HTTP Response

The Response class provides an object-oriented way to create and send HTTP responses, including setting content, headers, status codes, and redirects.

Creating Responses

Basic response creation:

use Spark\Http\Response;
        
// Create a new response
$response = new Response('Hello World', 200);

// Using the helper function
$response = response('Hello World', 200);

Setting Response Content

// Set content
$response->setContent('New content');

// Append content
$response->write('Additional content');

JSON Responses

// Simple JSON response
$response->json(['status' => 'success', 'data' => $result]);

// JSON with custom status code
$response->json(['error' => 'Not found'], 404);

// Using helper
return response()->json(['message' => 'Created'], 201);

Redirects

// Basic redirect
$response->redirect('/new-location');

// Redirect back to previous page
$response->back();

// Using redirect helper
redirect('/dashboard');

// Redirect with flash data
return response()
    ->with('message', 'Please login first')
    ->redirect('/login');

Headers & Status Codes

// Set status code
$response->setStatusCode(404);

// Set header
$response->setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/xml');

// Set multiple headers
$response
    ->setHeader('Cache-Control', 'no-cache')
    ->setHeader('X-Custom', 'Value');

Session Flash Data

// Flash data for next request
$response->with('message', 'Operation successful');
$response->with('alert', 'Profile updated');

// Typically used with redirects
return response()
    ->with('status', 'Welcome back!')
    ->redirect('/dashboard');

Sending Responses

// Send the response to client
$response->send();

// The response will automatically send when returned from controller
return $response;

Response Helpers

// response() helper examples
return response('Hello World', 200);
return response()->json($data);
return response()->redirect('/');

// redirect() helper shortcut
return redirect('/home');