Proper way of sending json response - ajax

Question

I used to write in the controller method:
echo json_encode(TRUE);die;
to pass the success message to the AJAX so that.
e.g.
if($user->save())
{
echo json_encode(TRUE);die;
}
and in ajax:
success: function (data) {
var res = $.parseJSON(data);
if(res == true)
{
alert('user added!');
}
But then i saw most using:
return Response::json(TRUE); die; instead of echo json_encode(TRUE);die; what is the difference between these two? Or is it exact similar to echo vs return?

Answer 1

If you just echo text, your response will be sent back the the content type of plain/html.
If you return response()->json(), then your response will be sent back with the content type of application/json.
Some clients may not care one way or another, but others may behave differently if the headers say the response is json. In either case, the application/json response is more semantically correct.

Answer 2

I recomend you to echo the result of a function. For example:
function save(){
//magic happens here
return $result; //can be false or true (for example)
}
and in the file which is called in the ajax request simply put:
echo json_encode(save());
finally you can compare the result in the client side:
success: function(response){
var result = $.parseJSON(response);
if(result) alert("Success!");
else alert("Sorry try later");
}

Answer 3

This is how I have done and it's very standard. I have create one helpers.php file and put it in composer.json so no need to further include it in application.
composer.json
"autoload": {
"files": [
"app/Utils/helper.php"
]
}
run command
composer dumpautoload.
Create method for success response in helpers.php
function success($data, $message, $status = 200, $headers = [])
{
$result = [];
$result['flag'] = true;
$result['message'] = $message;
$result['data'] = $data;
return response()->json($result, $status, $headers);
}
sending success message from controller.
return success($user, 'User logged in successfully.');
Create method for error response in helpers.php
function error($code, $message, $status = 200, $errors = [], $headers = [])
{
$error = [];
$error['flag'] = false;
$error['message'] = $message;
$error['code'] = $code;
if (!empty($errors))
{
$error['errors'] = $errors;
}
return response()->json($error, $status, $headers);
}
sending error message from controller.
return error(401, 'These credentials do not match our records.',401);