How to use custom code to change the node form layout and group fields while maintaining values?

Question

I am trying to alter the node form layout in a form alter hook.

I altered the node form and added a field set in which I grouped couple of existing fields into a fieldset. Then hid the existing fields so that they don't show up twice:in the fieldset and standalone.

However, after changing the structure, the field content are not being saved on submission. I thought this is due to drupal internal validation. So I thought I would use a validation hook to map the new fields structure to their existing (hidden fields). But I am facing couple of issues:

1. can't retrieve the values in the validation function using $formstate->getValue().

2. Changing the structure causing the fields to not be processed correctly.

    // Group 2 fields: 1 date field and another text field in custom group 
    $form['custom_group'] = [
      '#tree' => TRUE,
      '#type' => 'details',
      '#title' => t('Custom Group'),
      '#weight' => 19,
      '#collapsible' => TRUE,
      'existing_field_1' => $form['existing_field_1'], // is a date field
      'existing_field_2' => $form['existing_field_2'],
    ];
    // Hide the original fields.
    $form['existing_field_1']['#access'] = FALSE;
    $form['existing_field_2']['#access'] = FALSE;

    // Add our validation to try to force the values to be saved:
    $form['#validate'][] = 'my_module_form_node_form_validate';
    // make my validation first but probably unnecessary: 
    $form['#validate'] = array_reverse($form['#validate']);

And in the validation function:

function my_module_form_node_form_validate($form, $form_state) {
  // grab the field values:
  $my_values = $form_state->getValue('custom_group')
}

But I cannot access them this way.

After digging into the issue I was able to access the values:

    function my_module_form_node_form_validate($form, $form_state) {
      $values = $form_state->getUserInput();
      $form_state->setValue('existing_field_1', $values['custom_group']['existing_field_1'];
    }

However issue #2 remains. For example, ->getUserInput(); is returning the raw value of the existing_field_1 which has type date. And the value is just a raw string instead of the normal DateTime object. So it's failing validation. To clarify ->getUserInput() returns raw string as expected 01-01-2019 and not valid datetime. So I end up with datetime validation error.

I could do the processing myself but that would be an overkill. So, in short, is it possible to use an alter hook two group fields (date/text/esle) into a field set and let drupal process the values?

Answer 1

$form_state is an object, not an array. You should be able to get the values like $my_value = $form_state->getValue('custom_group'). Or get all values like $values = $form_state->getValues().

See: Introduction to Form API