Holy crap! Select Taxonomy terms as checkboxes and radio buttons!

the equivalent for exposed flters would be:

 function test_form_alter($form_id, &$form) {
if (isset($form['view']['#value']->exposed_filter)) {
		$view = $form['view']['#value'];
		foreach ($view->exposed_filter as $count => $expose) {
		  if (is_numeric($count)) {
          if ($form["filter$count"]['#multiple']) {
            $form["filter$count"]['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
            $form["filter$count"]['#process'] = array('test_expand_checkboxes' => array());
          }
          else {
            $form["filter$count"]['#type'] = 'radios';
            $form["filter$count"]['#default_value'] = $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#default_value'][0];
            $form["filter$count"]['#process'] = array('test_expand_radios' => array());
          }
          unset($form["filter$count"]['#theme']);
          if ($form["filter$count"]['#options'][0]) {
            unset($form["filter$count"]['#options'][0]);
          }
          else {
            $form["filter$count"]['#required'] = TRUE;
          }
          $form["filter$count"]['#prefix'] = '<div class="exposed-filters">';
          $form["filter$count"]['#suffix'] = '</div>';
        }
  	}
  }
}

Could someone help me install this code?

I renamed to module to alter_form_select.module and created the .install file as suggested earlier in this thread, but still I'm unable to see the new selection checboxes on the site? Is this actually working for someone and if yes, could you give me a hint on how to install this?

Thanks

The edit-form looks very nice with this one enabled, but it looks like it does not pick up any of the selected terms.... (No checkboxes are being checked when the where before.

Also upon submitting any changes, there's a few "duplicate key entries".... Upon reopening the edit-form, there's nothing checked..
If I do this on a non-Multiple select vocab.. there are no problems.... only when the "Multiple select" option is checked...

Any ideas?

Here's a weird one... not all of my categories are showing up. Is there some kind of arbitrary limit that's been placed on the categories that appear? For one vocabulary I should have 40-ish terms (only 20 appear), for the second I have 10, but only 4 appear. Is this some kind of two-column weirdness gone wrong? I'm stumped....

There's a new module which has just been launched:
http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_super_select

The code you've written seem to have few features that the other one doesn't, but basicly it does the same... so I think we shold look into merging with it :-)

======================
Z.Stolar
linnovate.net - community content infrastructures

Bookmarking

Pancho,

can you roll this into a stand-alone module?

To add (only slightly tested) support for the tac_lite module (to get rid of the listboxes there too) add the following code in 'test_form_alter()', just after the

  unset($taxonomy_section);

call.

  } else if ($form_id='user_edit') {
    if (is_array($form['tac_lite']['tac_lite'])) {
      $taxonomy_section = 'tac_lite';
    } 
   
    if (isset($taxonomy_section)) {
      foreach ($form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section] as $vid => $taxonomy) {

        if (is_numeric($vid)) {
          
          // Fix category.module's bug
          if ($taxonomy_section == 'category') {
            $vocab = taxonomy_get_vocabulary($vid);
            $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#required'] = $vocab['required'];
            unset($vocab);
          }

          $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid] = _alterform_modify_select($form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]);
        }
      }
      $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section]['#prefix'] = '<div class="taxonomy-form">';
      $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section]['#suffix'] = '</div>';
    }
  unset($taxonomy_section);   
  }

G.W. van der Vegt

Hi,

After some debugging I found a small bug in above code

  foreach ($element['#options'] as $arrkey => $arrchoice) {
    if (is_object($arrchoice)) {
      foreach ($arrchoice->option as $objkey => $objchoice) {
        $element['#options'][$objkey] = $objchoice;
        unset($element['#options'][$arrkey]);
      }
    }
  }

should read:

  foreach ($element['#options'] as $arrkey => $arrchoice) {
    if (is_object($arrchoice)) {
      foreach ($arrchoice->option as $objkey => $objchoice) {
	//unset($element['#options'][$arrkey]);
        $element['#options'][$objkey] = $objchoice;
      }
    }
  }

  foreach ($element['#options'] as $arrkey => $arrchoice) {
    if (is_object($arrchoice)) {
      unset($element['#options'][$arrkey]);
    }
  }

As it's possible that a taxonomy term wipes out (unsets) a previously converted term. We had one vocabulary where consequently one term wasn't rendered even thought it was clearly in the input. Drupal_set_message() printing the array keys ($arrkey and $objkey) in the foreach loop revealed that one wiped the other before or after conversion (not clear yet).

