📥 HTTP Requests

The Request class in PageBlocks provides a simple yet powerful way to work with incoming HTTP requests. It wraps superglobal variables ($_GET, $_POST, $_FILES, $_SERVER, etc.) and offers a clean API for accessing data, headers, files, checking request type, and validation.

You can obtain a request instance in two ways:

🧩 Via Global Helper

request()               // Returns the Request instance
request('email')        // Immediately returns the value by key

The request() helper is a shortcut to get the current HTTP request or a specific parameter value.

⚙️ Via Dependency Injection in Closure

use Boshnik\PageBlocks\Http\Request;

Route::get('/', function (Request $request) {
    $email = $request->email;
});

The Request class is automatically injected into route closures or controllers when specified in parameters.

📍 Path and URL

path() — request path without domain

request()->path(); // '/catalog/items'

url() — current URL (without parameters)

request()->url(); // 'https://example.com/catalog/items'

fullUrl() — full request URL

request()->fullUrl(); // 'https://example.com/catalog/items?sort=price'

rootUrl() — site base URL

request()->rootUrl(); // 'https://example.com'

isSecure() — whether the request is secure (HTTPS)

request()->isSecure(); // true or false

📡 Request Method

method() — returns HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT...)

if (request()->method() === 'POST') {
    // form processing
}

isMethod() — checks request type

if (request()->isMethod('post')) {
    //...
}

🧾 Headers

header($key) — get a header

request()->header('Accept'); // 'text/html,application/xhtml+xml,...'

hasHeader($key) — check if header exists

request()->hasHeader('Authorization');

🌐 Client IP Address

request()->ip(); // e.g.: '192.168.1.10'

🔍 Checking Request Type

ajax() — is this an AJAX request?

if (request()->ajax()) {
    return json(['ok' => true]);
}

isJson() — does the request contain JSON?

request()->isJson(); // true if JSON in Content-Type or Accept

expectsJson() — does the client expect JSON response?

request()->expectsJson(); // true for API

accepts(array $types) — does the client support the required type?

request()->accepts(['application/json', 'text/html']);

📥 Getting Data

input($key) — get any input value (GET, POST, JSON, FILES)

request()->input('email');
request('email');

get($key, $default) — same as above

request()->get('email', 'no@email.com');

has($key) — does the value exist?

if (request()->has('token')) {
    // ...
}

💾 All Request Data

request()->all(); // returns array from query + post + json + files

✉️ Getting GET and POST

request()->query('id');     // $_GET['id']
request()->post('name');    // $_POST['name']

🧪 Getting JSON Data

If the request contains Content-Type: application/json, you can get:

request()->json('title');  // single value
request()->json();         // entire JSON

Example:

{
  "title": "Hello world",
  "tags": ["php", "modx"]
}

📁 Working with Files

hasFile($key) — was a file uploaded

if (request()->hasFile('avatar')) {
    // ...
}

file($key) — get uploaded file

$file = request()->file('avatar');
$file->store('uploads/'); // UploadedFile::store($directory, $filename)

For a multi-file input, file() returns an array of UploadedFile objects.

allFiles() — get all files

$all = request()->allFiles(); // array of files, keyed by input name

🧪 Data Validation

$data = request()->validate([
    'email' => 'required|email',
    'password' => 'required|min:6',
]);

If validation fails, nothing is thrown and nothing is returned: the error response is sent and the request stops right there (JSON with status 422 for AJAX, a redirect back with {$errors} and {$old_input} otherwise). So there is nothing to catch — the code after validate() only runs on valid input. See Validation.

🔮 Magic Properties

You can access data directly as properties:

$name = request()->name;

request()->city = 'Kyiv';

🧰 Full Request Handling Example

public function store(Request $request)
{
    // Form data validation
    $validated = $request->validate([
        'honeypot'   => 'empty',
        'pagetitle'  => 'required|unique:modResource',
        'alias'      => 'nullable|string',
        'template'   => 'required|numeric|exists:modTemplate,id',
        'content'    => 'nullable|string',
    ]);

    // Merge with default MODX resource values
    $data = array_merge([
        'class_key'     => 'modDocument',
        'context_key'   => 'web',
        'content_type'  => 1,
        'published'     => 1,
        'publishedon'   => '',
        'publishedby'   => $this->modx->user->id ?? 1,
        'deleted'       => 0,
    ], $validated);

    // Save resource
    $status = query(\modResource::class)->create($data);

    return $status
        ? response()->success('Resource created successfully')
        : response()->error('Error creating resource');
}

📌 Summary

Method	Description
request() or $request in controller	Get request instance
input(), get()	Get value by key
all()	All request data
method(), isMethod()	Request method
header(), hasHeader()	Headers
ip()	Client IP
ajax(), isJson(), expectsJson()	Request type
json()	Request JSON body
file(), hasFile(), allFiles()	Working with files
validate()	Input data validation