.. _zend.json.basics:

Basic Usage
===========

Usage of ``Zend\Json`` involves using the two public static methods available: ``Zend\Json\Json::encode()`` and
``Zend\Json\Json::decode()``.

.. code-block:: php
   :linenos:

   // Retrieve a value:
   $phpNative = Zend\Json\Json::decode($encodedValue);

   // Encode it to return to the client:
   $json = Zend\Json\Json::encode($phpNative);

.. _zend.json.basics.prettyprint:

Pretty-printing JSON
--------------------

Sometimes, it may be hard to explore *JSON* data generated by ``Zend\Json\Json::encode()``, since it has no spacing or
indentation. In order to make it easier, ``Zend\Json\Json`` allows you to pretty-print *JSON* data in the human-readable
format with ``Zend\Json\Json::prettyPrint()``.

.. code-block:: php
   :linenos:

   // Encode it to return to the client:
   $json = Zend\Json\Json::encode($phpNative);
   if ($debug) {
       echo Zend\Json\Json::prettyPrint($json, array("indent" => " "));
   }

Second optional argument of ``Zend\Json\Json::prettyPrint()`` is an option array. Option ``indent`` allows to set
indentation string - by default it's a single tab character.