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Including extra meta data with a resource response

phyothiha

Phyo Thiha

Posted on April 22, 2024

Including extra meta data with a resource response

In the previous article, I explained about customizing pagination structure.

Today, I want to show returing a JSON response from the controller method with extra top-level keys along with data and pagination keys using the resource class.

As you may know, there is also an organizational standard or preferred format for JSON API responses. I will stick with a pretty basic format.

Success Response Format 

{
    "success": true,
    "statusCode": 200,
    "data": [
        {}, 
        {}
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "current_page": "",
        "last_page": "",
        "per_page": "",
        "total": ""
    }
}
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A very simple way to return a response from the controller method will be

use App\Http\Resources\UserCollection;
use App\Models\User;

public function index()
{
    return new UserCollection(User::paginate());
}
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šŸ’”Why use resource collection over resource?

If you would like to customize the resource collection response, you may create a dedicated resource to represent the collection

As you have read and followed the previous article, the return format will be

{
    "data": [
        {}, 
        {}
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "current_page": "",
        "last_page": "",
        "per_page": "",
        "total": ""
    }
}
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If not, the default structure will return

{
    "data": [],
    "links": {},
    "meta": {}
}
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So how can we achieve the response format described above?

Well, you might have guessed, but

public function index()
{
    return response()->json([
        'success' => true,
        'statusCode' => 200,
        // how should I use the resource collection class here?
    ], 200);
}
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Or you might be going the other way around. Create a new resource collection class and add success and statusCode keys.

Method #1 (Adding Meta Data) 

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;

class UserCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'success' => true,
            'statusCode' => 200,
            'data' => $this->collection,
        ];
    }
}
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Method #2 (Top Level Meta Data) 

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;

class UserCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return parent::toArray($request);
    }

    public function with(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'success' => true,
            'statusCode' => 200,
        ];
    }
}
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As you see, success and statusCode sit inside the resource collection class. You already know what kind of approach to use to reduce code duplication.

A cliffhanger: What if I want to create a trait and use it in the controller file?

Happy Tinkering āœŒļø

šŸ’– šŸ’Ŗ šŸ™… šŸš©
phyothiha
Phyo Thiha

Posted on April 22, 2024

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