Get the Request from current URI and pass it to helper

Question

I'm fairly new in Magento, what I'm trying to do is to get the request from URL and get the specific Parameter from it then pass it to Helper, in helper I need to check that specific parameter and run the correct function which is related to that specific parameter, Grateful if anyone can help me through this?

So, I already created my Controller file which is TestController.php

    <?php 

class Test_Request_TestController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $params = $this->getRequest()->getParams();
        foreach ($params as $key => $value) 
        {
            if($key == 'something')
            {
                echo Mage::helper('request')->getProducts();
            }
        }
    }
}

and here is my config.xml

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Test_Request>
            <version>0.0.1</version>
        </Test_Request>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <Test>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>Test_Request</module>
                    <frontName>Test</frontName>
                </args>
            </Test>
        </routers>
    </frontend>
    <global>
        <helpers>
            <request>
                <class>Test_Request_Helper</class>
            </request>
        </helpers>
    </global>
</config>

and I've been created my helper

Data.php

<?php

class Test_Request_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{
    public function getProducts()
    {
        echo 'products';
    }
}

What I did is, I created function in helper class and I want to check the parameters of the URL under controller if the parameter is the same as the thing I want I want to call the function from helper, is that right ?? because I keep getting this error:

Warning: include(/var/www/html/magento/includes/src/Test_Request_Helper_Data.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory  in /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/Varien_Autoload.php on line 93

#0 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/Varien_Autoload.php(93): mageCoreErrorHandler(2, 'include(/var/ww...', '/var/www/html/m...', 93, Array)
#1 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/Varien_Autoload.php(93): Varien_Autoload::autoload()
#2 [internal function]: Varien_Autoload->autoload('Test_Request_He...')
#3 /var/www/html/magento/app/Mage.php(547): spl_autoload_call('Test_Request_He...')
#4 /var/www/html/magento/app/code/community/Test/Request/controllers/TestController.php(12): Mage::helper('request')
#5 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/__default.php(14015): Test_Request_TestController->indexAction()
#6 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/__default.php(18399): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Action->dispatch('index')
#7 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/__default.php(17933): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard->match(Object(Mage_Core_Controller_Request_Http))
#8 /var/www/html/magento/includes/src/__default.php(20705): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Front->dispatch()
#9 /var/www/html/magento/app/Mage.php(684): Mage_Core_Model_App->run(Array)
#10 /var/www/html/magento/index.php(87): Mage::run('', 'store')
#11 {main}

I really don't know where this coming from, Please let me know if you have any idea how to fix this issue, thanks :)

Answer 1

To get parameter from the request use below code in a method in any class,

$param = $this->getRequest()->getParam('paramname');

To get all parameter in the request,

$params = $this->getRequest()->getParams();

Then you need to pass this to helper so forex:-

Mage::helper('modulename/helpername')->methodgettingparam($param);

if your helper is Data.php then just use 'modulename' only.

Hope this is what you need.

Answer 2

You don't need to do pass the parameter value explicitly to the Helper.

The class: Mage_Core_Model_App can be accessed from anywhere in Magento using the Mage super class' app() method. The class Mage_Core_Model_App has a method: getRequest() that provides you with the request object anywhere - Blocks, Helpers, Models even controllers.

So do this:  $paramVal = Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('paramkey');

Get Param() can also take a second param to stand as the default value to be returned in case the paramKey does not exist in $_REQUEST.