Ref T5702. This is a forward-looking change which provides some very broad API improvements but does not implement them. In particular:
- Controllers no longer require $request to construct. This is mostly for T5702, directly, but simplifies things in general. Instead, we call setRequest() before using a controller. Only a small number of sites activate controllers, so this is less code overall, and more consistent with most constructors not having any parameters or effects.
- $request now offers getURIData($key, ...). This is an alternate way of accessing $data which is currently only available on willProcessRequest(array $data). Almost all controllers which implement this method do so in order to read one or two things out of the URI data. Instead, let them just read this data directly when processing the request.
- Introduce handleRequest(AphrontRequest $request) and deprecate (very softly) processRequest(). The majority of processRequest() calls begin $request = $this->getRequest(), which is avoided with the more practical signature.
- Provide getViewer() on $request, and a convenience getViewer() on $controller. This fixes $viewer = $request->getUser(); into $viewer = $request->getViewer();, and converts the $request + $viewer two-liner into a single $this->getViewer().