How can I add a log entry to watchdog every time form_set_error() is triggered on user_account_form_validate()?

Question

I'm not much of a coder so I'm having a real hard time figuring this out.

I have a custom module and I'm trying to override user_account_form_validate() (from user.module) so that I can add a watchdog entry every time a specific instance of form_set_error() is called:

elseif ((bool) db_select('users')->fields('users', array('uid'))->condition('uid', $account->uid, '<>')->condition('name', db_like($form_state['values']['name']), 'LIKE')->range(0, 1)->execute()->fetchField()) {
  form_set_error('name', t('The name %name is already taken.', array('%name' => $form_state['values']['name'])));
}

I need to do this because sometimes the Email registration module causes this error to fire and I want to make sure that this doesn't occur; so, to ensure users aren't seeing this error, I want to log it in watchdog if it occurs.

I know I can hack core and add the following line just after form_set_error:

watchdog('mymodule', 'Registration error: %name was already registered.', array('%name' => $form_state['values']['name']), WATCHDOG_ALERT);

But how I can I do this without hacking core? I tried various permutations of function

function mytheme_user_register_form_validate (&$form, &$form_state) {}

in a custom module but I couldn't successfully get Drupal to use my function instead of the core one.

Answer 1

To add a new validation handler to a form, you need to implement hook_form_alter(). In your case, I would use the following code, which adds an extra validation handler that is executed before the other ones added by the User module.

function mymodule_form_user_register_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state) {
  array_unshift($form['#validate'], 'mymodule_user_register_validate');
}

function mymodule_user_register_validate($form, &$form_state) {
  $account = $form['#user'];

  if (isset($form_state['values']['name'])) {
    if ($error = user_validate_name($form_state['values']['name'])) {
      // This is intentionally empty.
    }
    elseif ((bool) db_select('users')->fields('users', array('uid'))->condition('uid', $account->uid, '<>')->condition('name', db_like($form_state['values']['name']), 'LIKE')->range(0, 1)->execute()->fetchField()) {
      // Log the error with watchdog().
    }
  }
}