How to Use TOON Format in PHP - Complete Tutorial

<?php
$toonData = <<<TOON
customers[3]{id,name,email,age}:
  1,Sienna Martinez,[email protected],28
  2,Nora Chen,[email protected],35
  3,Elara White,[email protected],42
TOON;

// Decode it back to a PHP array
$data = Toon::decode($toonData);

// Now you can use it like any other array
foreach ($data['customers'] as $customer) {
    echo "ID: {$customer['id']}, Name: {$customer['name']}\n";
}

/* Output:
ID: 1, Name: Sienna Martinez
ID: 2, Name: Nora Chen
ID: 3, Name: Elara White
*/

<?php
$toonString = 'users[2]{id,name,active}:
  1,Sienna,true
  2,Nora,false';

// Convert TOON back to JSON
$json = Toon::toJson($toonString);
echo $json;

/* Output:
{
    "users": [
        {"id": 1, "name": "Sienna", "active": true},
        {"id": 2, "name": "Nora", "active": false}
    ]
}
*/

// Or manually if you want more control
$data = Toon::decode($toonString);
$json = json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

<?php
// app/Casts/Toon.php

namespace App\Casts;

use Illuminate\Contracts\Database\Eloquent\CastsAttributes;
use ToonFormat\Toon as ToonFormat;

class Toon implements CastsAttributes
{
    public function get($model, string $key, $value, array $attributes)
    {
        return ToonFormat::decode($value);
    }

    public function set($model, string $key, $value, array $attributes)
    {
        return ToonFormat::encode($value);
    }
}

// Usage in Model:
// protected $casts = ['metadata' => Toon::class];

<?php
use ToonFormat\Toon;
use ToonFormat\Exceptions\ToonParseException;
use ToonFormat\Exceptions\ToonValidationException;

try {
    // Parse TOON data
    $data = Toon::decode($toonString);
    
    // Validate structure
    if (!isset($data['customers'])) {
        throw new \Exception('Missing customers array');
    }
    
    // Process data
    foreach ($data['customers'] as $customer) {
        // Your logic here
    }
    
} catch (ToonParseException $e) {
    // Handle parsing errors
    error_log("TOON parsing error: " . $e->getMessage());
    return response()->json(['error' => 'Invalid TOON format'], 400);
    
} catch (ToonValidationException $e) {
    // Handle validation errors
    error_log("TOON validation error: " . $e->getMessage());
    return response()->json(['error' => 'Invalid TOON structure'], 422);
    
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    // Handle general errors
    error_log("Error: " . $e->getMessage());
    return response()->json(['error' => 'Processing failed'], 500);
}

// Validate before encoding
$data = ['users' => []];

if (empty($data['users'])) {
    throw new \Exception('Cannot encode empty data');
}

$toon = Toon::encode($data);

<?php
// api/analyze-customers.php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use ToonFormat\Toon;

header('Content-Type: application/json');

try {
    // Get customer data from database
    $pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=myapp', 'user', 'password');
    
    $stmt = $pdo->prepare("
        SELECT id, name, email, plan, mrr, signup_date, last_active
        FROM customers
        WHERE active = 1
        ORDER BY mrr DESC
        LIMIT 100
    ");
    
    $stmt->execute();
    $customers = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    
    // Convert to TOON (saves ~50% tokens)
    $toonData = Toon::encode(['customers' => $customers]);
    
    // Send to OpenAI for analysis
    $apiKey = getenv('OPENAI_API_KEY');
    $url = 'https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions';
    
    $prompt = "Analyze these customers and provide:
1. Top 5 highest value customers
2. Customers at risk of churning (inactive > 30 days)
3. Upgrade opportunities (Basic users with high engagement)
4. Overall revenue trends";
    
    $payload = [
        'model' => 'gpt-4',
        'messages' => [
            [
                'role' => 'system',
                'content' => 'You are a customer success analyst. Analyze data in TOON format and provide actionable insights.'
            ],
            [
                'role' => 'user',
                'content' => $prompt . "\n\n" . $toonData
            ]
        ],
        'temperature' => 0.7
    ];
    
    $ch = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt_array($ch, [
        CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
            'Content-Type: application/json',
            'Authorization: Bearer ' . $apiKey
        ],
        CURLOPT_POST => true,
        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode($payload),
        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true
    ]);
    
    $response = curl_exec($ch);
    $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
    curl_close($ch);
    
    if ($httpCode !== 200) {
        throw new Exception('OpenAI API request failed');
    }
    
    $result = json_decode($response, true);
    $analysis = $result['choices'][0]['message']['content'];
    $tokensUsed = $result['usage']['total_tokens'];
    
    // Calculate token savings
    $jsonData = json_encode(['customers' => $customers]);
    $jsonTokens = strlen($jsonData) / 4; // Rough estimate
    $toonTokens = strlen($toonData) / 4;
    $tokensSaved = $jsonTokens - $toonTokens;
    $percentSaved = ($tokensSaved / $jsonTokens) * 100;
    
    // Return response
    echo json_encode([
        'success' => true,
        'customer_count' => count($customers),
        'analysis' => $analysis,
        'stats' => [
            'tokens_used' => $tokensUsed,
            'tokens_saved' => round($tokensSaved),
            'percent_saved' => round($percentSaved, 1) . '%',
            'cost_estimate' => '$' . number_format($tokensUsed * 0.00001, 4)
        ]
    ], JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
    
} catch (Exception $e) {
    http_response_code(500);
    echo json_encode([
        'success' => false,
        'error' => $e->getMessage()
    ]);
}