private function jsonToArray($json)
	{
		try {
			$data = json_decode($json, true);
			if(is_array($data)) {
				return $data;
			}
			else {
				$this->error = 'The given data string was not json';
				return [];
			}
		}
		catch(Exception $e) {
			$this->error = $e;
		}
	}