PHP: a short cut for isset and !empty?

Question

I wonder if there any better ideas to solve the problem below,

I have a form with a number of input fields, such as,

Answer 1

I'm always making myself unpoular with that. But the best approach is to get over the micro optimization mantra and use the syntax construct which was devised for that @.

Factually I'm lying. I'm all too often using isset() myself. (But at least I know it's not very bright.) And for new projects I'm now using object-oriented superglobals, which combine filtering and implicit isset tests into $_POST, $_GET, $_REQUEST wrappers. $_REQUEST->ascii["title"] or $_GET["raw"] don't bring up debug messages anymore.