Parsing JSON from PHP without 'json_decode' or PEAR's 'Services_JSON'

I'm working on a project at school for my data mining class and I want to use the stackoverflow API to obtain the raw data. I was looking at a little introduction tutorial about using PHP to access it and the first code example wasn't working at all. The culprit was the json_decode function. The version of PHP installed on the school server is 5.1.6 and the function only exists >= 5.2. Searching here I found about using pear but the school's PHP is configured with '--without-pear'

What are my best options for getting around these limitations. I'd rather not have to 开发者_开发问答switch entirely to a separate language. Is it possible to make a call to an external function in another language?

The offending line was

$response = json_decode(http_inflate(file_get_contents($url)));

You can install PEAR libraries without using the PEAR installation process. Just download the file from the PEAR website (Services_JSON) and include it manually.

You could simply use the JSON support directly from PEAR, it has no dependancies on other PEAR libraries. I believe all you would need is JSON.php

I too was in situation when I wanted to code using JSON but on the server was only PHP v 5.1.6. After couple of hours trying, I found that all I had to do was to simply include JSON.php from my PHP script and slightly alter my AJAX function (originally got it somewhere from the web - not my work).

Here are both files, hope it saves somebody some nerves.

java.js

var request;

function runAjax (JSONString, phpScript, cfunc) {
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        request = new XMLHttpRequest();
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        try {
            request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } catch(e) {
            try {
                request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            } catch(e) {
                request = false;
            }
        }
    }
    request.onreadystatechange = cfunc;
    request.open("POST", phpScript);
    request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/json", true);
    request.send(JSONString);
}

function smazVzor (id) {
    var JSONObject = new Object;
    JSONObject.id = id;
    JSONString = JSON.stringify(JSONObject);
    runAjax(JSONString, "./ajax/smaz_vzor.php", function () {
        if (request.readyState == 4) {
            var JSONObject = JSON.parse(request.responseText);
            alert(JSONObject.zprava);
            if (JSONObject.kod == 1) document.location.href = "./index.php";
        }
    });
}

smaz_vzor.php

<?php
    require("../../include/dbconnect.php"); // just some commands for MySQL
    require('../../include/JSON/JSON.php'); // <-- THIS IS IMPORTANT
    $json = new Services_JSON();    // create a new instance of Services_JSON class
    $str_json = file_get_contents('php://input');   // read fiel send by POST method as text
    $decoded = $json->decode($str_json);    // decode JSON string to PHP object

    $sql = "DELETE FROM Obory_vzory WHERE id = '$decoded->id'";
    $response = array();    // create response array
    if (!mysql_query($sql, $pripojeni)) {
        $response['kod'] = 0;
        $response['zprava'] = "Something got wrong.\nError: ".mysql_error();
    } else {
        $response['kod'] = 1;
        $response['zprava'] = "Operation successful.";
    }

    $encoded = $json->encode($response);    // encode array $json to JSON string
    die($encoded);  // send response back to java and end script execution
?>