How to Test cakephp parseExtension? - php

Question

I setup the parseExtension for json in my cakephp 2.3.0. No errors are display. It works?
How can I test is?
In RoR ist ist very easy to test via
https://mydomain.de/view/4.json
How does it run on cakephp?
My View-Action is this.
public function view($id = null) {
if (!$this->Atla->exists($id)) {
throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid atla'));
}
$options = array('conditions' => array('Atla.' . $this->Atla->primaryKey => $id));
$this->set('atla', $this->Atla->find('first', $options));
$this->Atla->id = $id;
$result = $this->Atla->read();
$this->response->type('json');
$this->response->body(json_encode($result));
return $this->response;
$this->set(compact('atlas'));
}
Why i always get an json-request?

Answer 1

If you use the _serialize key cakephp can automatically create json and xml views for you. I typically use the following to create json or xml views:
public function view() {
// data I want to display
$record1 = $this->ModelName->find('first', ...);
$this->set('record1', $record1);
$record2 = $this->ModelName->find('first', ...);
$this->set('record2', $record2);
// option 1: serialize the hard way
$this->set('_serialize', array('record1', 'record2'));
// option 2: serialize the easy way
$this->set('_serialize', array_keys($this->viewVars));
}
PS: the code after your return statement will never be executed.

Answer 2

you'll have create the view
app/View/Atlas/json/view.ctp
which is the view that is being used for .json requests.
Requests without .json will use the regular view file:
app/View/Atlas/view.ctp
There's more information on creating/using JSON and XML views here:
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/views/json-and-xml-views.html#using-a-data-view-with-view-files
From that page the view.ctp may contain something like;
// View code - app/View/Posts/json/index.ctp
foreach ($posts as &$post) {
unset($post['Post']['generated_html']);
}
echo json_encode(compact('posts', 'comments'));
However, it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you will only use the 'Atlas/view' action for JSON responses, and won't be using HTML at all, sometimes you can get away with generating the response-body inside your Controller. Not very much 'in line' with MVC conventions, but it saves you from creating a view that does nothing more than echo json_encode($data); ;)
public function view($id)
{
$this->MyModel->id = $id;
$result = $this->MyModel->read();
$this->response->type('json');
$this->response->body(json_encode($result));
//Return reponse object to prevent controller from trying to render a view
return $this->response;
}
If you do want to use both 'HTML' and 'JSON', depending on the request (with/without .json extension), you should have two view files; 1 for JSON and 1 for HTML;
// This view will be used for your JSON requests
app/View/Atlas/json/view.ctp
// This view will be used for non-JSON (html) requests:
app/View/Atlas/view.ctp
In the json-view, output the data using json_encode(.....);
In the 'normal'/html view, just output normal data
In your controller, set the data as normal
public function view($id = null) {
$this->Atla->id = $id;
if (!$this->Atla->exists()) {
throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid atla'));
}
$this->set('atla', $this->Atla->read());
}