Some Error handling and acceptance tests

app/Http/Controllers/Controller.php

@@ -3,8 +3,40 @@
 namespace App\Http\Controllers;
 
 use Laravel\Lumen\Routing\Controller as BaseController;
+use League\Fractal\Manager;
+use League\Fractal\Resource\ResourceInterface;
+use League\Fractal\Serializer\JsonApiSerializer;
 
 class Controller extends BaseController
 {
-    //
+    /**
+     * Convert the response to Json
+     *
+     * @param \League\Fractal\Resource\Item $resource
+     * @param int $statusCode
+     * @param string $includes
+     * @return \Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse
+     */
+    protected function JsonApiResponse(ResourceInterface $resource, $statusCode, $includes = '')
+    {
+        $manager = new Manager();
+        $manager->setSerializer(new JsonApiSerializer('http://docker.dev:8080'));
+        $manager->parseIncludes($includes);
+        
+        return response()->json($manager->createData($resource)->toArray(), $statusCode);
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * format an error message
+     *
+     * @param string $message
+     * @param int $statusCode
+     * @return \Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse
+     */
+    protected function returnErrorMessage($message, $statusCode = 400)
+    {
+        return response()->json([
+            'error_message' => $message
+        ], $statusCode);
+    }
 }