managed_file form item in system settings form causes error in form_state_values_clean()

Seconded.

The extra added buttons (upload and remove) seem to be causing this. They don't seem to have any values and one thing the submit handler (added by system_settings_form()) does is to remove any values buttons may have added to from $form_state['values'].

One possible way is to set the '#parents' attribute of each upload and remove button to an empty array. However, I don't know if this is a good idea.

In a submit handler (ran before the system_settings_form() one):

foreach($form_state['buttons'] as $delta => &$button) {
  if (preg_match('/managed_file_element_name_(upload|remove)_button/i', $button['#name'])) {
    $button['#parents'] = array();
  }
}

Looks like managed_file don't work well with system_settings_form and should be processed manually. To fix this problem, see solution below

Here is my form:

  $form['files'] = array(
    '#type' => 'fieldset', 
    '#title' => t('Files'),
    '#collapsible' => TRUE, 
    '#collapsed' => FALSE,
  );

  $form['files']['custom_file_1'] = array(
    '#title' => t('File 1'),
    '#type' => 'managed_file',
    '#default_value' => variable_get('custom_file_1_fid', ''), // Use different variable name for the variable, so it won't be overridden by system submit handler
    '#upload_location' => 'public://custom/',
  );

  // Perform our custom submit before system submit
  $form['#submit'][] = 'custom_settings_form_submit';
 
  $form = system_settings_form($form);

and here is a custom submit:

function custom_settings_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  global $user;
  // Load the file via file.fid.
  $file = file_load($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']);
  if ($file) {
    // Change status to permanent.
    $file->status = FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT;
    // Save.
    file_save($file);
    // Save file to vatiable
    variable_set('custom_file_1_fid', $file->fid);
    // Record that the module (in this example, user module) is using the file. 
    file_usage_add($file, 'user', 'user', $user->uid);
    // Unset formstate value
    unset($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']); // make sure it is unset for system submit
  }
}

That's all.

However, we should except by processing this field by submit added in system_settings_form().

Looks like managed_file doesn't work well with system_settings_form and should be processed manually. To fix this problem, see solution below

Here is my form:

  $form['files'] = array(
    '#type' => 'fieldset', 
    '#title' => t('Files'),
    '#collapsible' => TRUE, 
    '#collapsed' => FALSE,
  );

  $form['files']['custom_file_1'] = array(
    '#title' => t('File 1'),
    '#type' => 'managed_file',
    '#default_value' => variable_get('custom_file_1_fid', ''), // Use different variable name for the file field, so it won't be overridden by system submit handler
    '#upload_location' => 'public://custom/',
  );

  // Perform our custom submit before system submit
  $form['#submit'][] = 'custom_settings_form_submit';
 
  $form = system_settings_form($form);

and here is a custom submit:

function custom_settings_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  global $user;
  if (is_numeric($form_state['values']['custom_file_1'])) {
    // Load the file via file.fid.
    $file = file_load($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']);
    if ($file) {
      // Change status to permanent.
      $file->status = FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT;
      // Save.
      file_save($file);
      // Save file to variable.
      variable_set('custom_file_1_fid', $file->fid);
      // Record that the module (in this example, user module) is using the file. 
      file_usage_add($file, 'user', 'user', $user->uid);
      // Unset formstate value.
      unset($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']); // make sure it is unset before system submit
    }
  }
  else {
    // Delete file
    variable_set('bah_custom_file_1_fid', '');
  }
}

That's all.

However, we should except by processing this field by submit added in system_settings_form().

I have tried this on a theme's theme-settings.php:bla_form_system_theme_settings_alter() by adding "bla_settings_form_submit" to #submit but I get the error:

PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function bla_settings_form_submit() in /.../includes/form.inc

How can I specify on which file to find the function ? Or where should I put the function ?

Thanks.

Have you tried using:

$form['#submit'][] = 'my_custom_form_submit';

inside your custom form function? That should tell Drupal to submit the form data to your _submit function.