G.W. van der Vegt

Any possibility of getting this ported to drupal 6?

I'm also looking for something like this for a long time...

Do you have the problem that a Freetagging Vocabulary disrupts the floating of the taxonomies side by side?
I just solved that.

Look here: http://www.moebius.mynetcologne.de/librivox/resorting_categories.gif

Use this CSS instead:

.taxonomy-form {
  float: left;
  margin-right: 3em;
}
.form-item {
clear: both;
}

And shuffle all the vocabulaires to the top by giving them a higher weight:

<?php
function test_form_alter($form_id, &$form) {
  if (isset($form['type']) && $form['type']['#value'] .'_node_form' == $form_id) {
    if (is_array($form['taxonomy'])) {
      foreach ($form['taxonomy'] as $vid => $taxonomy) {
        if (is_numeric($vid)) {
          if ($taxonomy['#multiple']) {
            $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
	    $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#weight'] = -15;
          }
          else {
            $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#type'] = 'radios';
            $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#default_value'] = $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#default_value'][0];
	    $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#weight'] = -15;
          }

          unset($form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#theme']);
          if ($form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#options'][0]) {
            unset($form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#options'][0]);
          }
          else {
            $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#required'] = TRUE;
          }
          $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#prefix'] = '<div class="taxonomy-form">';
          $form['taxonomy'][$vid]['#suffix'] = '</div>';
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
?>

Thanks to the above snippet i don't need TaxonomySuperSelect anymore. Yipee.

Which module are you referring to? The code in the original post is not a module, but a snippet of an idea. Several modules have resulted from this discussion. You need to choose one and follow its directions for installation. There is the formtweaker module, taxonomy_super_select module, and my cck_taxonomy_super_select_ultra module.

Did you see the note on the project's page that says you can't have multiple selections? Kind of a deal breaker for most of the above-mentioned taxonomy-related modules. And a javascript requirement is a tough sell too. I love to have javascript on my sites, but I always need graceful degradation for the few cases where it won't be available.

Thanks for the post, though. Very interesting.

Hi, I am still on Drupal 5 and CCK taxonomy super select ultra unfortunately doesn't have AJAX support yet... With this it would really be a drupal top 5 module!
Greetings,
Martijn

i believe you could do this with a module using hook_form_alter, but i'm not familiar enough w/ module development.

I made the "profile" module use radio instead of select for Gender selection.

i did so by opening profile.module, go to the profile form function:

function profile_form_profile($edit, $user, $category,

find the switch for:

switch ($field->type) {

Then find
case 'selection'

and change:

$fields[$category][$field->name] = array('#type' => 'select',

to

$fields[$category][$field->name] = array('#type' => 'radios',

... something similar could probably be done via a module or in the template.php file?

-Danny Pfeiffer
http://MaybeMike.com
http://DrupalForBeginners.com

I second that.
Placement Papers | Proxy

Hi all

I have worked some more on my port to Drupal 6.4 Major (and unsolved problem) is that I cannto get the radiobuttons (ie the single choice taxonomies) to work and at the same time display hierarchy.

So i opted for a workaround by leaving the single select taxonomies as they are (drop down boxes) and only covert the multiselect ones to checkboxes. This approax has the advantage that it saves screen area as the combobox is smaller that a set of radio buttons.

Note: remove the trailing ?> from the sources (and <?php too from the info file).

alterform.info:

; $Id: alterform.info,v 1.5 2008/10/03 03:44:07 wvd_vegt Exp $
name = Alterform
description = Alterform converts the Taxonomy Listboxes to Check/RadioBoxes.
dependencies[] = taxonomy
core = 6.x

; Information added by drupal.org packaging script on 2007-09-29
version = "6.x"
project = "alterform"
datestamp = "1193629803"

alterform.install:

// $Id: alterform.install,v 1.5 2008/10/03 03:44:07 wvd_vegt Exp $

/**
 * @file
 * The Alterform Module transforms the traditional listbox type of 
 * taxonomy selectors into checkboxes and radiobuttons for easier
 * editing.
 */
function alter_form_select_types_install() {  
  // New module weights in core: put this module after all other form_alters (last in the chain is good).
  $ret[] = db_query("UPDATE {system} SET weight = 10 WHERE name = 'alter_form_select_types'");
  return $ret;
}

alterform.module:

