Well, I figured out the answer to my question by looking in the code for the _form_validate() function in form.inc.  For those interested in the resolution, I hadn't unset the $form['nice_menus_number']['#options'] setting in the form, so it was still using the items in the select list as validation parameters.  Once I added this line

unset($form[$form['nice_menus_number']['#options'])

to my form alter function, it worked just as I wanted.

Steve

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	"Illegal Choice" Error When Changing Select List to Text Field
Date:	Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:42:37 -0700
From:	Steve Edwards <killshot91@comcast.net>
To:	support@drupal.org

I'm using the Nice Menus module, and I would like to be able to have more than the 10 menus allowed by the module.  This limit is set by a hardcoded select list on the admin settings page for the module.  I want to modify the form by changing the select list to a text field so that an arbitrary number of menus can be selected.  To do this, I'm using hook_form_alter() to modify the nice_menus_number field in the nice_menus_admin_settings form.  First here is the form code in the module

/**
 * Settings form as implemented by hook_menu
 */
function nice_menus_admin_settings() {
  $form['nice_menus_number'] = array(
    '#type' => 'select',
    '#title' => t('Number of Nice Menus'),
    '#description' => t('The total number of independent nice menus (blocks) you want.'),
    '#default_value' => variable_get('nice_menus_number', '2'),
    '#options' => drupal_map_assoc(array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)),
  );

  return system_settings_form($form);
}

and here is my form alter function:

function cwl_form_alter($form_id, &$form) {
  switch ($form_id) {
      case 'nice_menus_admin_settings':
         $form['nice_menus_number']['#type'] = 'textfield';
         $form['nice_menus_number']['#size'] = 2;        
          break;
    }
}


This works in that it changes the field type to a text field, and the value attribute is the value in the nice_menus_number variable.  This works fine as long as I select a value of 10 or less.  However, if I select a value higher than 10, I get an error that says " An illegal choice has been detected. Please contact the site administrator."

But, if I change my function to also use a select list, like this:

function cwl_form_alter($form_id, &$form) {
  switch ($form_id) {
      case 'nice_menus_admin_settings':
           $form['nice_menus_number']['#options'] = drupal_map_assoc(array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15));
             break;
    }
}

it works fine, and I can select a value higher than 10.  Since it's using the default system_settings_form() function, there isn't a maximum value set somewhere.  Plus, the default value is being set correctly when the form is initially displayed.  Can anybody explain why a select list works, but a text field doesn't?

Thanks.

Steve