Can't get data from JSON, what should I do?

Question

PHP

Good night, well, or evening. Maybe the question is stupid, but I've been suffering for 2 hours already.
I'm getting JSON from the vk api server and I'm trying to get data from it.
Everything used to work for me, but something happened and everything stopped working.
Here's the script that worked:

$json_users = $vk->request('messages.getConversationMembers', ['peer_id' => $peer_id]);
foreach ($json_users as $profile) {
  $request .= "(".$profile['profiles']['id'].", $chat_id),";
}
$request = mb_substr($request, 0, -1);
$db->query($request);
$admin_id = $json_users->items[0]->member_id;
$vk->sendMessage($peer_id, json_encode($json_users));
$vk->sendMessage($peer_id, "creator id: $admin_id");

When I do json encode, I get the following response:

{"items":[{"member_id":420026899,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578569731,"is_admin":true,"is_owner":true},{"member_id":547543178,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578569731},{"member_id":-190687635,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578574330,"is_admin":true},{"member_id":404149344,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578583011},{"member_id":406136075,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578769214},{"member_id":544097332,"invited_by":420026899,"join_date":1578817796}],"count":6,"profiles":[{"id":404149344,"first_name":"German","last_name":"Rudenko","sex":2,"screen_name":"yip.su2z9qe5","photo_50":"https:\/\/sun1-84.userapi.com\/c855520\/v855520688\/1bb4a9\/UKDJdSZUJEo.jpg?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/sun1-95.userapi.com\/c855520\/v855520688\/1bb4a8\/K1iTkyCWqOQ.jpg?ava=1","online":0,"online_info":{"visible":true,"last_seen":1578855094,"app_id":2274003,"is_mobile":true}},{"id":406136075,"first_name":"\u0410\u0440\u0442\u0435\u043c","last_name":"\u041a\u0438\u0441\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0432","sex":2,"screen_name":"b0ga401","photo_50":"https:\/\/sun1-19.userapi.com\/c206520\/v206520130\/1c93a\/tFZPNLrFrD0.jpg?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/sun1-22.userapi.com\/c206520\/v206520130\/1c939\/rVN8sVjwxU8.jpg?ava=1","online":0,"online_info":{"visible":false,"status":"recently"}},{"id":420026899,"first_name":"\u041c\u0430\u043a\u0441\u0438\u043c","last_name":"\u041f\u043b\u043e\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432","sex":2,"screen_name":"iotkroutebejisn","photo_50":"https:\/\/sun1-87.userapi.com\/c857328\/v857328056\/9d3b0\/iqOo7GGnTrI.jpg?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/sun1-26.userapi.com\/c857328\/v857328056\/9d3af\/oHXDFQ1Kcig.jpg?ava=1","online":1,"online_info":{"visible":true,"is_online":true}},{"id":544097332,"first_name":"\u0421\u043e\u043d\u044f","last_name":"\u041d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u044e\u0448\u043a\u0438\u043d\u0430","sex":1,"screen_name":"id544097332","photo_50":"https:\/\/sun1-97.userapi.com\/c200416\/v200416429\/7de4\/wQLpJ2s0mJY.jpg?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/sun1-17.userapi.com\/c200416\/v200416429\/7de3\/F-_9IunnnS4.jpg?ava=1","online":0,"online_info":{"visible":true,"last_seen":1578854878}},{"id":547543178,"first_name":"\u0421\u043e\u0431\u0430\u043a\u0430","last_name":"\u0423\u0434\u0430\u0447\u0438","sex":2,"screen_name":"pomolllnikfgb","photo_50":"https:\/\/sun1-85.userapi.com\/c200820\/v200820398\/1c3cd\/hOWzjK0InQ4.jpg?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/sun1-99.userapi.com\/c200820\/v200820398\/1c3cc\/wsXyBLwDHOc.jpg?ava=1","online":0,"online_info":{"visible":false,"status":"recently"}}],"groups":[{"id":190687635,"name":"\u041f\u043e\u0434\u0441\u0447\u0435\u0442 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0432 \u0438 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0438","screen_name":"club190687635","is_closed":1,"type":"group","photo_50":"https:\/\/vk.com\/images\/community_50.png?ava=1","photo_100":"https:\/\/vk.com\/images\/community_100.png?ava=1","photo_200":"https:\/\/vk.com\/images\/community_200.png?ava=1"}]}

Please help, I really don't know what's going on...

Answer 1

VK API most likely already returns json! To decode you need to usejson_decode

Answer 2

Maxim Plotnikov You are using a very old version of the library, now everything can be done much more conveniently.
https://github.com/digitalstars/simplevk
Here is her github, there are examples and a link to the documentation