Hook name in module doesn't seem to work

Question

I've been at this for days, but I finally think I maybe kinda sorta found part of the problem, maybe...but I don't know how to fix it.

I'm working on a Drupal site with the CiviCRM module running. I have a form on which I'd like to alter the data before saving it to the database. As a result, I've been struggling with getting ANY of the available CiviCRM hooks to fire.

I installed the civicrm_developer module, which is sort of a complement to Devel, in that it is used to help see into objects and other variables. Looking in the module's .module file, you see all of the CiviCRM hook functions, which are being used in the module to dpm() whatever variables were passed to them.

function civicrm_developer_civicrm_buildForm($formName, &$form){
  drupal_set_message("hook_civicrm_buildForm called: formName is $formName");
  dpm($form);
  dpm($formName);
}

There are no includes or anything else, just hooks and printing variables, for each and every hook available in CiviCRM. The civicrm_developer module indeed works as intended. On the specific page I'm working with, there is a CiviCRM form and this module prints a populated Krumo above that form, as would be expected when dpm()-ing a variable in Drupal.

However, attempts at making a custom module which uses one or two of those same hooks, can never seem to get to that same data. I've gone far as copying the code from that module (just one .module and .info file) to my custom module and changed the hook nomenclature from "civicrm_developer" to, let's say, "mymodule".

So, my module, which is practically an exact copy of that module, with the exception of the hook name, will not generate a Krumo above the form as the civicrm_developer module did when it was enabled. Yes, I've made sure that my module was enabled.

For example, this is the same function from earlier as written in my custom module.

function mymodule_buildForm($formName, &$form){
  drupal_set_message("mymodule_buildForm called: formName is $formName");
  dpm($form);
  dpm($formName);
}

It might also be worth mentioning that the mymodule name in use is unique to that module. It doesn't match the theme name or anything else that would cause a name collision, at least that I know of.

I can't figure out why the same hooks work in a module but not the other. It just doesn't make any sense.

Answer 1

there is no hook_buildForm() hook in Drupal. The hook you are trying to implement is hook_civicrm_buildForm(), so to get it work you should use mymodule_civicrm_buildForm().

You can always use hook_form_alter() or, more specifically, hook_form_FORM_ID_alter() to make changes on any Drupal form.