Cannot post data with PHP curl - php

Question

I'm trying to POST some data to a web service with cURL, using the following code:
$response = "<p>Here is your RMA information. Please ship the product to the address below.<br>
<br>
IMPORTANT:<br>
1) Refunds can only be issues for purchases made within 30 days. Products missing any accessories or original packaging will require a 20% restocking fee.<br>Please see our RMA Guidelines here:<br>
We will update you with the progress of the RMA once we receive your RMA. We appreciate your patience and understanding.<br>
</p>";
$url = "https://mysite.desk.com/api/v2/cases/18/notes";
$username = "my username";
$password = "my password";
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $username . ":" . $password);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, '{"body":"' . $response . '"}');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
it gives me following error
[url] => https://mysite.desk.com/api/v2/cases/18/notes
[content_type] =>
[http_code] => 500
[header_size] => 165
[request_size] => 228
[filetime] => -1
[ssl_verify_result] => 20
[redirect_count] => 0
[total_time] => 1.373
[namelookup_time] => 0
[connect_time] => 0.281
[pretransfer_time] => 0.811
[size_upload] => 2235
[size_download] => 0
[speed_download] => 0
[speed_upload] => 1627
[download_content_length] => -1
[upload_content_length] => 2235
[starttransfer_time] => 1.092
[redirect_time] => 0
I don't understand exact problem. please help me.

Answer 1

try array if json format data seem to be complicated
$post_array=array('body'=>$response);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_array;

Answer 2

It is solved by changing following lines
$data = array();
$data['body'] = preg_replace("/&#?[a-z0-9]{2,8};/i", "", strip_tags($_POST['response']));
and
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/json'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));