Comments on: Store An Array http://www.pk-tuts.co.uk/php/php-functions/store-an-array?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss Written By Peter Kelly Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:41:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: PHP Dreams http://www.pk-tuts.co.uk/php/php-functions/store-an-array/comment-page-1#comment-19 PHP Dreams Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:50:14 +0000 http://www.pk-tuts.co.uk/?p=213#comment-19 Pete, I would point out a couple of things that you may want to think about. The first is a matter of semantics most likely, but it has to do with the use of the word "encrypt". Encryption typically entails encoding data with a 'key' of some sort to protect that data. It can then not be easily decrypted without knowing the key....thereby protecting the contents. Encoding on the other hand is a method of changing or transforming the format of the data so that it can be stored in an easier or different fashion. The base64 functions will encode/decode, but not encrypt as there is no inherent security. The other thing is that the way your functions are setup, they would only encode the first level of multi-dimensional arrays. I would probably approach things differently by using the serialize() function FIRST, which will handle an array of unlimited depth, then perhaps use base64 encoding to make the data more universally transportable/storable/etc. I hope this helps! Pete, I would point out a couple of things that you may want to think about. The first is a matter of semantics most likely, but it has to do with the use of the word “encrypt”. Encryption typically entails encoding data with a ‘key’ of some sort to protect that data. It can then not be easily decrypted without knowing the key….thereby protecting the contents.

Encoding on the other hand is a method of changing or transforming the format of the data so that it can be stored in an easier or different fashion. The base64 functions will encode/decode, but not encrypt as there is no inherent security.

The other thing is that the way your functions are setup, they would only encode the first level of multi-dimensional arrays. I would probably approach things differently by using the serialize() function FIRST, which will handle an array of unlimited depth, then perhaps use base64 encoding to make the data more universally transportable/storable/etc.

I hope this helps!

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