// $Id: alterform.info,v 1.5 2008/10/03 03:44:07 wvd_vegt Exp $

/**
 * @file
 * The Alterform Module transforms the traditional listbox type of 
 * taxonomy selectors into checkboxes and radiobuttons for easier
 * editing.
 *
 * veg:16-09-2008 - started port to Drupal 6.x.
 *                  completed port to Drupal 6.x.
 *                  passed code review with some minor issues.
 *                  corrected documentation.
 * veg:19-09-2008 - Hierachical checkboxes are visualized properly.     
 *                  Hierachical radiobuttons are NOT visualized properly 
 *                  so code is disabled!
 * veg 29-09-2008 - Fixed a bug in #default_value (added test for empty array).
 * veg 03-10-2008 - Uploaded to Drupal.org
 */

/**
 * Implementation of hook_form_alter(). 
 * 
 * This function examines the form and changes the taxonomy listboxes
 * to either radiobuttons or checkboxes, dependend on the #multiselect 
 * value. 
 * It also removes the unneccesary 'None' option for non required 
 * multiselect vocabularies.
 * Finally it indents hierarchical vocabularies.
 */
function alterform_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id) {
  
  $path = './'. drupal_get_path('module', 'devel') .'/krumo/class.krumo.php';
  if (file_exists($path)) {
    include_once $path;
  }

  if (isset($form['type']) && $form['type']['#value'] .'_node_form' == $form_id) {

    ///////////////////////////////
    //Normal Content Creation Forms
    ///////////////////////////////
    
    if (is_array($form['taxonomy'])) {
      $taxonomy_section = 'taxonomy';
    } 
    else if (is_array($form['category'])) {
      $taxonomy_section = 'category';
    } 

    $cnt=0;
    if (isset($taxonomy_section)) {

      foreach ($form[$taxonomy_section] as $vid => $taxonomy) {
        if (is_numeric($vid)) {
       
          // Fix category.module's bug
          if ($taxonomy_section == 'category') {
            $vocab = taxonomy_vocabulary_load($vid);
            $form[$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#required'] = $vocab['required'];
            unset($vocab);
          }

          // Modify Selectbox into Checboxes or Radios
          $form[$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#prefix'] = '<div class="taxonomy-form">';
          _alterform_modify_select($form[$taxonomy_section][$vid], $vid);
          $form[$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#suffix'] = '</div>';

          $cnt++;
      
          unset($form[$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#theme']);
        }
      }
      if ($cnt==1) {
        $form[$taxonomy_section]['#prefix'] = '<fieldset class="collapsible"><legend>'.t('Category').'</legend>';
        $form[$taxonomy_section]['#suffix'] = '</fieldset>';
      }
    }
    unset($taxonomy_section);
  } 
  else if ($form_id='user_edit') {

    ///////////////////////////////
    //Taxonomy Lite Forms
    ///////////////////////////////

    if (is_array($form['tac_lite']['tac_lite'])) {
      $taxonomy_section = 'tac_lite';
    } 
   
    if (isset($taxonomy_section)) {
      foreach ($form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section] as $vid => $taxonomy) {
        if (is_numeric($vid)) {
          
          // Fix category.module's bug
          if ($taxonomy_section == 'category') {
            $vocab = taxonomy_vocabulary_load($vid);
            $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#required'] = $vocab['required'];
            unset($vocab);
          }

          // Modify Selectbox into Checboxes or Radios
          $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#prefix'] = '<div class="taxonomy-lite-form">';
          _alterform_modify_select($form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid], $vid);
          $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#suffix'] = '</div>';
      
          unset($form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section][$vid]['#theme']);
        }
      }
      $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section]['#prefix'] = '<fieldset class="collapsible"><legend></legend>';
      $form[$taxonomy_section][$taxonomy_section]['#suffix'] = '</fieldset>';
    }
    unset($taxonomy_section);   
  }
}

/**
 * Internal function that does the major part of the transformation. 
 * For multiselect it's a bit more complex than for single select 
 * vocabularies.
 */
function _alterform_modify_select(&$element, $vid) {

  if ($element['#multiple']) {                                  //Multiselect -> Checkboxes
    // Convert options from objects to arrays
    // as checkboxes and options (unlike select) don't take objects
    foreach ($element['#options'] as $arrkey => $arrchoice) {
      if (is_object($arrchoice)) {
        foreach ($arrchoice->option as $objkey => $objchoice) {
          $element['#options'][$objkey] = $objchoice;
        }
      }
    }

    foreach ($element['#options'] as $arrkey => $arrchoice) {
      if (is_object($arrchoice)) {
        unset($element['#options'][$arrkey]);
      }
    }
  }

  if ($element['#multiple']) {                                  //Multiselect -> Checkboxes
    $element['#type'] = 'checkboxes';

