CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phparrays
Aaron Harker
Aaron Harker

Reputation: 321

Stop duplicates being added to an array

OK I'm querying the database and populating an array with the results but I don't want to get duplicates.

    $start = date('c', $row['start_time']);

    while (strtotime($end) < $row['end_time']){
        $title = 'Teacher Available';
        $color = '#a3a3a3';             
        $end = date('c', strtotime($start) + hoursToSeconds($row_Branch['session']));
        $allday = ($row['allDay'] == "1") ? true : false;
        if (in_array($start, $input_arrays) == false){
            $input_arrays[]= array(title => $title, start => $start, end => $end, color => $color, allDay => $allday);
        }
        $start = date('c', strtotime($end));
    }

In my way of thinking this should not add a new entry to the array if there is already an entry with the same $start but for some reason it adds it anyway.

Can anyone see where I am going wrong?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 61

Answers (2)

CodeBoy
CodeBoy

Reputation: 3300

$start is set to the string returned by date('c',...). $input_arrays is an array where each element is also an array.

So, when you test in_array($start, $input_arrays, true), it will test if your string is equal to each of the arrays within the $input_arrays array. A string is always NOT equal to an array, especially since you specified true which means the types must match.

There's a number of ways to fix this, depending on what you want, including ...

    ...
    if ( !array_key_exists($start, $input_arrays) ){
        $input_arrays[$start]= array(title => $title, start => $start, end => $end, color => $color, allDay => $allday);
    }
    ...

EDIT: To get $input_arrays with keys 0,1,2,... as required by your calendar module, add this statement just after your while loop:

$input_arrays = array_values($input_arrays);

Upvotes: 2

CodeBoy
CodeBoy

Reputation: 3300

$start is set to the string returned by date('c',...). $input_arrays is an array where each element is also an array. A non-empty string is always NOT equal to a non-empty array so your in_array always returns false. Try this ...

$start = date('c', $row['start_time']);
$startTimesAlreadyAdded = [];
while (strtotime($end) < $row['end_time']){
    $title = 'Teacher Available';
    $color = '#a3a3a3';             
    $end = date('c', strtotime($start) + hoursToSeconds($row_Branch['session']));
    $allday = ($row['allDay'] == "1") ? true : false;
    if ( !in_array($start, $startTimesAlreadyAdded) ) {
        $input_arrays[] = array(title => $title, start => $start, end => $end, color => $color, allDay => $allday);
        $startTimesAlreadyAdded[] = $start;
    }
    $start = date('c', strtotime($end));
}

This will leave you with $input_arrays with keys 0,1,2,... as required by your calendar module.

Upvotes: 1

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