Request & Response Objects¶

Request Parameters¶

The request exposes routing parameters through the getParam() method:

$controllerName = $this->request->getParam('controller');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$controllerName = $this->request->param('controller');

To get all routing parameters as an array use getAttribute():

$parameters = $this->request->getAttribute('params');

All Route Elements are accessed through this interface.

In addition to Route Elements, you also often need access to Passed Arguments. These are both available on the request object as well:

// Passed arguments
$passedArgs = $this->request->getParam('pass');

Will all provide you access to the passed arguments. There are several important/useful parameters that CakePHP uses internally, these are also all found in the routing parameters:

• plugin The plugin handling the request. Will be null when there is no plugin.

• controller The controller handling the current request.

• action The action handling the current request.

• prefix The prefix for the current action. See Prefix Routing for more information.

Query String Parameters¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getQuery($name)¶

Query string parameters can be read using the getQuery() method:

// URL is /posts/index?page=1&sort=title
$page = $this->request->getQuery('page');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$page = $this->request->query('page');

You can either directly access the query property, or you can use getQuery() method to read the URL query array in an error-free manner. Any keys that do not exist will return null:

$foo = $this->request->getQuery('value_that_does_not_exist');
// $foo === null

// You can also provide default values
$foo = $this->request->getQuery('does_not_exist', 'default val');

If you want to access all the query parameters you can use getQueryParams():

$query = $this->request->getQueryParams();

Request Body Data¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getData($name, $default = null)¶

All POST data can be accessed using Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getData(). Any form data that contains a data prefix will have that data prefix removed. For example:

// An input with a name attribute equal to 'MyModel[title]' is accessible at
$title = $this->request->getData('MyModel.title');

Any keys that do not exist will return null:

$foo = $this->request->getData('Value.that.does.not.exist');
// $foo == null

File Uploads¶

Uploaded files can be accessed through the request body data, using the Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getData() method described above. For example, a file from an input element with a name attribute of MyModel[attachment], can be accessed like this:

$attachment = $this->request->getData('MyModel.attachment');

By default file uploads are represented in the request data as arrays, with a normalized structure that remains the same even for nested inputs/names, which is different from how PHP represents them in the $_FILES superglobal (refer to the PHP manual for more information), ie the $attachment value would look something like this:

[
    'name' => 'attachment.txt',
    'type' => 'text/plain',
    'size' => 123,
    'tmp_name' => '/tmp/hfz6dbn.tmp'
    'error' => 0
]

Alternatively it’s possible to have CakePHP provide the uploads in the request data as objects that implement \Psr\Http\Message\UploadedFileInterface. In order to enable this behavior, set the configuration value App.uploadedFilesAsObjects to true, for example in your config/app.php file:

return [
    // ...
    'App' => [
        // ...
        'uploadedFilesAsObjects' => true,
    ],
    // ...
];

In the above example, $attachment would then hold an object, in the current implementation it would by default be an instance of \Zend\Diactoros\UploadedFile.

Furthermore uploaded files can be accessed as objects separately from the request data via the Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getUploadedFile() and Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getUploadedFiles() methods. These methods will always return objects, irrespectively of the App.uploadedFilesAsObjects configuration.

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getUploadedFile($path)¶

Returns the uploaded file at a specific path. The path uses the same dot syntax as the Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getData() method:

$attachment = $this->request->getUploadedFile('MyModel.attachment');

Unlike Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getData(), Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getUploadedFile() would only return data when an actual file upload exists for the given path, if there is regular, non-file request body data present at the given path, then this method will return null, just like it would for any non-existent path.

