Is it possible (and within convention) to insert a hidden field in an views exposed filter to control form content (e.g for re-submit search)?

Question

Examples:

1. (my requirement) when wanting to control the content of the view title for a listing of locations (E.g. title "venues near you") created using a view with Drupal module ip_geoloc ("IP Geolocation Views & Maps") based on the user's detected location (via html5 geo location) and then offering further searches (e.g. a different specific location) and wanting to display a different title in those results "venues near New York City"

2. simpler example "search again" for subsequent displays of the form (an user-visible views exposed filter).

For example 1., I'm currently using hook_views_pre_render in my own custom module to compare the submitted value with the detected location to be able to set a custom title for the view, snippets (note, not full declaration and module) of how I get each of these here:

    $locationAsString = "";

    if (function_exists('ip_geoloc_get_visitor_location') ) { 
      $locationAsArray = ip_geoloc_get_visitor_location(); 

      // debug
      //dpm($locationAsArray);

      if ( isset($locationAsArray['locality']) ) {
        $locationAsString = t($locationAsArray['locality'].", ".$locationAsArray['country']);
      }
    }

    $submittedLocationAsString = "";
    if ( isset($view->exposed_raw_input['field_geofield_distance']['origin'] ) )
    {
       $submittedLocationAsString = $view->exposed_raw_input['field_geofield_distance']['origin'];
    }

    // debug:
    //drupal_set_message( "submitted location is: ".$submittedLocationAsString );
    //drupal_set_message( "actuallocation is: ".$locationAsString );

    if ( $locationAsString == $submittedLocationAsString )
    {
      $view->build_info['title'] = "We think you're near ".$locationAsString.". ".$thereAreAsString." here.";
    }
    else
    {
      $view->build_info['title'] = $resultsAsString." near ".$submittedLocationAsString;
    }

My ideal solution

But as you can see, this straight compare is not necessarily that robust. To determine the title I want, I think it may actually be better to insert a hidden field in the form, in hook_form_alter and detect the value/presence of this field in cgformutils_views_pre_render - is this approach within convention and not 'illegal' or bad practice?

Answer 1

Though I am providing the solution for the question which you have asked but as per your description I understand you are looking to achieve content boosting with views.

It's a nice idea which has been implemented on some websites like meetup.com, where they boost the local event at top when you visit & these works for anonymous users too as well as authenticated.

You will need 3 modules to achieve this - Location, Smart IP & Views.

I have written a blog post about configuring them to achieve this, which you can find at - http://drupalconnect.in/content-boosting-views

I will recommend you to try this if you trying something like this :)