custom entityreference widget not saving field

Question

I am trying to create a custom widget for the entity reference field type which will be a hidden field with its value set to the current page's node id. This is my code:

function my_example_field_widget_info() {
  return array(
    'my_example_hidden_nid' => array(
      'label' => t('Hidden nid field'),
      'field types' => array('entityreference'),
    )
  );
}  

/* implements hook_field_widget_form*/
function my_example_field_widget_form(&$form, &$form_state, $field, $instance, $langcode, $items, $delta, $element) {
  $element['hidden_nid'] = array(
    '#type'=>'textfield',
    '#description'=>t('The nid of the Photo node which product line item refers to'),
    '#default_value'=>arg(1),
  );
  return $element;
}

I first tried this as a textfield, and saw that the form field was being properly populated.

This field is attached to a Drupal Commerce Line Item, to produce some custom functionality. However, when I clicked Add to Cart, and the Line Item was saved, this entityreference field was not saved into the database. (Since I am adding a widget to a previously defined field type, I did not use any hook_field_schema()'s)

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

For one, in your hook_field_widget_form, the $element should be built with a Union (like $element += array(...)) and not replaced. Refer this example at the api page.