    // Non-required checkboxes need no '<none>' choice
    if (!$element['#required']) {
      unset($element['#options']['']);
    } else {
      //$element['#options'][''] = '&lsaquo;' . t('none') . '&rsaquo;';
    }

    if (is_array($element['#default_value'])) {
        $element['#default_value'] = array_values($element['#default_value']);
    } else {
        $element['#default_value'] = array();
    }
    
    _alterform_expand_checkboxes($element, $vid);               //Checkboxes need somewhat more processing...
  } 
  else 
  {                                                             //Singleselect -> Radiobuttons
/*
  $element['#type'] = 'radios';
   
  $element['#default_value'] = $element['#default_value'][0];

  if (!$element['#required']) {
     $element['#options'][''] = '&lsaquo;' . t('none') . '&rsaquo;';
  } else {
    $element['#options'][''] = '&lsaquo;' . t('none') . '&rsaquo;';   //Change '-Please choose-'      
  }    
*/  
  }
  
  unset($element['#theme']);
}  
  
/**
 *  
 */
/**
 * _alterform_expand_checkboxes()
 * 
 * Internal function that transforms multi-select vocabularies.
 * 
 * @param mixed $element - The vocabulary to transform. 
 * @param mixed $vid - The vocabulary Id (needed to create a unique name for the Radiobutton Group). 
 * @return void
 */
function _alterform_expand_checkboxes(&$element, $vid) {
  $value = is_array($element['#default_value']) ? $element['#default_value'] : array();
  $element['#tree'] = TRUE;

  $values = array_values($value);

  if (count($element['#options']) > 0) {
    foreach ($element['#options'] as $key => $choice) {
          if (!isset($element[$key])) {
        $tchoice = ltrim($choice, '-');
        $depth = strlen($choice) - strlen($tchoice);
        $element[$key] = array(
          '#type' => 'checkbox',
          '#title' => $tchoice,
          '#prefix' => '<div style="margin-left: ' . (20 * $depth) . 'px">',
          '#suffix' => '</div>',
          '#return_value' => $key,
          '#default_value' => in_array($key, $values),
          '#attributes' => $element['#attributes'],
          '#processed' => TRUE,
        );
      }
    }
    unset($element['#options']);
  }
}

/**
 * _alterform_expand_radios()
 * 
 * Internal function that transforms single-select vocabularies. 
 * 
 * @param mixed $element - The vocabulary to transform. 
 * @param mixed $vid - The vocabulary Id (needed to create a unique name for the Radiobutton Group). 
 * @return void
 */
function _alterform_expand_radios(&$element, $vid) {
  $value = is_array($element['#default_value']) ? $element['#default_value'] : array();

  krumo($value);
 
  $values = array_values($value);

  if (count($element['#options']) > 0) {
    foreach ($element['#options'] as $key => $choice) {
      if (!isset($element[$key])) {
        $tchoice = ltrim($choice, '-');
        $depth = strlen($choice) - strlen($tchoice);
        krumo($key);
        $element[$key]['vocabulary_'.$vid] = $key;
        $element[$key]['vocabulary_'.$vid] = array(
          '#type' => 'radio',
          '#name' => 'vocabulary_'.$vid,
          '#title' => $tchoice,
          '#prefix' => '<div style="margin-left: ' . (20 * $depth) . 'px">',
          '#suffix' => '</div>',
          '#return_value' => $key,
          '#default_value' => !in_array($key, $values),
//        '#default_value' => $values,
                  '#attributes' => $thiselement['#attributes'],
          '#parents' => $thiselement['#parents'],
          '#processed' => TRUE,
        );
      }
    }
//  unset($element['#default_value']);
    unset($element['#options']);
  }
}

Add the the theme's css:

Note it will color the taxonomy areas a bit so you can see where they are. Just remove the background-color attributes to disable this.

