title: Best way to handle request variables in Django
body: <p>I have a form 'in the wild' that takes many different variables - which may or may not be populated.  </p>
  
  <pre><code>   try:
          app_version = request.REQUEST["appVersion"]
      except:
          app_version = ''
  
      try:
          app_name = request.REQUEST["appName"]
      except:
          app_name = ''
  
      try:
          app_code_name = request.REQUEST["appCodeName"]
      except:
          app_code_name = ''
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there a tighter way to accomplish this?</p>