README

A small, framework-friendly trait that standardizes JSON API responses (success and error). The trait is lightweight and designed to be easy to override in consuming applications.

Features

Standardized JSON success and error responses
Small and framework-agnostic: prefers framework response helpers when available
Extensible: override payload shape or header handling

Requirements

PHP >= 8.1
ext-json

Installation

Install via Composer:

composer require miladev/api-response

Quick usage (Laravel)

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Miladev\ApiResponse\ApiResponse;

class TestController extends Controller
{
    use ApiResponse;

    public function successResponseTest()
    {
        $data = [
            'name' => 'milad',
            'job' => 'dev',
        ];

        // returns JSON with status=200 by default
        return $this->successResponse(data: $data, message: 'OK', statusCode: 200);
    }

    public function failResponseTest()
    {
        // returns JSON error with 404 status
        return $this->failResponse(message: 'Not found', statusCode: 404);
    }
}

Overriding payload structure

If you want a different JSON structure (for example to include meta or to follow a specification), override formatSuccessPayload or formatErrorPayload in your class. Below is a fuller example showing a custom success payload and preserving type hints.

<?php

use Miladev\ApiResponse\ApiResponse;

class MyApiController
{
    use ApiResponse;

    // Example: include a `meta` block and always wrap data under `result`
    protected function formatSuccessPayload($data, string $message): array
    {
        return [
            'status' => self::STATUS_SUCCESS,
            'message' => $message,
            'meta' => [
                'version' => '1.0',
                'timestamp' => time(),
            ],
            'result' => $data,
        ];
    }

    // Optionally override formatErrorPayload similarly to include error codes or details
}

This keeps the trait's public API (successResponse) the same while changing only the response shape.

Overriding headers

If you need to inject or normalize headers (for example, pagination headers), override prepareHeaders. The example below calls the parent to keep the default Content-Type normalization and then adds pagination headers.

<?php

use Miladev\ApiResponse\ApiResponse;

class PaginatedController
{
    use ApiResponse;

    protected function prepareHeaders(array $headers): array
    {
        // Call parent to normalize and ensure Content-Type
        $headers = parent::prepareHeaders($headers);

        // Add pagination metadata into headers
        $headers['X-Total-Count'] = '123';
        $headers['X-Per-Page'] = '25';

        return $headers;
    }
}

Note: prepareHeaders normalizes header values and ensures Content-Type: application/json if not provided.

Non-Laravel / Testing

The trait prefers a response() factory when available (Laravel). For testing or non-framework usage you can provide a small response helper. The test bootstrap included in the project demonstrates this approach (it provides a minimal response() helper and a TestResponse object). That keeps unit tests fast and framework-independent.

API reference

Public methods

successResponse($data = [], string $message = '', int $statusCode = 200, array $headers = [])
- Returns a standardized success JSON response. You can pass any payload as $data.
failResponse(string $message = '', int $statusCode = 400, array $headers = [])
- Returns a standardized error JSON response.

Protected / overridable helpers

formatSuccessPayload($data, string $message): array — Customize success payload shape.
formatErrorPayload(string $message): array — Customize error payload shape.
prepareHeaders(array $headers): array — Normalize and add default headers.
createResponse($payload, int $statusCode, array $headers) — Central response factory (you can override to integrate with custom response objects).

Testing locally

To run tests locally (from project root):

composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist
./vendor/bin/phpunit --configuration phpunit.xml

The tests use tests/bootstrap.php which provides a minimal response() helper so tests can run without Laravel.

miladev / api-response

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