Send a JSON HTTP Header

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Send a JSON HTTP Header.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Sends a JSON response with an explicit HTTP status code and a predictable
 * encoded payload.
 *
 * @param array $payload Data to encode as JSON.
 * @param int $status_code HTTP response status code.
 * @return string Encoded JSON response body.
 */
function ogSnippetSendAJsonHttpHeader(array $payload, int $status_code): string {
	if ($status_code < 100 || $status_code > 599) {
		$status_code = 200;
	}

	$response_body = json_encode($payload, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

	if ($response_body === false) {
		$status_code = 500;
		$response_body = '{"ok":false,"error":"json_encoding_failed"}';
	}

	if (headers_sent() === false) {
		http_response_code($status_code);
		header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8');
		header('X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff');
	}

	return $response_body;
}

$expanse_api_payload = array(
	'ok' => true,
	'ship' => 'Rocinante',
	'action' => 'transponder-check',
	'status' => 'green'
);

echo ogSnippetSendAJsonHttpHeader($expanse_api_payload, 200);