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getUploadedFiles()¶

Returns all uploaded files in a normalized array structure. For the above example with the file input name of MyModel[attachment], the structure would look like:

[
    'MyModel' => [
        'attachment' => object(Zend\Diactoros\UploadedFile) {
            // ...
        }
    ]
]

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::withUploadedFiles(array $files)¶

This method sets the uploaded files of the request object, it accepts an array of objects that implement \Psr\Http\Message\UploadedFileInterface. It will replace all possibly existing uploaded files:

$files = [
    'MyModel' => [
        'attachment' => new \Zend\Diactoros\UploadedFile(
            $streamOrFile,
            $size,
            $errorStatus,
            $clientFilename,
            $clientMediaType
        ),
        'anotherAttachment' => new \Zend\Diactoros\UploadedFile(
            '/tmp/hfz6dbn.tmp',
            123,
            \UPLOAD_ERR_OK,
            'attachment.txt',
            'text/plain'
        ),
    ],
];

$this->request = $this->request->withUploadedFiles($files);

PUT, PATCH or DELETE Data¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::input($callback[, $options])¶

When building REST services, you often accept request data on PUT and DELETE requests. Any application/x-www-form-urlencoded request body data will automatically be parsed and set to $this->data for PUT and DELETE requests. If you are accepting JSON or XML data, see below for how you can access those request bodies.

When accessing the input data, you can decode it with an optional function. This is useful when interacting with XML or JSON request body content. Additional parameters for the decoding function can be passed as arguments to input():

$jsonData = $this->request->input('json_decode');

Environment Variables (from $_SERVER and $_ENV)¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::env($key, $value = null)¶

ServerRequest::env() is a wrapper for env() global function and acts as a getter/setter for environment variables without having to modify globals $_SERVER and $_ENV:

// Get the host
$host = $this->request->env('HTTP_HOST');

// Set a value, generally helpful in testing.
$this->request->env('REQUEST_METHOD', 'POST');

To access all the environment variables in a request use getServerParams():

$env = $this->request->getServerParams();

XML or JSON Data¶

Applications employing REST often exchange data in non-URL-encoded post bodies. You can read input data in any format using input(). By providing a decoding function, you can receive the content in a deserialized format:

// Get JSON encoded data submitted to a PUT/POST action
$jsonData = $this->request->input('json_decode');

Some deserializing methods require additional parameters when called, such as the ‘as array’ parameter on json_decode. If you want XML converted into a DOMDocument object, input() supports passing in additional parameters as well:

// Get XML encoded data submitted to a PUT/POST action
$data = $this->request->input('Cake\Utility\Xml::build', ['return' => 'domdocument']);

Path Information¶

The request object also provides useful information about the paths in your application. The base and webroot attributes are useful for generating URLs, and determining whether or not your application is in a subdirectory. The attributes you can use are:

// Assume the current request URL is /subdir/articles/edit/1?page=1

// Holds /subdir/articles/edit/1?page=1
$here = $request->getRequestTarget();

// Holds /subdir
$base = $request->getAttribute('base');

// Holds /subdir/
$base = $request->getAttribute('webroot');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$webroot = $request->webroot;
$base = $request->base;
$here = $request->here();

Checking Request Conditions¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::is($type, $args...)¶

The request object provides an easy way to inspect certain conditions in a given request. By using the is() method you can check a number of common conditions, as well as inspect other application specific request criteria:

$isPost = $this->request->is('post');

You can also extend the request detectors that are available, by using Cake\Http\ServerRequest::addDetector() to create new kinds of detectors. There are different types of detectors that you can create:

• Environment value comparison - Compares a value fetched from env() for equality with the provided value.

• Header value comparison - If the specified header exists with the specified value, or if the callable returns true.

• Pattern value comparison - Pattern value comparison allows you to compare a value fetched from env() to a regular expression.

• Option based comparison - Option based comparisons use a list of options to create a regular expression. Subsequent calls to add an already defined options detector will merge the options.

• Callback detectors - Callback detectors allow you to provide a ‘callback’ type to handle the check. The callback will receive the request object as its only parameter.

