Aura for PHP

Request

The Request object describes the current web execution context for PHP. Note that it is not an HTTP request object proper, since it includes things like $_ENV and various non-HTTP $_SERVER keys.

You can get the Request object from the DI,

<?php
$request = $di->get('aura/web-kernel:request');

// or can inject to another class as

$di->lazyGet('aura/web-kernel:request');

The Request object contains several property objects. Some represent a copy of the PHP superglobals …

  • $request->cookies for $_COOKIES
  • $request->env for $_ENV
  • $request->files for $_FILES
  • $request->post for $_POST
  • $request->query for $_GET
  • $request->server for $_SERVER

… and others represent more specific kinds of information about the request:

  • $request->client for the client making the request
  • $request->content for the raw body of the request
  • $request->headers for the request headers
  • $request->method for the request method
  • $request->accept for content negotiation
  • $request->params for path-info parameters
  • $request->url for the request URL

The Request object has only one method, isXhr(), to indicate if the request is an XmlHttpRequest or not.

Superglobals

Each of the superglobal representation objects has a single method, get(), that returns the value of a key in the superglobal, or an alternative value if the key is not present. The values here are read-only.

<?php
// returns the value of $_POST['field_name'], or 'not set' if 'field_name' is
// not present in $_POST
$field_name = $request->post->get('field_name', 'not set');

// if no key is given, returns an array of all values in the superglobal
$all_server_values = $request->server->get();

// the $_FILES array has been rearranged to look like $_POST
$file = $request->files->get('file_field', array());
?>

Client

The $request->client object has these methods:

  • getForwardedFor() returns the values of the X-Forwarded-For headers as an array.

  • getReferer() returns the value of the Referer header.

  • getIp() returns the value of $_SEVER['REMOTE_ADDR'], or the appropriate value of X-Forwarded-For.

  • getUserAgent() return the value of the User-Agent header.

  • isCrawler() returns true if the User-Agent header matches one of a list of bot/crawler/robot user agents (otherwise false).

  • isMobile() returns true if the User-Agent header matches one of a list of mobile user agents (otherwise false).

Content

The $request->content object has these methods:

  • getType() returns the content-type of the request body

  • getRaw() return the raw request body

  • get() returns the request body after decoding it based on the content type

The Content object has two decoders built in. If the request specified a content type of application/json, the get() method will automatically decode the body with json_decode(). Likewise, if the content type is application/x-www-form-urlencoded, the get() method will automatically decode the body with parse_str().

Headers

The $request->headers object has a single method, get(), that returns the value of a particular header, or an alternative value if the key is not present. The values here are read-only.

<?php
// returns the value of 'X-Header' if present, or 'not set' if not
$header_value = $request->headers->get('X-Header', 'not set');
?>

Method

The $request->method object has these methods:

  • get(): returns the request method value
  • isDelete(): Did the request use a DELETE method?
  • isGet(): Did the request use a GET method?
  • isHead(): Did the request use a HEAD method?
  • isOptions(): Did the request use an OPTIONS method?
  • isPatch(): Did the request use a PATCH method?
  • isPut(): Did the request use a PUT method?
  • isPost(): Did the request use a POST method?
<?php
if ($request->method->isPost()) {
    // perform POST actions
}
?>

You can also call is*() on the Method object; the part after is is treated as custom HTTP method name, and checks if the request was made using that HTTP method.

<?php
if ($request->method->isCustom()) {
    // perform CUSTOM actions
}
?>

Sometimes forms use a special field to indicate a custom HTTP method on a POST. By default, the Method object honors the _method form field.

<?php
// a POST with the field '_method' will use the _method value instead of POST
$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] = 'POST';
$_POST['_method'] = 'PUT';
echo $request->method->get(); // PUT
?>

Params

Unlike most Request property objects, the Params object is read-write (not read-only). The Params object allows you to set application-specific parameter values. These are typically discovered by parsing a URL path through a router of some sort (e.g. Aura.Router).

The $request->params object has two methods:

  • set() to set the array of parameters
  • get() to get back a specific parameter, or the array of all parameters

For example:

<?php
// parameter values discovered by a routing mechanism
$values = array(
    'controller' => 'blog',
    'action' => 'read',
    'id' => '88',
);

// set the parameters on the request
$request->params->set($values);

// get the 'id' param, or false if it is not present
$id = $request->params->get('id', false);

// get all the params as an array
$all_params = $request->params->get();
?>

Url

The $request->url object has two methods:

  • get() returns the full URL string; or, if a component constant is passed, returns only that part of the URL

  • isSecure() indicates if the request is secure, whether via SSL, TLS, or forwarded from a secure protocol

<?php
// get the full URL string
$string = $request->url->get();

// get a particular part of the URL; for the component constants, see
// http://php.net/parse-url
$scheme   = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_SCHEME);
$host     = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_HOST);
$port     = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_PORT);
$user     = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_USER);
$pass     = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_PASS);
$path     = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_PATH);
$query    = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_QUERY);
$fragment = $request->url->get(PHP_URL_FRAGMENT);
?>