Unexpected Serialization Behavior with PHP's `json_encode` and DateTime Objects
I'm following best practices but I've been banging my head against this for hours..... I'm working with an scenario with PHP's `json_encode()` function when trying to serialize an array that contains DateTime objects. Specifically, when I try to encode the following array, the DateTime objects are not being converted to a valid JSON format. Instead, they return as an empty string. Here’s the code I'm using: ```php $date1 = new DateTime('2023-01-01'); $date2 = new DateTime('2023-02-01'); $data = [ 'start_date' => $date1, 'end_date' => $date2, ]; $json = json_encode($data); var_dump($json); ``` When I run this code, the output is: ``` string(2) "{}" ``` I expected the JSON to contain the string representations of the dates, but instead, I'm getting an empty object. I’ve checked the `json_last_error()` function, and it returns `JSON_ERROR_NONE`, which suggests there are no issues with the encoding process itself. I also tried using `DateTime::format()` method to convert the DateTime objects to a string before encoding: ```php $data = [ 'start_date' => $date1->format('Y-m-d'), 'end_date' => $date2->format('Y-m-d'), ]; ``` This does work, but it feels like a workaround rather than a clean solution. Is there a better way to ensure that DateTime objects are serialized correctly when using `json_encode()`? I’m running PHP 8.1.0 and would appreciate any guidance on this question. Am I missing something obvious? I'm working on a desktop app that needs to handle this. What's the best practice here?