Passing array from flex to php - apache-flex

Question

I have a TextInput and a List in my application. I want to send the information written in TextInput and the names of the selected options from the list to a php file.
Following HTTPService sends the TextInput's text and the indices of selected items from list finely to a php file but the selectedItems is not working as i expected. It does not send the names of the selected items
<mx:HTTPService id="configureService" url="configure.php" resultFormat="text" method="POST">
<mx:request xmlns="">
<textInput>
{textInput.text}
</textInput>
<selectedFoodNames>
{foodList.selectedItems.join(",")} <!-- Problem in this LOC -->
</selectedFoodNames>
<selectedFoodIndices>
{foodList.selectedIndices.join(",")}
</selectedFoodIndices>
</mx:request>
</mx:HTTPService>
Now, my php file results:
echo $_POST['textInput']; //Output the right answer
echo $_POST['selectedFoodNames']; //Outputs: "[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]" if three items are selected from the list
echo $_POST['selectedFoodIndices']; //Outputs the indices of selected items separated by comma
The list look like:
<mx:List id="foodList" x="26.95" y="54" width="231.55" height="236.9" allowMultipleSelection="true">
<mx:dataProvider>
<mx:Array>
<mx:Object id="Sugar" label="Sugar" data="#FF0000"/>
<mx:Object id="Salt" label="Salt" data="#00FF00"/>
<mx:Object id="Pepper" label="Pepper" data="#0000FF"/>
</mx:Array>
</mx:dataProvider>
Is there a way i can send the labels of the elements in list?

Answer 1

You'll need to write a function to make a list from the objects.
public static function selectedItemsToLabels(list:List):String {
var a:Array = [];
for each(var o:Object in list.selectedItems) {
a.push(o.label);
}
return a.join(",");
}
This is a static function but you can make it a member of a List if you want to extend that class.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if you want to get another framework involved, but I've used Zend AMF as a solution to such problems. It lets you pass Flex and PHP objects back and forth without having to manually create or parse XML intermediaries.
You can read more at:
http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.amf.html