Response

• Basics
• Cookies
• Headers
• Caching and compression

The response class helps you build a HTTP response.

An instance of the response class is always available in all controller classes. It is also easily made available in route closures.

Basics

The setBody method allows you to set the response body. This is not normally needed as the framework automatically sets the response body to the return value of your controller/route action. It can; however, be useful if you want to alter the response body in middleware.

$this->response->setBody('Hello, world!');

The getBody method returns the response body.

$responseBody = $this->response->getBody();

The setType method lets you define the response type as well as the response charset. The default response type is text/html and the default charset is UTF-8. The default charset is defined in your app\config\application.php config file.

$this->response->setType('application/json');

// You can also override the default charset

$this->response->setType('application/json', 'iso-8859-1');

The getType method returns the current response type.

$responseType = $this->response->getType();

The setCharset method lets you set the response charset. The default charset is UTF-8and it is defined in your app\config\application.php config file.

$this->response->setCharset('iso-8859-1');

The getCharset method returns the current response charset.

$responseCharset = $this->response->getCharset();

The setStatus method lets you set the response status.

// You can set the status using the Status enum

$this->response->setStatus(Status::NOT_FOUND);

// Or by passing a valid status code integer

$this->response->setStatus(404);

The getStatus method returns the current status code.

$responseStatus = $this->response->getStatus();

Cookies

The getCookies method returns a cookie collection.

$cookies = $this->response->getCookies();

// You can also use the read-only "cookies" property

$cookies = $this->response->cookies;

The add method adds a cookie to the response.

// Sets a cookie that expires when the browser closes

$cookies->add('name', 'value');

// Sets a cookie that expires after 1 hour

$cookies->add('name', 'value', 3600);

// You can also set the `path`, `domain`, `secure`, `httponly` and `samesite` options using the fourth parameter

$cookies->add('name', 'value', 3600, ['path' => '/mydir', 'domain' => '.example.org']);

If you want to set signed cookies then you'll have to use the addSigned method. The benefit of using signed cookies is that they can't be tampered with on the client side.

The delete method allows you to delete both normal and signed cookies from the client.

$cookies->delete('name');

// You can also set the `path`, `domain`, `secure`, `httponly` and `samesite` options using the fourth parameter

$cookies->delete('name', ['path' => '/mydir', 'domain' => '.example.org']);

The cookie collection also includes the following methods in addition to the ones shown in the examples above.

Headers

The getHeaders method returns a header collection.

$headers = $this->response->getHeaders();

// You can also use the read-only "headers" property

$headers = $this->response->headers;

The add method adds a header to your response.

$headers->add('X-My-Header', 'value');

The header collection also includes the following methods in addition to the ones shown in the examples above.

Caching and compression

You can enable ETag caching using the enableCaching method. Doing so can save bandwidth as the response body will only be sent if it has been modified since the last request.

$this->response->enableCaching();

The disableCaching method disables ETag caching if it has been enabled.

$this->response->disableCaching();

The isCacheable method returns true if the response in its current state is considered cacheable and false if not.

$isCacheable = $this->response->isCacheable();

Note that ETag caching will only be used if the response is considered cacheable.

The enableCompression method enables output compression. This will save you bandwidth in exchange for a slight bump in CPU usage.

$this->response->enableCompression();

The disableCompression method disables output compression if it has been enabled.

$this->response->disableCompression();