CakePHP JSON response with specified http headers - json

Question

I need to implement xsolla payment solution into my cakePHP 2.6 webapp.
By contract my site should communicate via REST with Xsolla.
Xsolla does all the requests to the same url (e.g. http://example.com/rest) and specifies the type of request in the JSON body,
e.g. request from Xsolla:
URL: http://example.com/rest
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 78
Authorization: Signature 8189119fb35327cdee7787990df41001c4bd9122
{"data":{"notification_type":"user_validation","user":{"id":"user_id"}}}
I should return HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request with error code if the user id is invalid or HTTP/1.1 200 OK if the user id is valid.
notification_type could be user_validation, payment and so on.
I implemented all the communication in XsollaController.php in a single function xsolla:
//XsollaController.php:
public function xsolla() {
//...
$data = $this->request->data;
if(array_key_exists("notification_type", $data) &&
$data["notification_type"]=="user_validation") {
//user_validation
}
else if(array_key_exists("notification_type", $data) &&
$data["notification_type"]=="payment") {
//payment
}
//...
}
How can I have different functions based on notification_type?
e.g. function userValidation($data), payment($data) etc.
Also what the proper way to return simple JSON with specified HTTP code?
Now I do the following:
if(userIdIsValid($userID)) {
$body = array('data' => array('user' => array(
"id"=>$data["user"]["id"]), 'message' => 'USER_IS_VALID'));
$this->response->type('json');
$this->response->statusCode(200);
$this->response->body(json_encode($body));
$this->response->send();
$this->_stop();
exit();
}
else {
$body = array('error' => array(
'code' => 'INVALID_USER',
'message' => 'INVALID_USER',
'user' => array("id"=>$data["user"]["id"])));
$this->response->type('json');
$this->response->statusCode(400);
$this->response->body(json_encode($body));
$this->response->send();
$this->_stop();
exit();
}
My code works but seems hard coded. I believe CakePHP provide a better way to do it.

Answer 1

For your first question of executing different functions based on the notification_type, you are almost there (unless I am oversimplifying your question).
//XsollaController.php:
public function xsolla() {
//...
$data = $this->request->data;
if(array_key_exists("notification_type", $data) &&
$data["notification_type"]=="user_validation") {
$this->userValidation($data);
}
else if(array_key_exists("notification_type", $data) &&
$data["notification_type"]=="payment") {
$this->payment($data);
}
//...
}
private function userValidation($data) {
// user validation
}
private function payment($data) {
// payment
}
As far as responding with JSON content and the correct HTTP status code, your code looks fine. There's room for some minor improvements, but if it's functional, I'd leave it. You are setting the response code correctly. If you want the truly "cake" way of responding with JSON content, read up on JSON and XML views in the CakePHP docs.