how to get mixed or multi array response in rest API magento2

Question

i have my custom api which will return multi dimension array , which will have key pair value, where key and value are dynamic from database in that case how to achieve in rest api of magento2

Answer 1

to achieve multi dimension array where key and value are dynamic we can follow below steps but magento discourage this solution if any better solution please let me know out put

{
"name": "Test Name"
"key": "value"
"key2": "value2"
"multi": {
"name": "Test Name"
"key": "value"
"key2": "value2"
}-
}

where key and value are from db or dynamic

to create custom api follow my post in How do I get a response from REST API in JSON format in Magento 2?

and do the below changes

in di.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
/**
 * Copyright 2015 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
-->
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../../../lib/internal/Magento/Framework/ObjectManager/etc/config.xsd">

    <preference for="Magento\Framework\Webapi\ServiceOutputProcessor" type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\ServiceOutputProcessor" />

    <preference for="Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\TestInterface"
                type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Test" />

    <preference for="Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\TestdataInterface" type="Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Testmodel" />
</config>

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\TestInterface.php

use @return array (which i not allowed in magento2 default ) that is

<?php


namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api;

use Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\TestdataInterface;

interface TestInterface
{
    /**
     * Retrieve list of info
     *
     * @throws \Magento\Framework\Exception\NoSuchEntityException If ID is not found
     * @return array
     */
    public function getinfo();

}

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\Test.php

public function getinfo() {
        $page_object = $this->dataFactory->create();
        $page_object->setName('eee');
        $page_object->setExtData(['key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2']);
        //return $page_object;
        return ['name'=>'Test Name','key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2',
            'multi'=>['name'=>'Test Name','key'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value2']
        ];      

    }

app\code\Sugarcode\Customapi\Model\ServiceOutputProcessor.php

<?php
/**
 * Copyright © 2015 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Model;;


/**
 * Data object converter for REST
 */
class ServiceOutputProcessor  extends \Magento\Framework\Webapi\ServiceOutputProcessor
{

     */
    public function process($data, $serviceClassName, $serviceMethodName)
    {
        /** @var string $dataType */
        $dataType = $this->methodsMapProcessor->getMethodReturnType($serviceClassName, $serviceMethodName);
        if($dataType == 'array'){
            return $data;           
        }else{
            return $this->convertValue($data, $dataType);

        }
    }


}

if any better solution guy please post

Answer 2

I am using mixed for the time being. It takes an array of objects just fine. I did not need to use the bracket notation indicating an array of things.

@param mixed

Answer 3

Although this question is quite old, I was stumbling across the same issue. I solved it by using a new class and define that class in the annotations of the method in the interface.

So ...

Create a new Interface like the file Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface\InfoListInterface

<?php    
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface;

interface InfoListInterface
{
    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getName();

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getValue();

}

Then your main interface for the data object of the response should look like:

<?php    
namespace Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data;

interface MainDataInterface
{
    /**
     * Retrieve list of info
     *
     * @return \Sugarcode\Customapi\Api\Data\MainDataInterface\InfoListInterface[]
     */
    public function getInfo();

    /**
     * @param array
     */
    public function setInfo(array $infoList);

}

Create classes that implement those interfaces.

In your script to populate the data-objects, there should be something like ... (of course that can be realised through various methods)

...

public function receiveInfos() {

    ...

    $infoListArr[] = $infoListFactory->create()
        ->setData('name','name1')
        ->setData('value','value1');

    $infoListArr[] = $infoListFactory->create()
        ->setData('name','name2')
        ->setData('value','value2');        

    $mainData = $MainDataFactory->create();
    $mainData->setInfo($infoListArr);

    ...
    return $mainData;
}

Then for the api-request, you will receive:

{
   "info": [
      {
         "name","name1"
         "value","value1"
      },
      {
         "name","name2"
         "value","value2"
      }
   ]
}

With this method, you also have a correct swagger documentation, when going on www.yourmagentoshop.com/swagger