Passing JSON data using CURL - php

Question

I am using a CURL post to an existing API. The API returns the error content must be JSON or plain text. I json_encode data and post the encoded data to the API.
In the API, it says the Content-Type should be application/x-www-form-urlencoded'.
However, it still returns the error content must be JSON or plain text. What could be the issue with my code below after submitting my data in JSON format?
This is a sample request body in the API doc.
"item" : "Store",
"content" : {
"channel":"false",
"hop": "false",
"msg": "Order successfully placed."
}
Controller
public function postUrl()
{
$url = "https://api.com/";
$data = array("item" => "Nike Shoes","content" => array ("channel" => "false" ,"hop" => "false","msg" => "Item Sold"));
$postdata = json_encode($data);
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "POST");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postdata);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
Log::info($postdata);
}

Answer 1

Perhaps this is because boolean values are specified as strings.
public function postUrl()
{
$url = 'https://api.com/';
$data = [
'item' => 'Nike Shoes',
'content' => [
'channel' => false,
'hop' => false,
'msg' => 'Item Sold'
]
];
$postData = json_encode($data);
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Content-Type: application/json']);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'POST');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postData);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
Log::info($postData);
}
Also try this
public function postUrl()
{
$url = 'https://api.com/';
$data = [
'item' => 'Nike Shoes',
'content' => [
'channel' => 'false',
'hop' => 'false',
'msg' => 'Item Sold'
]
];
$postData = json_encode($data);
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Content-Type: text/json']);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'POST');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postData);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
Log::info($postData);
}