Let’s Get Life Easy: Secure JSON/CSV Conversions Without Uploading Data

Jagadish Ranasthala — Wed, 21 May 2025 17:09:26 +0000

Have you ever faced difficulty with conversions from JSON to CSV or CSV to JSON?

JSON makes a programmer’s life easy, while CSV makes an accountant’s life easy. But when we’re working across teams or systems, we often need both formats.

That’s where conversions come in.

Sure, there are plenty of online tools available. It’s convenient — but let’s pause for a second...

What about data privacy?
Is it really okay to upload sensitive or internal data to a public tool?

We’re developers — we can solve this ourselves.

And the best part?
You don’t need a full-blown runtime, environment, or server.
Just a simple Bash script + PHP (hey, PHP isn’t dead yet 😉).

JSON to CSV

php -r '$data = json_decode(file_get_contents("path/input.json"), true);$fp = fopen("output.csv", "w");fputcsv($fp, array_keys($data[0]));foreach ($data as $row) fputcsv($fp, $row);fclose($fp);'

CSV to JSON

php -r '$csv = array_map("str_getcsv", file("path/input.csv"));$headers = array_shift($csv);$data = array_map(fn($row) => array_combine($headers, $row), $csv);file_put_contents("path/output.json", json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT));'

➕Bonus: XLSX to JSON
We can’t convert .xlsx directly to JSON — first, we convert it to CSV using LibreOffice:

libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv input.xlsx --outdir . && mv input.csv desired_name.csv

Then reuse the CSV to JSON step above.

Laravel Worker with Supervisor: Automate Your Way Out of Manual Madness

Jagadish Ranasthala — Wed, 14 May 2025 17:54:56 +0000

Hey folks,
We all know that most mind-numbing, repetitive tasks can be offloaded to automation - and nothing beats the good old cron job when it comes to routine work

Case in Point: Employee Attendance
Let's say you need to log employee attendance daily.
The old-school way might look like this:

HR (shouting from her cabin): "Alex…"
Alex: "Present, ma'am!"

Charming, but inefficient.
With Laravel (our multitasking superhero) and Supervisor, we can automate this cleanly - especially if you're using biometric devices and APIs (thanks to APIs for making data fetching simple).

Step-by-Step: Automating Laravel Scheduler with Supervisor

1. Install Supervisor

sudo apt update
sudo apt install supervisor

Check if Supervisor is installed properly:

supervisord --version

2. Create a Laravel Worker Config
Edit or create the Supervisor config file:

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/laravel-worker.conf

Paste the following config (update paths and user as per your setup):

[program:laravel-scheduler]
directory=/home/ranasthala-dev/team-app
command=bash -c 'php /var/www/html/artisan schedule:run 2>&1 | grep -v "No scheduled commands"'
autostart=true
autorestart=true
user=jagadish
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/home/ranasthala-dev/team-app/storage/logs/laravel-scheduler.log

3. Start and Manage the Worker

sudo supervisorctl reread       # Detect new programs
sudo supervisorctl update       # Apply new config
sudo supervisorctl start laravel-scheduler
sudo supervisorctl status       # Check if it's running

4. Check Log Output

tail -f /home/ranasthala-dev/team-app/storage/logs/laravel-scheduler.log

This will show you real-time logs from your scheduler.

Why This Rocks

No need to rely on crontab entries.
Your scheduler runs as a background process and restarts automatically if it fails.
Logs give you a direct view into task execution.

So, the next time your HR shouts across the office, let Laravel and Supervisor answer back with a silent but efficient "present!"

DEV Community: Jagadish Ranasthala

Let’s Get Life Easy: Secure JSON/CSV Conversions Without Uploading Data

Laravel Worker with Supervisor: Automate Your Way Out of Manual Madness