diff --git a/lib/formaction.php b/lib/formaction.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..844038d57a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/formaction.php
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Form action extendable class.
+ *
+ * PHP version 5
+ *
+ * @category Action
+ * @package  StatusNet
+ * @author   Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @license  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl.html AGPLv3
+ * @link     http://status.net/
+ *
+ * StatusNet - the distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ * Copyright (C) 2008, 2009, StatusNet, Inc.
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+if (!defined('STATUSNET')) {
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Form action extendable class
+ *
+ * @category Action
+ * @package  StatusNet
+ * @author   Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @author   Mikael Nordfeldth <evan@status.net>
+ * @license  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl.html AGPLv3
+ * @link     http://status.net/
+ */
+class FormAction extends Action
+{
+    protected $form = null;
+    protected $type = null;
+
+    protected function prepare(array $args=array()) {
+        parent::prepare($args);
+
+        $this->form = $this->form ?: $this->action;
+        $this->args['form'] = $this->form;
+
+        $this->type = !is_null($this->type) ? $this->type : $this->trimmed('type');
+        $this->args['context'] = $this->trimmed('action');  // reply for notice for example
+
+        if (!$this->type) {
+            $this->type = null;
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    protected function handle()
+    {
+        parent::handle();
+
+        if ($this->isPost()) {
+            try {
+                $msg = $this->handlePost();
+                $this->showForm($msg, true);
+            } catch (Exception $e) {
+                $this->showForm($e->getMessage());
+            }
+        } else {
+            $this->showForm();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function isReadOnly($args) {
+        return !$this->isPost();
+    }
+
+    public function showForm($msg=null, $success=false)
+    {
+        if ($success) {
+            $this->msg = $msg;
+        } else {
+            $this->error = $msg;
+        }
+        $this->showPage();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets called from handle() if isPost() is true;
+     * @return void
+     */
+    protected function handlePost() {
+        // check for this before token since all POST and FILES data
+        // is losts when size is exceeded
+        if (empty($_POST) && $_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH']>0) {
+            // TRANS: Client error displayed when the number of bytes in a POST request exceeds a limit.
+            // TRANS: %s is the number of bytes of the CONTENT_LENGTH.
+            $msg = _m('The server was unable to handle that much POST data (%s MiB) due to its current configuration.',
+                      'The server was unable to handle that much POST data (%s MiB) due to its current configuration.',
+                      round($_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH']/1024/1024,2));
+            throw new ClientException($msg);
+        }
+
+        $this->checkSessionToken();
+    }
+}