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::addDetector($name, $options)¶

Some examples would be:

// Add an environment detector.
$this->request->addDetector(
    'post',
    ['env' => 'REQUEST_METHOD', 'value' => 'POST']
);

// Add a pattern value detector.
$this->request->addDetector(
    'iphone',
    ['env' => 'HTTP_USER_AGENT', 'pattern' => '/iPhone/i']
);

// Add an option detector
$this->request->addDetector('internalIp', [
    'env' => 'CLIENT_IP',
    'options' => ['192.168.0.101', '192.168.0.100']
]);


// Add a header detector with value comparison
$this->request->addDetector('fancy', [
    'env' => 'CLIENT_IP',
    'header' => ['X-Fancy' => 1]
]);

// Add a header detector with callable comparison
$this->request->addDetector('fancy', [
    'env' => 'CLIENT_IP',
    'header' => ['X-Fancy' => function ($value, $header) {
        return in_array($value, ['1', '0', 'yes', 'no'], true);
    }]
]);

// Add a callback detector. Must be a valid callable.
$this->request->addDetector(
    'awesome',
    function ($request) {
        return $request->getParam('awesome');
    }
);

// Add a detector that uses multiple condition types
// If any type matches the check passes.
$this->request->addDetector(
    'csv',
    [
        'accept' => ['text/csv'],
        'param' => '_ext',
        'value' => 'csv',
    ]
);

There are several built-in detectors that you can use:

• is('get') Check to see whether the current request is a GET.

• is('put') Check to see whether the current request is a PUT.

• is('patch') Check to see whether the current request is a PATCH.

• is('post') Check to see whether the current request is a POST.

• is('delete') Check to see whether the current request is a DELETE.

• is('head') Check to see whether the current request is HEAD.

• is('options') Check to see whether the current request is OPTIONS.

• is('ajax') Check to see whether the current request came with X-Requested-With = XMLHttpRequest.

• is('ssl') Check to see whether the request is via SSL.

• is('flash') Check to see whether the request has a User-Agent of Flash.

• is('requested') Check to see whether the request has a query param ‘requested’ with value 1.

• is('json') Check to see whether the request has ‘json’ extension and accept ‘application/json’ mimetype.

• is('xml') Check to see whether the request has ‘xml’ extension and accept ‘application/xml’ or ‘text/xml’ mimetype.

ServerRequest also includes methods like Cake\Http\ServerRequest::domain(), Cake\Http\ServerRequest::subdomains() and Cake\Http\ServerRequest::host() to make applications that use subdomains simpler.

Session Data¶

To access the session for a given request use the session() method:

$userName = $this->request->session()->read('Auth.User.name');

For more information, see the Sessions documentation for how to use the session object.

Host and Domain Name¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::domain($tldLength = 1)¶

Returns the domain name your application is running on:

// Prints 'example.org'
echo $request->domain();

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::subdomains($tldLength = 1)¶

Returns the subdomains your application is running on as an array:

// Returns ['my', 'dev'] for 'my.dev.example.org'
$subdomains = $request->subdomains();

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::host()¶

Returns the host your application is on:

// Prints 'my.dev.example.org'
echo $request->host();

Reading the HTTP Method¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::getMethod()¶

Returns the HTTP method the request was made with:

// Output POST
echo $request->getMethod();

// Prior to 3.4.0
echo $request->method();

Restricting Which HTTP method an Action Accepts¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::allowMethod($methods)¶

Set allowed HTTP methods. If not matched, will throw MethodNotAllowedException. The 405 response will include the required Allow header with the passed methods:

public function delete()
{
    // Only accept POST and DELETE requests
    $this->request->allowMethod(['post', 'delete']);
    ...
}

Reading HTTP Headers¶

Allows you to access any of the HTTP_* headers that were used for the request. For example:

// Get the header as a string
$userAgent = $this->request->getHeaderLine('User-Agent');

// Get an array of all values.
$acceptHeader = $this->request->getHeader('Accept');

// Check if a header exists
$hasAcceptHeader = $this->request->hasHeader('Accept');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$userAgent = $this->request->header('User-Agent');

While some apache installs don’t make the Authorization header accessible, CakePHP will make it available through apache specific methods as required.

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::referer($local = false)¶

Returns the referring address for the request.

