Retrieving input from either GET/POST

Today, I created an input class with a method to check whether or not input via GET/POST exists, and another method to retrieve input from either GET/POST, without having to check both individually.

class input {
        public static function exists($type = 'post') {
            switch ($type) {
                case "post":
                    return (!empty($_POST)) ? true : false;
                break;
                case "get":
                    return (!empty($_GET)) ? true : false;
                break;
                default:
                    return false;
                break;
            }

        }

        public static function get($data) {
            if (isset($_GET[$data])){
                return $_GET[$data];
            } else if (isset($_POST[$data])){
                return $_POST[$data];
            } else {
                return '';
            }
        } 
    }

Here is my form and example usage:

    
        
            
                Username
            
                 
        
        
            
                Password
            
                 
        
        
            
                Confirm Password
            
                 
        
        
            
        
    

First of all, is it okay for me to access the methods in the way that I have? Is using statics in this way bad practice?

Secondly, aside from what I asked above, are there any recommendations or improvements that you can suggest?

I see a few small issues with the code:

• Method names: particularly get is quite ambiguous, I'd use something more descriptive like 'get_element_data($element_name)' or something like that. As it is now it is obvious when used but it's not clear when looking just at the class itself.

• Instead of return (!empty($_GET)) ? true : false; you can actually use just return (!empty($_GET))

• You don't need to break after return. Some might, however, argue that using it anyway is a good practice that prevents errors. So choose for yourself.

Other than that, I don't see any big problems with it.

StackExchange Code Review Q#73398, answer score: 4