Unset required attribute with multiple submit buttons and multistep form

Question

I have a multistep form created with msnf for an content type. I set multiple submit buttons that each one has its own submit callback, and also i want every single button with its validation callback :

function MYMODULE_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id){
  switch ($form_id){
        case "my_form_id" :
          $form['actions']['submit_2'] = array(
                '#type' => 'submit',
                '#name' => 'button_name',
                '#value' => t('Name'),
                '#weight' => 6,
                '#submit' => array('node_form_submit'),
                '#validate' => 'MYMODULE_validate_2'

            );
            // Add submit callback (works fine!)
            array_unshift($form['actions']['submit_2']['#submit'], 'MYMODULE_form_submit_2');
            // rest of code ...
  }
} 

inside the validation callback i put this test code :

function MYMODULE_validate_2($form, &$form_state){    
  dpr('test');
  exit; 
}

Here i have two problems :

1) this validation callback didn't triggered i don't know why ? (the system must show me a dump 'test' and then exit but nothing happen!)

2) I want to disable all the required fields only when i click on this submit_2 button.

I found sth in this post, but like i said the validation callback is not handled so i can't test the code inside that post.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT I was blind :p I must put the callback function inside an array() like this

'#validate' => array('MYMODULE_validate_2')

sometime i made stupid error :)

Now my problem is only the second one :

• I want to disable all the required fields only when i click on this submit_2 button.

Answer 1

You can set the #limit_validation_errors property on your submit button to an empty array to bypass validation on all required elements.

Answer 2

the solution inside this post works perfectly!

worked for me like this :

function MYMODULE_validate_2($form, &$form_state){    
    $errors = form_get_errors();
    if ($errors) {
      form_clear_error();

      foreach ($errors as $name => $error_message) {
         unset($errors[$name]); 
      }
    }
}

Answer 3

Normally you should use #limit_validation_errors.

Although for more sophisticated requirements, you can add a custom validation handle by adding into #element_validate element for every field which you need, e.g. (Entityforms example):

/**
 * Implements hook_field_attach_form().
 */
function FOO_field_attach_form($entity_type, $entity, &$form, &$form_state, $langcode) {

  // Attach these validation handlers only to elements belonging to entityforms.
  if ($type == 'entityform') {
    // Ignore the following fields for validation.
    $ignore = array('fieldset');
    // Attach validation handlers to simple fields.
    _attach_validation_handler_recursive($form, $ignore);
  }

}

/**
 * Recursively attaches a validation handler.
 *
 * @param array $element
 *   Form element to attach a validation hanlder to.
 */
function _attach_validation_handler_recursive(&$element, $ignore = array()) {
  if (!empty($element['#field_name'])
    && !empty($element['#bundle'])
    && !empty($element['#entity_type'])) {
    // Ignore fields that we don't want to process for required validation.
    $field_info = field_info_field($element['#field_name']);
    $instance_info = field_info_instance($element['#entity_type'],
      $element['#field_name'], $element['#bundle']);

      if (!empty($element['#type']) && !in_array($element['#type'], $ignore)) {
        // Required validate handler.
        if ($element['#required'] && !isset($element['address_container'])) {
          if (!empty($element['#element_validate']) && is_array($element['#element_validate']) && !in_array('FOO_validate_required_field', $element['#element_validate'])) {
            $element['#element_validate'][] = 'FOO_validate_required_field';
          }
          else {
            $element['#element_validate'] = array('FOO_validate_required_field');
          }
          $element['#check_empty'] = TRUE;
        }
      }
  }

  $children = element_children($element);
  foreach ($children as $child) {
    $child_element = &$element[$child];
    _attach_validation_handler_recursive($child_element, $ignore);
  }
}

and in that callback you can disable #required flag for specific fields with certain conditions (like specific triggering element or when field is hidden), e.g.

/**
 * Implements callback for #element_validate Form API.
 *
 * Validates required fields for entity form.
 */
function FOO_validate_required_field(&$element, &$form_state, $form
  if (isset($element['#access']) && !$element['#access']) {
    // Ignore hidden elements.
    $element['#required'] = FALSE;
    // Clear previous validation errors for not active elements.
    $errors = &drupal_static('form_set_error', array());
    $err_key = $element['#field_name'] . '][' . LANGUAGE_NONE;
    if (array_key_exists($err_key, $errors)) {
      unset($errors[$err_key]);
    }
    return;
  }

  if (empty($element['#required'])) {
    // Ignore elements that are not required.
    return;
  }
}