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::clientIp()¶

Returns the current visitor’s IP address.

Trusting Proxy Headers¶

If your application is behind a load balancer or running on a cloud service, you will often get the load balancer host, port and scheme in your requests. Often load balancers will also send HTTP-X-Forwarded-* headers with the original values. The forwarded headers will not be used by CakePHP out of the box. To have the request object use these headers set the trustProxy property to true:

$this->request->trustProxy = true;

// These methods will now use the proxied headers.
$port = $this->request->port();
$host = $this->request->host();
$scheme = $this->request->scheme();
$clientIp = $this->request->clientIp();

Once proxies are trusted the clientIp() method will use the last IP address in the X-Forwarded-For header. If your application is behind multiple proxies, you can use setTrustedProxies() to define the IP addresses of proxies in your control:

$request->setTrustedProxies(['127.1.1.1', '127.8.1.3']);

After proxies are trusted clientIp() will use the first IP address in the X-Forwarded-For header providing it is the only value that isn’t from a trusted proxy.

Checking Accept Headers¶

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::accepts($type = null)¶

Find out which content types the client accepts, or check whether it accepts a particular type of content.

Get all types:

$accepts = $this->request->accepts();

Check for a single type:

$acceptsJson = $this->request->accepts('application/json');

Cake\Http\ServerRequest::acceptLanguage($language = null)¶

Get all the languages accepted by the client, or check whether a specific language is accepted.

Get the list of accepted languages:

$acceptsLanguages = $this->request->acceptLanguage();

Check whether a specific language is accepted:

$acceptsSpanish = $this->request->acceptLanguage('es-es');

Cookies¶

Request cookies can be read through a number of methods:

// Get the cookie value, or null if the cookie is missing.
$rememberMe = $this->request->getCookie('remember_me');

// Read the value, or get the default of 0
$rememberMe = $this->request->getCookie('remember_me', 0);

// Get all cookies as an hash
$cookies = $this->request->getCookieParams();

// Get a CookieCollection instance (starting with 3.5.0)
$cookies = $this->request->getCookieCollection()

See the Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection documentation for how to work with cookie collection.

Dealing with Content Types¶

Cake\Http\Response::withType($contentType = null)¶

You can control the Content-Type of your application’s responses with Cake\Http\Response::withType(). If your application needs to deal with content types that are not built into Response, you can map them with type() as well:

// Add a vCard type
$this->response->type(['vcf' => 'text/v-card']);

// Set the response Content-Type to vcard.
$this->response = $this->response->withType('vcf');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$this->response->type('vcf');

Usually, you’ll want to map additional content types in your controller’s beforeFilter() callback, so you can leverage the automatic view switching features of RequestHandlerComponent if you are using it.

Sending Files¶

Cake\Http\Response::withFile($path, $options = [])¶

There are times when you want to send files as responses for your requests. You can accomplish that by using Cake\Http\Response::withFile():

public function sendFile($id)
{
    $file = $this->Attachments->getFile($id);
    $response = $this->response->withFile($file['path']);
    // Return the response to prevent controller from trying to render
    // a view.
    return $response;
}

// Prior to 3.4.0
$file = $this->Attachments->getFile($id);
$this->response->file($file['path']);
// Return the response to prevent controller from trying to render
// a view.
return $this->response;

As shown in the above example, you must pass the file path to the method. CakePHP will send a proper content type header if it’s a known file type listed in Cake\Http\Response::$_mimeTypes. You can add new types prior to calling Cake\Http\Response::withFile() by using the Cake\Http\Response::withType() method.

If you want, you can also force a file to be downloaded instead of displayed in the browser by specifying the options:

$response = $this->response->withFile(
    $file['path'],
    ['download' => true, 'name' => 'foo']
);

// Prior to 3.4.0
$this->response->file(
    $file['path'],
    ['download' => true, 'name' => 'foo']
);

The supported options are:

name

The name allows you to specify an alternate file name to be sent to the user.

download

A boolean value indicating whether headers should be set to force download.

