Re: [PHP] $_POST vs $_REQUEST

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 9:39 PM, Slack-Moehrle
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have Forms that I submit for processing. I have seen examples of people using either $_POST or $_REQUEST.
>
> When would I choose one over the other?

I like to be specific and go for $_POST, but some people want
flexibility in their code and use $_REQUEST.
It's usually no big deal to me.

>
> Also, I see examples of these being used with and without the single quotes
>
> Like:
>
> $_POST[j_orderValue]
> or
> $_POST['j_orderValue']


i'd expect without quotes to query a define('j_orderValue','??')..

and yea, use single quotes whereever possible..
it's my exp that
'bla bla $var da da' is harder to read (in syntax-highlighted source
editors) than
'bla bla '.$var.' da da'

that's aside from speed improvements, which do add up quickly in high
load situations.

> Single quotes is best, correct to prevent sql injection?

sql injection fixing is an evolving art, but you can start by pushing
all variables that can be changed by end-users going into a database
through a marshalling-function fixSQLinjectionToDB ($var) { return
addslashes($var); };
addslashes is the minimum fix i believe, but google around and give us
back the up-to-date uber-fix-function please :)

Might be wise to look ahead and use a unmarshalling function
placeholder fixSQLinjectionFromDB() for any (varchar/text) variable
coming from the database and being used by your program for anything.

You'll have to look ahead; if you allow endusers to store any text in
your database, you can't just re-use that text in your output HTML
another time. you will need something that strips bad html, <img>s,
flash, and javascript, to be completely secure. I've once been
infected with a piece of very cryptic js (that loaded quite a bit more
into the browser) that caused my site to be blacklisted by google..
Big fat red-black warnings by firefox about it too..

lastly, it also helps to use something like adodb.sf.net as a database
abstraction engine, btw.