**Topic: Handling JSON requests and responses** **Learning Objectives:** * Understand the importance of JSON in RESTful APIs * Learn how to handle JSON requests and responses in CodeIgniter * Understand the benefits of using JSON over other data formats * Gain hands-on experience with handling JSON requests and responses in CodeIgniter **Course Description:** JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that is widely used in RESTful APIs. In this topic, we will explore how to handle JSON requests and responses in CodeIgniter. We will cover the benefits of using JSON, how to set up JSON responses, and how to handle JSON requests. **Benefits of JSON:** JSON is a lightweight data format that is easy to read and write. It is also language-independent, meaning it can be used with any programming language. JSON is widely adopted in RESTful APIs because it is human-readable, easy to parse, and compact. **Setting up JSON Responses:** To set up a JSON response in CodeIgniter, you can use the `response()` function. Here is an example: ```php public function index() { $data = array('name' => 'John Doe', 'age' => 30); $this->response($data); } ``` This will return a JSON response with the following format: ```json { "name": "John Doe", "age": 30 } ``` **Handling JSON Requests:** To handle JSON requests, you can use the `input()->post()` function to retrieve the JSON data from the request body. Here is an example: ```php public function create() { $postData = $this->input->post(); $data = array('name' => $postData['name'], 'age' => $postData['age']); // process the data } ``` This will retrieve the JSON data from the request body and store it in the `$postData` variable. **Key Concepts:** * JSON is a lightweight data format that is widely used in RESTful APIs. * To set up a JSON response, use the `response()` function. * To handle JSON requests, use the `input()->post()` function to retrieve the JSON data from the request body. **Practical Takeaway:** To handle JSON requests and responses in CodeIgniter, make sure to use the `response()` function to set up JSON responses and the `input()->post()` function to retrieve JSON data from the request body. **Additional Resources:** * CodeIgniter documentation: [JSON Responses](https://codeigniter.com/user_guide/input/response.html) * W3Schools tutorial: [JSON Tutorial](https://www.w3schools.com/json/) **Exercise:** Create a simple API endpoint that returns a JSON response with a list of users. Use the `response()` function to set up the JSON response. **Leave a comment or ask for help:** If you have any questions or need further clarification on this topic, please leave a comment below.