category 2"
    }
}

same as yours

I've hard coded my $product & $category so I could do it inline:

    $product = 'product_1';
    $category = 'category_1';


        $storage = storage_path("/products.json");
        $file = file_get_contents($storage);
        $object = json_decode($file); // renamed $json to $object as its no longer json at this point

        unset($object->$product->$category);

        file_put_contents($storage, json_encode($object, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT));

        return (array)$object;

returns

{
    "product_1": {
        "category_2": "Category 2"
    }
}

nothing wrong with the code it seems, which points to your json being invalid.

if you exclude JSON_PRETTY_PRINT you still get valid json, so not necessary.

I'd also add some error checking to only delete category if its set.

    $product = 'product_1';
    $category = 'category_1';
    
    /**
     * @param string $product
     * @param string $category
     * @return array
     */
    public function deleteCategory(string $product, string $category): array
    {
        $storage = storage_path("/products.json");
        $file = file_get_contents($storage);
        $object = json_decode($file);

        if (!isset($object->$product->$category)) {
            throw new \Exception('cant delete');
        }

        unset($object->$product->$category);

        file_put_contents($storage, json_encode($object));

        return (array)$object;
    }

or if you want to use an associative array instead

    $product = 'product_1';
    $category = 'category_1';
    
    /**
     * @param string $product
     * @param string $category
     * @return array
     */
    public function deleteCategory(string $product, string $category): array
    {
        $storage = storage_path("/products.json");
        $file = file_get_contents($storage);
        $data = json_decode($file, true);

        if (!isset($data['product']['category'])) {
            throw new \Exception('product category does not exist');
        }

        unset($data[$product][$category]);

        file_put_contents($storage, json_encode($data));

        return $data;
    }

@shiva did you solve this?

@shiva Easier to delete using an associative array

public function deleteCategory($product, $category)
{
    $storage = storage_path("/products.json");
    $file = file_get_contents($storage);
    $json = json_decode($file, true);

    unset($json[$product][$category]);

    file_put_contents($storage, json_encode($json, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT));

    return (array)$json;
}

@laracoft you still need to check you've got the key before deleting

if(!isset($json[$product][$category])){
 throw new \Exception('cant delete');
}

also, as above, when you do this:

  $json = json_decode($file, true);

the variable isn't json any more. In your case its an array so should be named as such. it would be better described as what the data represents, not the its type. eg $data or $products.

@automica thanks, I have made the necessary changes.

public function deleteCategory($product, $category)
{
    $storage = storage_path("/products.json");
    $file = file_get_contents($storage);
    $array = json_decode($file, true);

    if(!isset($array[$product][$category])){
        throw new \Exception("Can't delete non-exists [$product][$category]");
    }
    
    unset($array[$product][$category]);

    file_put_contents($storage, json_encode($array, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT));

    return (array)$array;
}

@laracoft you don't need the else here either:

    if(!isset($array[$product][$category])){
        throw new \Exception("Can't delete non-exists [$product][$category]");
    }
    else
    {
        unset($array[$product][$category]);
    }

if it throws an exception its not going to execute any more code.

hence why I did

    if(!isset($array[$product][$category])){
        throw new \Exception("Can't delete non-exists [$product][$category]");
    }

    unset($array[$product][$category]);

Got it. Thanks :)