Wordpress User Meta Array Merge

Question

I have created a new user meta data called 'hca_recent'. I am pulling the data from an ajax call and adding it as an array to the meta data.

$hca_recent_array = array( 
  'recent_count' => $new_recent_count,
  'post_id' => $post_id, 
  'video_id' => get_post_meta($post_id, "__cvm_video_id", true), 
  'post_title' => $_REQUEST['post_title'], 
  'video_url' => $_REQUEST['data_url'], 
);

$hca_recent = update_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), "hca_recent", $hca_recent_array);

This outputs the following array:

Array
(
  [recent_count] => 42
  [post_id] => 667
  [video_id] => 881950864
  [post_title] => Receiver Blocking: COD + Dots Drill | Tee Martin
  [video_url] => https://player.vimeo.com/video/881950864?h=e9b41820da&autoplay=0&muted=0&loop=0&title=1&byline=1&portrait=1&color&dnt=0&background=0&transparent=0
)

That's all well and good. When another ajax call is triggered, I want to add to this array. This is where the problem occurs. I get the existing user meta like such:

$hca_recent_array_old = get_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), 'hca_recent', false);

I then want to merge the existing array with the new ajax call event.

$result_array = array_merge($hca_recent_array_old, $hca_recent_array);
$hca_recent = update_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), "hca_recent", $result_array);

And I get this output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [recent_count] => 42
            [post_id] => 667
            [video_id] => 881950864
            [post_title] => Receiver Blocking: COD + Dots Drill | Tee Martin
            [video_url] => https://player.vimeo.com/video/881950864?h=e9b41820da&autoplay=0&muted=0&loop=0&title=1&byline=1&portrait=1&color&dnt=0&background=0&transparent=0
        )

    [recent_count] => 43
    [post_id] => 695
    [video_id] => 881950748
    [post_title] => Tee Martin | Youth Coaching Keys to Success
    [video_url] => https://player.vimeo.com/video/881950748?h=d3b0944767&autoplay=0&muted=0&loop=0&title=1&byline=1&portrait=1&color&dnt=0&background=0&transparent=0
)

I need this array to merge properly with [0], [1], [2] etc. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Every option to merge or recreate the array.

Answer 1

The issue is that you are saving the array as a string in the user meta table and then when you read it, you are merging a new array with a string value (representing an array, but still a string), which results in an array that you showed.

The solution is to save the array in meta table in a different format, for example JSON. It will allow you to parse it into a valid array after reading it.

Here's an example.

Save your array like this:

$hca_recent = update_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), "hca_recent", json_encode($hca_recent_array)); // json_encode() it

This will result in something similar to be saved in your table:

{ "recent_count":42, "post_id":667, "video_id": 881950864, "post_title": "Receiver Blocking: COD + Dots Drill | Tee Martin", "video_url": "https://player.vimeo.com/video/881950864?h=e9b41820da&autoplay=0&muted=0&loop=0&title=1&byline=1&portrait=1&color&dnt=0&background=0&transparent=0" }

Then, read it like this:

$hca_recent_array_old = get_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), 'hca_recent', false);
$hca_recent_old_parsed = json_decode($hca_recent_array_old); // now json_decode() it

and then you can update meta like this:

$result_array = array_merge($hca_recent_old_parsed, $hca_recent_array); // merge the parsed array
$hca_recent = update_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), "hca_recent", json_encode($result_array)); // json_encode() it again