Sending a String as File¶

You can respond with a file that does not exist on the disk, such as a pdf or an ics generated on the fly from a string:

public function sendIcs()
{
    $icsString = $this->Calendars->generateIcs();
    $response = $this->response;

    // Inject string content into response body (3.4.0+)
    $response = $response->withStringBody($icsString);

    // Inject string content into response body (before 3.4.0)
    $response->body($icsString);

    $response = $response->withType('ics');

    // Optionally force file download
    $response = $response->withDownload('filename_for_download.ics');

    // Return response object to prevent controller from trying to render
    // a view.
    return $response;
}

Callbacks can also return the body as a string:

$path = '/some/file.png';
$this->response->body(function () use ($path) {
    return file_get_contents($path);
});

Setting Headers¶

Cake\Http\Response::withHeader($header, $value)¶

Setting headers is done with the Cake\Http\Response::withHeader() method. Like all of the PSR-7 interface methods, this method returns a new instance with the new header:

// Add/replace a header
$response = $response->withHeader('X-Extra', 'My header');

// Set multiple headers
$response = $response->withHeader('X-Extra', 'My header')
    ->withHeader('Location', 'http://example.com');

// Append a value to an existing header
$response = $response->withAddedHeader('Set-Cookie', 'remember_me=1');

// Prior to 3.4.0 - Set a header
$this->response->header('Location', 'http://example.com');

Headers are not sent when set. Instead, they are held until the response is emitted by Cake\Http\Server.

You can now use the convenience method Cake\Http\Response::withLocation() to directly set or get the redirect location header.

Setting the Body¶

Cake\Http\Response::withStringBody($string)¶

To set a string as the response body, do the following:

// Set a string into the body
$response = $response->withStringBody('My Body');

// If you want a json response
$response = $response->withType('application/json')
    ->withStringBody(json_encode(['Foo' => 'bar']));

Cake\Http\Response::withBody($body)¶

To set the response body, use the withBody() method, which is provided by the Zend\Diactoros\MessageTrait:

$response = $response->withBody($stream);

// Prior to 3.4.0 - Set the body
$this->response->body('My Body');

Be sure that $stream is a Psr\Http\Message\StreamInterface object. See below on how to create a new stream.

You can also stream responses from files using Zend\Diactoros\Stream streams:

// To stream from a file
use Zend\Diactoros\Stream;

$stream = new Stream('/path/to/file', 'rb');
$response = $response->withBody($stream);

You can also stream responses from a callback using the CallbackStream. This is useful when you have resources like images, CSV files or PDFs you need to stream to the client:

// Streaming from a callback
use Cake\Http\CallbackStream;

// Create an image.
$img = imagecreate(100, 100);
// ...

$stream = new CallbackStream(function () use ($img) {
    imagepng($img);
});
$response = $response->withBody($stream);

// Prior to 3.4.0 you can use the following to create streaming responses.
$file = fopen('/some/file.png', 'r');
$this->response->body(function () use ($file) {
    rewind($file);
    fpassthru($file);
    fclose($file);
});

Setting the Character Set¶

Cake\Http\Response::withCharset($charset)¶

Sets the charset that will be used in the response:

$this->response = $this->response->withCharset('UTF-8');

// Prior to 3.4.0
$this->response->charset('UTF-8');

Interacting with Browser Caching¶

Cake\Http\Response::withDisabledCache()¶

You sometimes need to force browsers not to cache the results of a controller action. Cake\Http\Response::withDisabledCache() is intended for just that:

public function index()
{
    // Disable caching
    $this->response = $this->response->withDisabledCache();

    // Prior to 3.4.0
    $this->response->disableCache();
}

Cake\Http\Response::withCache($since, $time = '+1 day')¶

You can also tell clients that you want them to cache responses. By using Cake\Http\Response::withCache():

public function index()
{
    // Enable caching
    $this->response = $this->response->withCache('-1 minute', '+5 days');
}

The above would tell clients to cache the resulting response for 5 days, hopefully speeding up your visitors’ experience. The withCache() method sets the Last-Modified value to the first argument. Expires header and the max-age directive are set based on the second parameter. Cache-Control’s public directive is set as well.

