How can I send JSON response in symfony2 controller

Question

I am using jQuery to edit my form which is built in Symfony.

I am showing the form in jQuery dialog and then submitting it.

Data is entering correctly in database.

But I don't know whether I need to send some JSON back to jQuery. Actually I am bit confused with JSON thing.

Suppose I have added a row in my table with ``jQuery and when I submit the form then after data is submitted I want to send back those row data so that I can dynamically add the table row to show the data added.

I am confused how can get that data back.

This is my current code:

$editForm = $this->createForm(new StepsType(), $entity);
$request = $this->getRequest();
$editForm->bindRequest($request);
if ($editForm->isValid()) {
 $em->persist($entity);
 $em->flush();
 return $this->render('::success.html.twig'); 
}

This is just the template with success message.

Answer 1

Symfony 2.1

$response = new Response(json_encode(array('name' => $name)));
$response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
return $response;

---

Symfony 2.2 and higher

You have special JsonResponse class, which serialises array to JSON:

return new JsonResponse(array('name' => $name));

---

But if your problem is How to serialize entity then you should have a look at JMSSerializerBundle

Assuming that you have it installed, you'll have simply to do

$serializedEntity = $this->container->get('serializer')->serialize($entity, 'json');
return new Response($serializedEntity);

You should also check for similar problems on StackOverflow:

• How to encode Doctrine entities to JSON in Symfony 2.0 AJAX application?
• Symfony 2 Doctrine export to JSON

• George Katsanos: So how do we Serialize entity AND send it as a JSON Response? I've been searching for that for a week.. stackoverflow.com/questions/14798532/…
• Kiddo: You can also use symfony JsonResponse (Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\JsonResponse)
• Serhii Smirnov: It's better to set content-type header return new Response($serializedEntity, 200, array('Content-Type' => 'application/json'))
• LuisF: Sergii's suggestion is the best (at least for me), if I don't set the Content-Type, on the client I will receive a text/html content-type. If I use JsonResponse, for some weird reason I get a single string with the content inside

Answer 2

Symfony 2.1 has a JsonResponse class.

return new JsonResponse(array('name' => $name));

The passed in array will be JSON encoded the status code will default to 200 and the content type will be set to application/json.

There is also a handy setCallback function for JSONP.

Answer 3

Since Symfony 3.1 you can use JSON Helper http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/controller.html#json-helper

public function indexAction()
{
// returns '{"username":"jane.doe"}' and sets the proper Content-Type header
return $this->json(array('username' => 'jane.doe'));
// the shortcut defines three optional arguments
// return $this->json($data, $status = 200, $headers = array(), $context = array());
}

Answer 4

To complete @thecatontheflat answer I would recommend to also wrap your action inside of a try ... catch block. This will prevent your JSON endpoint from breaking on exceptions. Here's the skeleton I use:

public function someAction()
{
 try {
 // Your logic here...
 return new JsonResponse([
 'success' => true,
 'data' => [] // Your data here
 ]);
 } catch (\Exception $exception) {
 return new JsonResponse([
 'success' => false,
 'code' => $exception->getCode(),
 'message' => $exception->getMessage(),
 ]);
 }
}

This way your endpoint will behave consistently even in case of errors and you will be able to treat them right on a client side.

Answer 5

If your data is already serialized:

a) send a JSON response

public function someAction()
{
 $response = new Response();
 $response->setContent(file_get_contents('path/to/file'));
 $response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
 return $response;
}

b) send a JSONP response (with callback)

public function someAction()
{
 $response = new Response();
 $response->setContent('/**/FUNCTION_CALLBACK_NAME(' . file_get_contents('path/to/file') . ');');
 $response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'text/javascript');
 return $response;
}

If your data needs be serialized:

c) send a JSON response

public function someAction()
{
 $response = new JsonResponse();
 $response->setData([some array]);
 return $response;
}

d) send a JSONP response (with callback)

public function someAction()
{
 $response = new JsonResponse();
 $response->setData([some array]);
 $response->setCallback('FUNCTION_CALLBACK_NAME');
 return $response;
}

e) use groups in Symfony 3.x.x

Create groups inside your Entities

<?php
namespace Mindlahus;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Annotation\Groups;
/**
 * Some Super Class Name
 *
 * @ORM able("table_name")
 * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="SomeSuperClassNameRepository")
 * @UniqueEntity(
 * fields={"foo", "boo"},
 * ignoreNull=false
 * )
 */
class SomeSuperClassName
{
 /**
 * @Groups({"group1", "group2"})
 */
 public $foo;
 /**
 * @Groups({"group1"})
 */
 public $date;
 /**
 * @Groups({"group3"})
 */
 public function getBar() // is* methods are also supported
 {
 return $this->bar;
 }
 // ...
}

Normalize your Doctrine Object inside the logic of your application

<?php
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Mapping\Factory\ClassMetadataFactory;
// For annotations
use Doctrine\Common\Annotations\AnnotationReader;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Mapping\Loader\AnnotationLoader;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\ObjectNormalizer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
...
$repository = $this->getDoctrine()->getRepository('Mindlahus:SomeSuperClassName');
$SomeSuperObject = $repository->findOneById($id);
$classMetadataFactory = new ClassMetadataFactory(new AnnotationLoader(new AnnotationReader()));
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();
$normalizer = new ObjectNormalizer($classMetadataFactory);
$callback = function ($dateTime) {
 return $dateTime instanceof \DateTime
 ? $dateTime->format('m-d-Y')
 : '';
};
$normalizer->setCallbacks(array('date' => $callback));
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$data = $serializer->normalize($SomeSuperObject, null, array('groups' => array('group1')));
$response = new Response();
$response->setContent($serializer->serialize($data, 'json'));
$response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
return $response;

Answer 6

If you are using symfony 5 propably it will works.

$data = $serializer->serialize(array('key' => 'value'), JsonEncoder::FORMAT);
return new JsonResponse($data, Response::HTTP_OK, [], true);