[development] Forms API -- default values without anything in database

[Marco Carbone]

See, e.g., http://drupal.org/node/56129.

-marco

On Nov 24, 2007 2:21 PM, Syscrusher <syscrusher at 4th.com> wrote:
> I've been pounding my head against this one all afternoon, and have been all
> through the documentation, and am utterly stymied. I can't even find an extant
> module that does this, but I'm certain _someone_ has already invented this
> wheel.
>
> I'm working with a fresh CVS checkout of Drupal 5.x.
>
> I have a module that creates and maintains a database table that is NOT related
> in any way to nodes. I am implementing a search function that presents a form
> allowing users to enter the desired match values, then presents a table with
> a list of matching records. No problem on any of this.
>
> The problem is how do I get the form to REDISPLAY the search values when it has
> been submitted, so that they become the default values for the search fields
> next time?
>
> My form creation code looks similar to this:
>
> function mymodule_form_query($form_values = null) {
>         $form = array(
>                 'basic' => array(
>                         '#type' => 'fieldset',
>                         '#tree' => false,
>                         '#title' => t('Basic search'),
>                         'last_name' => array(
>                                 '#type' => 'textfield',
>                                 '#title' => t('Last name'),
>                                 '#size' => 35,
>                                 '#maxlength' => 35,
>                                 '#weight' => -10,
>                                 '#value' => $form_values['last_name'],
>                         ),
>         [...snip...]
>         return $form;
> }
>
> and the page that processes the query has a menu callback akin to this:
>
> function mymodule_query_page() {
>         $form_values = $_POST;
>         $html = drupal_get_form('mymodule_form_query', $form_values);
>         return $html;
> }
>
> Now, if I do a var_dump() in the page function, it shows that the last_name field
> is set in the $_POST array when the form is submitted. But it seems to have no
> effect in the mymodule_form_query function. That function is called TWICE, once with
> values in $_POST and again with nothing. It seems that the only time it pays
> attention to its #value (or #default_value -- I've tried both) options is the
> second time it's called, that is, when $form_values is empty. Ergo, no values
> for the fields.
>
> I've tried this as well, with no effect:
>
> function mymodule_form_query_submit($form_id, $form_values) {
>         $GLOBALS['mymodule_query'] = $form_values;
> }
>
> and then querying $GLOBALS['mymodule_query']['last_name'] in the mymodule_form_query()
> function to obtain the value. Although trace code within the submit shows that
> the value is in fact present there, somehow my global variable is erased or
> ignored by the time it gets to the form building process.
>
> Oddly, if I change the form to GET rather than POST method, the $_GET variable
> behaves the way I would have expected $_POST to work, and the fields are filled
> in. But it's really ugly to do it that way, because among other things the URL
> then contains the form_token and may be bookmarked by users as such -- Not Good.
>
> What am I doing wrong here? Someone has to have done this before, so I'd
> greatly appreciate any assistance. What's the RIGHT way to do this? Is there
> a place where Drupal actually nukes all global variables during initialization,
> and where it erases $_POST?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Scott
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Syscrusher (Scott Courtney)          Drupal page:   http://drupal.org/user/9184
> syscrusher at 4th dot com            Home page:     http://4th.com/
>