This is a tiny class that encapsulates HTTP requests in a read-only format. It allows you to access request parameters by name regardless of the request method, and set a default return value for parameters that were not found in the request.

The PHP superglobal $_REQUEST includes the contents of $_GET, $_POST and $_COOKIE, but I prefer to include the contents of $_FILES and exclude $_COOKIES from my request object. You can easily modify the class to your own liking.

<?php
class Request
{
    public function getParameter($param, $return=null)
    {
        if (isset($_POST[$param]))
        {
            $return = $_POST[$param];
        }
        else if (isset($_GET[$param]))
        {
            $return = $_GET[$param];
        }
        else if (isset($_FILES[$param]))
        {
            $return = $_FILES[$param];
        }
        return $return;
    }
}



Basic usage:

$request = new Request();

$id = $request->getParameter("id");



Set default value for missing parameters:

$checkbox = $request->getParameter("checkbox", 0);



Get uploaded file:

$form_data  = $request->getParameter('form_data');

if (!is_null($form_data) && $form_data['tmp_name'] != '')
{
    $file_name = $form_data['name'];
    $file_type = $form_data['type'];
    $file_size = $form_data['size'];
    $tmp_name = $form_data['tmp_name'];
}