form validation messages are not rendered immediately

Question

I have a form, with multiple (ajax) components. I have added a simple button in the middle of this form, to validate custom fields.

$form['fieldset_2']['forward'] = array(  
  '#type' => 'button',
  '#value' => t('Forward'),
  '#name' => 'btn_forward',
);

As expected, button call validation function in which I check if all values are correct.

1. The validation messages are not rendered immediately. I have to refresh page to get the error messages. The button doesn't use ajax.

2. I have a field type radios and form_set_error doesn't color the element with red or something.

Answer 1

The problem is that Drupal has already finished setting messages for the current request when it gets to processing your form. To get things working properly call drupal_get_form in template_preprocess_page:

function myThemeOrModulename_preprocess_page(&$variables) {
  // For node templates.
  // $variables['node']->my_form = drupal_get_form('form_name');
  // For page templates.
  $variables['my_form'] = drupal_get_form('form_name');
}

Then render the form in your template file:

<?php print render($my_form); ?>

There was another issue for which I don't know the cause of currently, but adding $variables['messages'] = theme('status_messages'); (see theme_status_messages) inside the same preprocess_page function solved it.

Answer 2

I've run into similar situations when trying to render webform blocks from within TPL files. One solution is to create a unique region for your form. Then assign a block (webform block, custom module block or create a PHP block with your drupal_get_form() code) to the new region for the specific node only. Render your new region in your page.tpl and you should be good to go.