How to display Extra Fields from Joomla K2

Question

I have this bit of code I am using to get the information from the k2_items table in the database, but all I get for the extra_fields is a JSON string and not the human readable id/values I need to print.

Here is the code I'm using to display the database information, and the attempted code to pull the extra_fields values.

<?php


define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( 'JPATH_BASE', realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'' ));
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );

require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication('site');
$mainframe->initialise();





  $user = JFactory::getUser();


  $session =& JFactory::getSession();
  $user = JFactory::getUser();

  //echo 'Username is ' . $user->username;





  if($user->username === NULL)
  //user is not logged in
  {
        exit('You are not authorized to view this page. <a href = "' . JURI::root() . '">Please return to the homepage and login using the proper username/password.</a>' . $user->username);


  }
  else
  //user is logged in
  {

    echo "<p>Welcome $user->username</p>";
    echo '<p><a href = "http://ac.tradewindus.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=143">Go here to log out</a></p>';
  $db=JFactory::getDBO();
    $sql="SELECT * FROM #__k2_items WHERE published='1'";
    $db->setQuery($sql);
    $list=$db->loadObjectList();



    foreach($list as $item)
    {
        echo "<pre>";
        echo print_r($item, true);
        echo "</pre>";

    //convertArray to use ids as key
    $extrafields = array();
    foreach($item->extra_fields as $item)
    {
    $extrafields[$item->id] = $item->value;
    }

    echo $extrafields[1];
    echo $extrafields[2];
    echo $extrafields[3];
    echo $extrafields[4];
    echo $extrafields[5];

        //echo "<p>Title: $item->title</p>";
        //echo $item->introtext;
  }
}

?>

And this is the result of what I get for each "foreach" loop output.

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 83
    [title] => SPEC SHEET: PANORAMAH 38 SASH BI-RAIL
    [alias] => spec-sheet-panoramah-38-sash-birail
    [catid] => 4
    [published] => 1
    [introtext] => 

SPEC SHEET: PANORAMAH 38 SASH BI-RAIL

    [fulltext] => 
    [video] => 
    [gallery] => 
    [extra_fields] => [{"id":"1","value":""},{"id":"2","value":["1"]},{"id":"3","value":["4"]},{"id":"4","value":["1","2"]},{"id":"5","value":["7"]},{"id":"6","value":["4"]}]
    [extra_fields_search] =>  PanoramAH  Minimal Frame  Door Window  Sliding  Spec Sheets  
    [created] => 2014-01-09 00:00:00
    [created_by] => 550
    [created_by_alias] => 
    [checked_out] => 0
    [checked_out_time] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [modified] => 2014-08-06 22:44:57
    [modified_by] => 550
    [publish_up] => 2014-01-09 00:00:00
    [publish_down] => 0000-00-00 00:00:00
    [trash] => 0
    [access] => 1
    [ordering] => 14
    [featured] => 0
    [featured_ordering] => 0
    [image_caption] => 
    [image_credits] => 
    [video_caption] => 
    [video_credits] => 
    [hits] => 0
    [params] => {"catItemTitle":"","catItemTitleLinked":"","catItemFeaturedNotice":"","catItemAuthor":"","catItemDateCreated":"","catItemRating":"","catItemImage":"","catItemIntroText":"","catItemExtraFields":"","catItemHits":"","catItemCategory":"","catItemTags":"","catItemAttachments":"","catItemAttachmentsCounter":"","catItemVideo":"","catItemVideoWidth":"","catItemVideoHeight":"","catItemAudioWidth":"","catItemAudioHeight":"","catItemVideoAutoPlay":"","catItemImageGallery":"","catItemDateModified":"","catItemReadMore":"","catItemCommentsAnchor":"","catItemK2Plugins":"","itemDateCreated":"","itemTitle":"","itemFeaturedNotice":"","itemAuthor":"","itemFontResizer":"","itemPrintButton":"","itemEmailButton":"","itemSocialButton":"","itemVideoAnchor":"","itemImageGalleryAnchor":"","itemCommentsAnchor":"","itemRating":"","itemImage":"","itemImgSize":"","itemImageMainCaption":"","itemImageMainCredits":"","itemIntroText":"","itemFullText":"","itemExtraFields":"","itemDateModified":"","itemHits":"","itemCategory":"","itemTags":"","itemAttachments":"","itemAttachmentsCounter":"","itemVideo":"","itemVideoWidth":"","itemVideoHeight":"","itemAudioWidth":"","itemAudioHeight":"","itemVideoAutoPlay":"","itemVideoCaption":"","itemVideoCredits":"","itemImageGallery":"","itemNavigation":"","itemComments":"","itemTwitterButton":"","itemFacebookButton":"","itemGooglePlusOneButton":"","itemAuthorBlock":"","itemAuthorImage":"","itemAuthorDescription":"","itemAuthorURL":"","itemAuthorEmail":"","itemAuthorLatest":"","itemAuthorLatestLimit":"","itemRelated":"","itemRelatedLimit":"","itemRelatedTitle":"","itemRelatedCategory":"","itemRelatedImageSize":"","itemRelatedIntrotext":"","itemRelatedFulltext":"","itemRelatedAuthor":"","itemRelatedMedia":"","itemRelatedImageGallery":"","itemK2Plugins":""}
    [metadesc] => 
    [metadata] => robots=
author=
    [metakey] => 
    [plugins] => 
    [language] => *
)

The Extra Fields should be showing at the very bottom of this, but I guess nothing is being returned. When extra_fields is printed in the db output, the values are numbers like [1]; but when I look at the K2 backend, they are text answers or dropdown selections; human readable. I'm not really a Joomla developer so I don't know if there is some kind of JRegistry thing or something I should be using, but I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. :D

Answer 1

Extra fields in K2 are stored in a JSON format. You will need to use json_decode.

$extra_fields = json_decode($item->extra_fields);

For more on K2 extra items, see this: http://www.itoctopus.com/on-leveraging-the-power-of-k2s-extra-items