/**
 * 02-10-2008 VEG Added for Alterform Module
 */
div.taxonomy-form {
  background-color: #fff;
  float: left;
  margin-right: 3em;
}

.taxonomy-form .form-item {
  margin-bottom: 2px;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
}

.taxonomy-lite-form {
  float: left;
  margin-right: 3em;
}

.taxonomy-lite-form .form-item {
  margin-bottom: 2px;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
}

G.W. van der Vegt

The betterselect module does not seem to handle hierarchical vocabularies well, it just displays them all under each other without any indenting. The code above does display the checkboxes with indenting though.

I tried the betterselect module and was excited by the bits and pieces I was able to extract and use, but not by the output of the module by itself. It also had some extra javascript that was unnecessary to me, so in the interest of figuring out how this works, I took pieces of the betterselect module for my own use.

The idea was to overcome a few annoying things with the betterselect module, that are also wrong with the default multiselect drop down.

1) the dash or hyphen to show the depth
2) the complete lack of showing the hierarchy visually.

So here's what I took and used:

in my hook form alter:

function ivoreportcard_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id) {

	if($form_id == 'ivoreportcard_node_form') {
		
		
	       // add my custom process function to the terms I'd like to turn into checkboxes
		$form['taxonomy'][11]['#process'] = array('ivoreportcard_checkboxes');
		$form['taxonomy'][12]['#process'] = array('ivoreportcard_checkboxes');
		
                // the submit function I took from betterselect module
		$form['#submit'][] = 'ivoreportcard_taxonomy_from_checkboxes';
    }

}

Here's the submit function I borrowed from betterselect. Thank you, thank you for this!

/**
 * Restore submitted checkbox values back to format Taxonomy module expects.
 */
function ivoreportcard_taxonomy_from_checkboxes($form, &$form_state) {
  foreach ($form_state['values']['taxonomy'] as $index => $properties) {
    if (is_numeric($index) && $form['taxonomy'][$index]['#multiple']) {
      $options = array();
      foreach ($form_state['values']['taxonomy'][$index] as $tid => $selected) {
        if ($selected) {
          $options[$tid] = $tid;
          
        }
      }
      $form_state['values']['taxonomy'][$index] = $options;
    }
  }
}

The custom process function, borrowing heavily from betterselect:

function ivoreportcard_checkboxes($element) {
	
	$element['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
	unset($element['#theme']);
	
	 // If we're dealing with taxonomy, fix the option titles.
    if (is_object($element['#options'][0])) {
      // Build new array of options in format that theme_checkboxes expects.
      $options = array();
      $defaults = array();
      
      foreach ($element['#options'] as $option) {
        if (is_array($option->option)) {
          foreach ($option->option as $tid => $name) {
               /**
               * this is my custom alteration to the betterselect module, I'm querying the database
                * to get the name of the term, without the annoying hyphen in front
                */

          	$name = db_result(db_query("SELECT name FROM term_data WHERE tid = %d",$tid));
            $options[$tid] = check_plain($name);
            
           
          }
        }
      }
      $element['#options'] = $options;
    }

    // We now check that the element's options are correct. If they're not in
    // the right format, we abort.
    foreach($element['#options'] as $key => $val) {
      if (!is_numeric($key) || !is_string($val)) {
        return $element;
      }
    }
	
	
	    // The default value should be an array, if it isn't expand_checkboxes()
    // will make it one.
    if (isset($element['#default_value']) && is_array($element['#default_value']) && count($element['#default_value'])) {
      // Fix the value arrays; checkboxes are the exact inverse of multiselect,
      // apparently for vindictive fun.

      // First make sure there's at least 1 non-blank array element
      $temp = $element['#default_value'];
      $temp = array_shift($element['#default_value']);
      if (!empty($temp)) {
        $element['#default_value'] = array_flip($element['#default_value']);
        $element['#value'] = array_flip($element['#value']);
      }
    }


    // Switch display to checkboxes instead.
    $element['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
    unset($element['#theme']);
    $element = expand_checkboxes($element);
	
    $vid = $element['#parents'][1];
    
    
    /**
    *
    * get a datastructure that gives us the relationships of the terms, so that we can create a two level
    * hierarchy and know where to open and close our divs, 
    * and which are the parent terms, which we will turn into headers
    * (see 'ivoreportCard_get_parent_array' function below)
     */
	$parentsArray = ivoreportCard_get_parent_array($vid);