I found I had to modify the example to get it to work.

- added a condition to check if the custom_file_1 value > 0
- if the condition fails then I attempt to load the file object from the saved variable, check if the object exists, manually force delete the file

function custom_settings_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  global $user;
  if (is_numeric($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']) && $form_state['values']['custom_file_1'] > 0) {
    // Load the file via file.fid.
    $file = file_load($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']);
    if ($file) {
      // Change status to permanent.
      $file->status = FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT;
      // Save.
      file_save($file);
      // Save file to variable.
      variable_set('custom_file_1_fid', $file->fid);
      // Record that the module (in this example, user module) is using the file. 
      file_usage_add($file, 'user', 'user', $user->uid);
      // Unset formstate value.
      unset($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']); // make sure it is unset before system submit
    }
  }
  else {
    // Load the file via file.fid.
    $file = file_load(variable_get('custom_file_1', ''));
    
    if ($file->fid)
    {
        // Delete the file and the usage record
        file_delete($file, TRUE);
    }
 
    variable_set('bah_custom_file_1_fid', '');
  }
}

Using a custom variable and unsetting the form_value works for me. Another way to get this working is by adding an is_array() check in forms.inc on line 2144:

Change:

<?php
    foreach ($parents as $parent) {
      $values = &$values[$parent];
    }
    unset($values[$last_parent]);
?>

To:

<?php
    foreach ($parents as $parent) {
      $values = &$values[$parent];
    }
    if (is_array($values)) {
      unset($values[$last_parent]);
    }
?>

By the way, this still applies in Drupal 7.x-dev

+1 for BarisW's solution with the core patch.

I had the task of converting the user_profile form into an inline ajax save.

This was one of many challenges that needed solving in that case, when
converting the picture_uploaded field to ['#type'] => 'managed_field';
BarisW's solution would solve it conveniently.

My solution was to prepend a submit handler, and to unset all the buttons that had a submit handler
called 'file_managed_file_submit', (this avoided a core patch, and does the job for the custom module).
It is not ideal however as the default submit handler could be overridden for a such a field.

Rolled patch for the solution proposed by BarisW.

Marking as duplicate of #635046: form_state_values_clean() is polluting form values (followup), which has a solution that was already accepted for D8, so just needs proper backporting/testing.

this worked perfectly for me, by unsetting upload and remove buttons added by managed_file

function custom_settings_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  global $user;
  
  // unset manged_file submit buttons
  foreach ($form_state['buttons'] as $ind => $button) {
    if (isset($button['#submit']) && $button['#submit'][0] == 'file_managed_file_submit') {
      unset($form_state['buttons'][$ind]);
    }
  }

  if (is_numeric($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']) && $form_state['values']['custom_file_1'] > 0) {
    // Load the file via file.fid.
    $file = file_load($form_state['values']['custom_file_1']);
    if ($file) {
      // Change status to permanent.
      $file->status = FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT;
      // Save.
      file_save($file);
      // Save file to variable.
      variable_set('custom_file_1_fid', $file->fid);
      // Record that the module (in this example, user module) is using the file.
      file_usage_add($file, 'user', 'user', $user->uid);
    }
  }
  else {
    // Load the file via file.fid.
    $file = file_load(variable_get('custom_file_1', ''));
   
    if ($file->fid) {
        // Delete the file and the usage record
        file_delete($file, TRUE);
    }

    variable_del('bah_custom_file_1_fid');
  }
}

<?php
#13 thanks for the explanation, you made my day.
Just a little addition:

On the deletion, shouldnt we check that the $file->fid exists? I mean, otherwise, when you have no file uploaded, it would be trying to delete it.

<?php

if ($fid >0){ //new condition

    $file = file_load(variable_get('custom_file_1', ''));
    if ($file->fid)
       {
           // Delete the file and the usage record
           file_delete($file, TRUE);
       }

    variable_del('bah_custom_file_1_fid');

}
?>

thanks andriy for the explanation,You save my time.