Returning an Eloquent model as JSON in Laravel 4

Question

How do you return an Eloquent model to the browser as JSON? What is the difference between the two methods below? Both seems to work.

#1:

return Response::json($user->toArray()); 

#2:

return $user->toJson(); 

Answer 1

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;