Json does not popup as download file in cakephp 2.3 - cakephp

Question

I am using cakephp 2.3 and want to generate list of users in json format.
controller name: users
method: list
Earlier, I have done it in cake 1.3.x and when user tries access method via url in browser then output comes as download file but when i am doing it in cakephp 2.3 then it is showing me json output on browser page itself instead of download file.
here is my code:
Controller:
<?php
App::uses('AppController', 'Controller');
class UsersController extends AppController {
public $helpers = array('Form', 'Html', 'Js', 'Time');
public $components = array('RequestHandler');
var $layout = 'js/default';
public function list() {
$this->log("i got data in user add:");
$this->log($this->request->data);
$posts['id']['name']='kapil';
$this->set(compact('posts'));
}
}
list.ctp file
<?php echo json_encode(compact('posts')); ?>
view/js/default.ctp
<?php echo $scripts_for_layout; ?>
<?php echo $this->fetch('content'); ?>
when i try to access my function in browser then i get this output
url: http://localhost/project/users/list
{"posts":{"id":{"name":"aditya"}}}
This output is correct but should come in download file format. I don't know what is wrong here.

Answer 1

If you are trying to force download, your code must make use of Response object.
Here is an example taken from CsvExport Behavior:
public function export() {
$this->autoRender = false;
$modelClass = $this->modelClass;
$this->response->type('Content-Type: text/csv');
$this->response->download( strtolower( Inflector::pluralize( $modelClass ) ) . '.csv' );
$this->response->body( $this->$modelClass->exportCSV() );
}
So your code would look like this :
public function list() {
$this->autoRender = false;
$this->log("i got data in user add:");
$this->log($this->request->data);
$posts['id']['name']='kapil';
$this->set(compact('posts'));
$modelClass = $this->modelClass;
$this->response->type('Content-Type: application/json');
$this->response->download('list.json');
}
Hope this helps!