====== Accessing Request Variables ======


DokuWiki does not prohibit access to the ''$_POST'', ''$_GET'', ''$_REQUEST'' and ''$_SERVER'' super globals. However we strongly recommend to access them **not** directly, but instead use our [[xref>Input]] class. A global instance of that class is available everywhere as [[xref>$INPUT]].

The class gives you type safe access to the request variables, makes sure they are correctly initialized and allows you to set defaults.

To access a variable in ''$_REQUEST'', just call the appropriate method on ''$INPUT''. Eg. for accessing an Integer in ''$_REQUEST['foo']'', just call ''%%$INPUT->int('foo')%%''.

If you want to access ''$_GET'' or ''$_POST'' explicitly, call the methods on the ''get'' and ''post'' members of ''$INPUT''. Eg. ''%%$INPUT->get->int('foo')%%'' or ''%%$INPUT->post->int('foo')%%''.

Access to ''$_SERVER'' variables is always through the ''server'' member of ''$INPUT'': Eg. ''%%$INPUT->server->str('REMOTE_USER')%%''.

All the access functions allow for a second parameter to set a default value. This value will be returned when the variable was not set or had the wrong type (eg. an expected integer was an array instead). All access functions have reasonable defaults matching the type of the function. Eg. ''int()'' returns ''0'', ''arr()'' returns an empty array as default.

A third parameter tells the function if an [[phpfn>empty()]] parameter should be returned as default as well. This third parameter defaults to ''false''.

===== Examples =====

Here are a couple of examples to give you an idea how the Input class works. For detailed info, please refer to [[xref>inc/Input/Input.php]].

<code php>
global $INPUT;

$_REQUEST = ['foo' => '3'];

var_dump($INPUT->int('foo')); // expect an integer
// int(3)

var_dump($INPUT->str('foo')); // expect a string
// string(1) "3"

var_dump($INPUT->int('bar')); // standard default
// int(0)

var_dump($INPUT->int('bar',42)); // setting an explicit default
// int(42)

var_dump($INPUT->bool('foo')); // we cast when reasonable
// bool(true)

var_dump($INPUT->arr('foo')); // we don't cast here
// array(0) {
// }

var_dump($INPUT->has('foo')); // is set
// bool(true)


$_POST = ['foo' => '0', 'bar' => ''];

// now accessing $_POST and trying the third parameter 

var_dump($INPUT->post->int('foo', -1));
// int(0)

var_dump($INPUT->post->int('bar', -1));
// int(-1)

var_dump($INPUT->post->int('foo', -1, true));
// int(-1)

var_dump($INPUT->post->int('bar', -1, true));
// int(-1)


$_SERVER 

var_dump($INPUT->server->str('REMOTE_USER'));
// string(8) "username"
</code>