	
    
    	foreach($element as $key => $value) {
    	
    		
    	
    	if( is_numeric($key) ){
    		if($parentsArray[$key] == 0) {
    		
    			/** turn the parent elements into headers, and make them unselectable by 
                        * converting them into markup form element, instead of a checkbox.  We open the
                        * div right before
                         */
		    	$element[$key] = array('#type' => 'markup', '#value' => '<div class="block yellow" style="width: 98%; margin-right: 15px;"><p><b>'.$element[$key]['#title'].'</b></p>');
				
    		}
                /*
                 * Now we have to do some checking to see if the checkbox is the last child
                 * of the one that opened our div to close it.  It goes without saying this
                 * code sample only handles a two level taxonomy, with parents and children.
                 * that's all I usually need, and I like simple solutions often over the most portable
                 * because I like code I can read!
                 */
    		else if ($parentsArray[$key]) {
	    				$arr = $parentsArray['#topdown'][$parentsArray[$key]]['#children'];
	    				
	    				
	    				if($key == $arr[sizeof($arr)-1]) {
	    					$element[$key]['#suffix'] = "</div>";
	    				}
    				

    		}
    	}
    		
    		
    		
    	} // end foreach

	return $element;
}

This is a utility function that gets an array with the parent term ids for each term, as well as arrays with the parent term as the key element, to help figure out which is the last child term, after which we close our div tag. (see above)

function ivoreportCard_get_parent_array($vid) {
	$parentArray = array();
	
		$query = "SELECT td.*,th.parent, td2.name AS parentName 
FROM term_data td 
JOIN term_hierarchy th ON th.tid = td.tid 
LEFT JOIN term_data td2 ON th.parent = td2.tid 
WHERE td.vid = %d ORDER BY parent ASC";
		
	$result = db_query($query,$vid);
	
	while($r = db_fetch_array($result)) {
		$parentsArray['#topdown'][$r['parent']]['#children'][] = $r['tid'];
		$parentsArray[$r['tid']] = $r['parent'];
	}
	
	
	return $parentsArray;
}

I used this code in another project, but instead of having child terms, I just had a simple vocabulary of terms, so I altered the function above to remove the formatting:

function taxonomycheckboxes_checkboxes($element) {
   
    $element['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
    unset($element['#theme']);
   
     // If we're dealing with taxonomy, fix the option titles.
    if (is_object($element['#options'][0])) {
      // Build new array of options in format that theme_checkboxes expects.
      $options = array();
      $defaults = array();
     
      foreach ($element['#options'] as $option) {
        if (is_array($option->option)) {
          foreach ($option->option as $tid => $name) {
               /**
               * this is my custom alteration to the betterselect module, I'm querying the database
                * to get the name of the term, without the annoying hyphen in front
                */

              $name = db_result(db_query("SELECT name FROM term_data WHERE tid = %d",$tid));
            $options[$tid] = check_plain($name);
           
          
          }
        }
      }
      $element['#options'] = $options;
    }

    // We now check that the element's options are correct. If they're not in
    // the right format, we abort.
    foreach($element['#options'] as $key => $val) {
      if (!is_numeric($key) || !is_string($val)) {
        return $element;
      }
    }
   
   
        // The default value should be an array, if it isn't expand_checkboxes()
    // will make it one.
    if (isset($element['#default_value']) && is_array($element['#default_value']) && count($element['#default_value'])) {
      // Fix the value arrays; checkboxes are the exact inverse of multiselect,
      // apparently for vindictive fun.

      // First make sure there's at least 1 non-blank array element
      $temp = $element['#default_value'];
      $temp = array_shift($element['#default_value']);
      if (!empty($temp)) {
        $element['#default_value'] = array_flip($element['#default_value']);
        $element['#value'] = array_flip($element['#value']);
      }
    }


    // Switch display to checkboxes instead.
    $element['#type'] = 'checkboxes';
    unset($element['#theme']);
    $element = expand_checkboxes($element);
   
    $vid = $element['#parents'][1];
   
   

    return $element;
}



 

if you are new to programming, I suggest you print_r the data structure above and then die, so you can copy it into your module and inspect it. Here's some code you can plop into your custom module to look at data structures:

     print_r("<pre>");
print_r($parentsArray);
print_r("</pre>");
die();

Just substitute $parentsArray with whatever you're trying to look at!

Anyway, I spent a day trying to output a taxonomy in a form in this manner, so I hope this helps someone save some time, or at least learn how to get around one of Drupal 6's limitations!