Fine Tuning HTTP Cache¶

One of the best and easiest ways of speeding up your application is to use HTTP cache. Under this caching model, you are only required to help clients decide if they should use a cached copy of the response by setting a few headers such as modified time and response entity tag.

Rather than forcing you to code the logic for caching and for invalidating (refreshing) it once the data has changed, HTTP uses two models, expiration and validation, which usually are much simpler to use.

Apart from using Cake\Http\Response::withCache(), you can also use many other methods to fine-tune HTTP cache headers to take advantage of browser or reverse proxy caching.

Cache-Control: private, max-age=3600, must-revalidate

public function view()
{
    // ...
    // Set the Cache-Control as public for 3600 seconds
    $this->response = $this->response->withSharable(true, 3600);
}

public function my_data()
{
    // ...
    // Set the Cache-Control as private for 3600 seconds
    $this->response = $this->response->withSharable(false, 3600);
}

public function view()
{
    $this->response = $this->response->withExpires('+5 days');
}

public function index()
{
    $articles = $this->Articles->find('all');

    // Simple checksum of the article contents.
    // You should use a more efficient implementation
    // in a real world application.
    $checksum = md5(json_encode($articles));

    $response = $this->response->withEtag($checksum);
    if ($response->checkNotModified($this->request)) {
        return $response;
    }

    $this->response = $response;
    // ...
}

public function view()
{
    $article = $this->Articles->find()->first();
    $response = $this->response->withModified($article->modified);
    if ($response->checkNotModified($this->request)) {
        return $response;
    }
    $this->response;
    // ...
}

$response = $this->response->withVary('User-Agent');
$response = $this->response->withVary('Accept-Encoding', 'User-Agent');
$response = $this->response->withVary('Accept-Language');

// In a controller action.
if ($this->response->checkNotModified($this->request)) {
    return $this->response;
}

Creating Cookies¶

class Cake\Http\Cookie\Cookie¶

Cookie objects can be defined through constructor objects, or by using the fluent interface that follows immutable patterns:

use Cake\Http\Cookie\Cookie;

// All arguments in the constructor
$cookie = new Cookie(
    'remember_me', // name
    1, // value
    new DateTime('+1 year'), // expiration time, if applicable
    '/', // path, if applicable
    'example.com', // domain, if applicable
    false, // secure only?
    true // http only ?
);

// Using the builder methods
$cookie = (new Cookie('remember_me'))
    ->withValue('1')
    ->withExpiry(new DateTime('+1 year'))
    ->withPath('/')
    ->withDomain('example.com')
    ->withSecure(false)
    ->withHttpOnly(true);

Once you have created a cookie, you can add it to a new or existing CookieCollection:

use Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection;

// Create a new collection
$cookies = new CookieCollection([$cookie]);

// Add to an existing collection
$cookies = $cookies->add($cookie);

// Remove a cookie by name
$cookies = $cookies->remove('remember_me');

Cookie objects can be added to responses:

// Add one cookie
$response = $this->response->withCookie($cookie);

// Replace the entire cookie collection
$response = $this->response->withCookieCollection($cookies);

Cookies set to responses can be encrypted using the Encrypted Cookie Middleware.

Reading Cookies¶

Once you have a CookieCollection instance, you can access the cookies it contains:

// Check if a cookie exists
$cookies->has('remember_me');

// Get the number of cookies in the collection
count($cookies);

// Get a cookie instance
$cookie = $cookies->get('remember_me');

Once you have a Cookie object you can interact with it’s state and modify it. Keep in mind that cookies are immutable, so you’ll need to update the collection if you modify a cookie:

// Get the value
$value = $cookie->getValue()

// Access data inside a JSON value
$id = $cookie->read('User.id');

// Check state
$cookie->isHttpOnly();
$cookie->isSecure();