Zend_Controller_Request_Http encapsulates access to relevant values such as the key name and value for the controller and action router variables, and all additional parameters parsed from the URI. It additionally allows access to values contained in the superglobals as public members, and manages the current Base URL and Request URI. Superglobal values cannot be set on a request object, instead use the setParam() and getParam() methods to set or retrieve user parameters.

Note: Superglobal Data
When accessing superglobal data through Zend_Controller_Request_Http as public member properties, it is necessary to keep in mind that the property name (superglobal array key) is matched to a superglobal in a specific order of precedence: 1. GET, 2. POST, 3. COOKIE, 4. SERVER, 5. ENV.

Specific superglobals can be accessed using a public method as an alternative. For example, the raw value of $_POST['user'] can be accessed by calling getPost('user') on the request object. These include getQuery() for retrieving $_GET elements, and getHeader() for retrieving request headers.

Note: GET and POST Data
Be cautious when accessing data from the request object as it is not filtered in any way. The router and dispatcher validate and filter data for use with their tasks, but leave the data untouched in the request object.

Note: Retrieving the Raw POST Data
As of 1.5.0, you can also retrieve the raw post data via the getRawBody() method. This method returns FALSE if no data was submitted in that fashion, but the full body of the post otherwise.
This is primarily useful for accepting content when developing a RESTful MVC application.

You may also set user parameters in the request object using setParam() and retrieve these later using getParam(). The router makes use of this functionality to set parameters matched in the request URI into the request object.

Note: getParam() Retrieves More than User Parameters
In order to do some of its work, getParam() actually retrieves from several sources. In order of priority, these include: user parameters set via setParam(), GET parameters, and finally POST parameters. Be aware of this when pulling data via this method.
If you wish to pull only from parameters you set via setParam(), use the getUserParam().
Additionally, as of 1.5.0, you can lock down which parameter sources will be searched. setParamSources() allows you to specify an empty array or an array with one or more of the values '_GET' or '_POST' indicating which parameter sources are allowed (by default, both are allowed); if you wish to restrict access to only '_GET' specify setParamSources(array('_GET')).

Note: Apache Quirks
If you are using Apache's 404 handler to pass incoming requests to the front controller, or using a PT flag with rewrite rules, $_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'] contains the URI you need, not $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']. If you are using such a setup and getting invalid routing, you should use the Zend_Controller_Request_Apache404 class instead of the default HTTP class for your request object:

1. $request = new Zend_Controller_Request_Apache404();
2. $front->setRequest($request);

This class extends the Zend_Controller_Request_Http class and simply modifies the autodiscovery of the request URI. It can be used as a drop-in replacement.

Zend_Controller_Request_Http allows Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite to be used in subdirectories. Zend_Controller_Request_Http will attempt to automatically detect your base URL and set it accordingly.

For example, if you keep your index.php in a webserver subdirectory named /projects/myapp/index.php, base URL (rewrite base) should be set to /projects/myapp. This string will then be stripped from the beginning of the path before calculating any route matches. This frees one from the necessity of prepending it to any of your routes. A route of 'user/:username' will match URIs like http://localhost/projects/myapp/user/martel and http://example.com/user/martel.

Note: URL Detection is Case Sensitive
Automatic base URL detection is case sensitive, so make sure your URL will match a subdirectory name in a filesystem (even on Windows machines). If it doesn't, an exception will be raised.

Should base URL be detected incorrectly you can override it with your own base path with the help of the setBaseUrl() method of either the Zend_Controller_Request_Http class, or the Zend_Controller_Front class. The easiest method is to set it in Zend_Controller_Front, which will proxy it into the request object. Example usage to set a custom base URL:

Note: Fully-Qualified URL is not supported
Passing a fully-qualified URL (ie: http://example.com/) to the setBaseUrl method is not supported, and will cause issues for both the usage describe above and when using the URL view helper. See ticket » ZF-10923 for more details.

getMethod() allows you to determine the HTTP request method used to request the current resource. Additionally, a variety of methods exist that allow you to get boolean responses when asking if a specific type of request has been made:

• isGet()

• isPost()

• isPut()

• isDelete()

• isHead()

• isOptions()

The primary use case for these is for creating RESTful MVC architectures.

Zend_Controller_Request_Http has a rudimentary method for detecting AJAX requests: isXmlHttpRequest(). This method looks for an HTTP request header X-Requested-With with the value 'XMLHttpRequest'; if found, it returns TRUE.

Currently, this header is known to be passed by default with the following JS libraries:

• Prototype and Scriptaculous (and libraries derived from Prototype)

• Yahoo! UI Library

• jQuery

• MochiKit

Most AJAX libraries allow you to send custom HTTP request headers; if your library does not send this header, simply add it as a request header to ensure the isXmlHttpRequest() method works for you.