Returning an Eloquent model as JSON in Laravel 4
The actual data sent is the same, however...
#1 Sends Content-Type:application/json to the browser
#2 Sends Content-Type:text/html
#1 is more correct but it depends on your Javascript, see: What is the correct JSON content type?
However, it is much simpler to just return the model. It is automagically returned as JSON and the Content-Type is set correctly:
return $model;
In #1 you first convert your Eloquent to an array, and then you convert it to JSON, which seems a bit redundant.
With that in mind, I'd go with #2 if you're returning the JSON to the caller.
Also note that, in L4, whenever an Eloquent model is cast to a string it will be automatically converted to JSON. Hence, you can do like in this example from the documentation to return JSON data directly from your route:
Route::get('users', function(){ return User::all();});For more information, see http://four.laravel.com/docs/eloquent#converting-to-arrays-or-json