System Settings Form and array values

By j_ten_man on 5 Jun 2008 at 21:15 UTC

I have a form that is a system_settings_form. The form is very large and there are a lot of settings. I was wondering if there is a way to create an array (as there is in php) as follows using this form:

function module_admin_form(){
  //...A bunch of settings...
  $first_names = variable_get('first_name');
  foreach($array as $key){
    $form[$key]['first_name[]'] = array(
      '#type'=>'radios',
      '#title'=>t($key.' First Name'),
      '#options' => $options,
      '#default_value'=> $first_names[$key],
      '#description'=>t("Which is the first name for %s?.", array('%s'=>$key))
    );
  }
    //...A bunch of settings...

  return system_settings_form($form);
}

Basically, I want the first_name variable to be stored in the database as a an array. However, when you save the form, it only saves the last value that you created. I also tried to put a key in the first_name array, but it saved each value separate. I know that I could save this form myself, but I would prefer not to because there are so many settings on the form. Is there a way that I could just handle these values myself (the values inside the foreach loop) and let the settings form handle the rest? Or is there a way to get it to save this as an array?

Comments

Serialize the array

pembeci commented 7 June 2008 at 23:07

I didn't completely understand your code and what you want to achieve but you may try using php's serialize function. It basically converts your array (or any other value type) into a string. You can save that string in the database and then use its sister function unserialize to get back the array when you need it.

That isn't exactly what I

j_ten_man commented 8 June 2008 at 14:38

That isn't exactly what I want. The problem is that a system settings form does all the saving for you. I would like to do the saving of just this section of code myself and not everything. I was wondering if there is a way for me to handle just a few pieces of a form in my own submit handler, and let the standard submit function for system settings form do the rest.

Different options

pembeci commented 9 June 2008 at 16:15

I see. I guess then you can try these:

Do not use system settings form at all. At your settings page define your own form and duplicate the code at system_settings_form (drop the line involving $form['#base']) and system_settings_form_submit. Then you have the power to save your data however you want.
Have two forms at your page. One for submitting and saving your problematic data defined by your own functions and the other one, a ready made system settings form.
You can achieve what you described above by registring a validation callback (by the adding the #validate property to your form), saving your data at the validation function and then unsetting the related form elements to handle the rest by system_settings_form_submit. This is the most dirty solution and I don't recommend it if you are not 100% sure what you are doing.

I would go with the first option but it is your call.

K - I knew I could do that,

j_ten_man commented 9 June 2008 at 16:17

K - I knew I could do that, but I was seeing if there was another solution. Thanks a lot.

This is crazy old but figured

iLLin commented 24 March 2012 at 15:03

This is crazy old but figured I would post what I did.

function mymodule_settings() {
  $form = array();
  $values = unserialize(variable_get('my_textfield_array', ''));
  $total = 5;
  for ($i=0; $i<$total; $i++) {
    $form['my_textfield_array_'. $i] = array(
      '#type' => 'textfield',
      '#title' => t('Field %i', array('%i' => $i),
      '#default_value' => isset($values['my_textfield_array_'. $i]) ? $values['my_textfield_array_'. $i] : '',
    );
  }
  return system_settings_form($form);
}

function mymodule_settings_validate($form, &$form_state) {
  $values = array();
  foreach ($form_state['values'] as $key => $value) {
    if (strstr($key, 'my_textfield_array')) {
      $values[$key] = $value;
      unset($form_state['values'][$key]);
    }
  }
  // Now lets add in a single value to be saved.
  $form_state['values']['my_textfield_array'] = serialize($values);
}

I changed this from what I actually did so this is untested. But I think the idea is there for anyone else that needs a solution like this.

A cleaner way - use submit handler

blairski commented 3 April 2014 at 11:27

A cleaner way to do this is to do it in a submit function rather than a validate function.

The trick is to make sure your custom submit function fires before system_settings_form_submit(). To do that, add it to your form with array_unshift() like so:

function mymodule_settings() {
....
  $form = system_settings_form($form);
  array_unshift($form['#submit'], 'mymodule_submit');
  return $form;
}

And then put the logic to serialize in the mymodule_submit(). I also simplified what you did to store the values before unseting the form_state key:

function mymodule_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  $field_values = $form_state['values'];
  unset($form_state['values']);
  $form_state['values']['my_textfield_array'] = serialize($field_values);

}

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Use #tree

msupko commented 29 May 2015 at 18:50

IMO the cleanest way to do this is using #tree. The nested values will appear in $form_state as an array, and system_settings_form() will automatically save the variable as an array for you.

For example...


function mymodule_settings() {
  $values = variable_get('my_array');
  $total = 5;

  $form['my_array'] = array(
    '#type' => 'fieldset',
    '#tree' => TRUE,
    '#title' => t('All this stuff is goin\' into an array!'),
  );

  for ($i=0; $i<$total; $i++) {
    $form['my_field_'. $i] = array(
      '#type' => 'textfield',
      '#title' => t('Field %i', array('%i' => $i)),
      '#default_value' => isset($values['my_field_'. $i]) ? $values['my_field_'. $i] : '',
    );
  }

  return system_settings_form($form);
}

On right tracks but a bit

Marko B commented 24 November 2015 at 13:00

On right tracks but a bit wrong. as a Tree, fields needs to have parents as $form['my_array'] ['my_field_'. $i] = array(

  for ($i=0; $i<$total; $i++) {
    $form['my_array'] ['my_field_'. $i] = array(
      '#type' => 'textfield',
      '#title' => t('Field %i', array('%i' => $i)),
      '#default_value' => isset($values['my_field_'. $i]) ? $values['my_field_'. $i] : '',
    );
  }

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