The body field for the comment form isn't being rendered

Question

Here's the code I'm using to render the comment form, inside node.tpl.php:

$comment = new stdClass;
$comment->nid = $node->nid;
echo render(drupal_get_form('comment_form'), $comment);

But the output HTML is: Note the lack of the body field.

To start debugging, I implemented hook_form_alter() and used print_r() on the first $form argument that gets passed to the function. Here's the full output. It also seems to lack any indication of a body field:

Array
(
    [#node] => 
    [#id] => comment-form
    [#attributes] => Array
        (
            [class] => Array
                (
                    [0] => comment-form
                )

        )

    [#theme] => Array
        (
            [0] => comment_form__node_
            [1] => comment_form
        )

    [#action] => /commons/comment/reply/
    [author] => Array
        (
            [#weight] => -2
            [_author] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => item
                    [#title] => Your name
                    [#markup] => Eric Biewener
                )

            [name] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => value
                    [#value] => Eric Biewener
                )

            [mail] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => textfield
                    [#title] => E-mail
                    [#default_value] => 
                    [#required] => 
                    [#maxlength] => 64
                    [#size] => 30
                    [#description] => The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
                    [#access] => 
                )

            [homepage] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => textfield
                    [#title] => Homepage
                    [#default_value] => 
                    [#maxlength] => 255
                    [#size] => 30
                    [#access] => 
                )

            [date] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => textfield
                    [#title] => Authored on
                    [#default_value] => 
                    [#maxlength] => 25
                    [#size] => 20
                    [#access] => 
                )

            [status] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => radios
                    [#title] => Status
                    [#default_value] => 1
                    [#options] => Array
                        (
                            [1] => Published
                            [0] => Not published
                        )

                    [#access] => 
                )

        )

    [subject] => Array
        (
            [#type] => textfield
            [#title] => Subject
            [#maxlength] => 64
            [#default_value] => 
            [#access] => 1
            [#weight] => -1
        )

    [is_anonymous] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => 
        )

    [cid] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => 
        )

    [pid] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => 
        )

    [nid] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => 
        )

    [language] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => und
        )

    [uid] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => 0
        )

    [node_type] => Array
        (
            [#type] => value
            [#value] => comment_node_
        )

    [actions] => Array
        (
            [#type] => actions
            [submit] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => submit
                    [#value] => Save
                    [#access] => 1
                    [#weight] => 19
                )

            [preview] => Array
                (
                    [#type] => submit
                    [#value] => Preview
                    [#access] => 1
                    [#weight] => 20
                    [#submit] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => comment_form_build_preview
                        )

                )

        )

    [#parents] => Array
        (
        )

    [#pre_render] => Array
        (
            [0] => _field_extra_fields_pre_render
        )

    [#entity_type] => comment
    [#bundle] => comment_node_
    [#form_id] => comment_form
    [#type] => form
    [#build_id] => form--BpKXguXKLfbkSvL3gtwLoDDtogZ1qdrJDSm-JeiALw
    [form_build_id] => Array
        (
            [#type] => hidden
            [#value] => form--BpKXguXKLfbkSvL3gtwLoDDtogZ1qdrJDSm-JeiALw
            [#id] => form--BpKXguXKLfbkSvL3gtwLoDDtogZ1qdrJDSm-JeiALw
            [#name] => form_build_id
        )

    [#token] => comment_form
    [form_token] => Array
        (
            [#id] => edit-comment-form-form-token
            [#type] => token
            [#default_value] => 7sCRtZn-FudO7YYGoEA0unxc1Mr6d30_yXnfaU-6oJM
        )

    [form_id] => Array
        (
            [#type] => hidden
            [#value] => comment_form
            [#id] => edit-comment-form
        )

    [#method] => post
    [#theme_wrappers] => Array
        (
            [0] => form
        )

    [#tree] => 
    [#validate] => Array
        (
            [0] => comment_form_validate
        )

    [#submit] => Array
        (
            [0] => comment_form_submit
        )

)

I'm not sure what debugging steps to take next. Seems like maybe some other implementation of hook_form_alter() is removing that field, but I don't know how to look for that.

Answer 1

You're passing the $comment variable as an argument to render() instead of drupal_get_form(), so the body field won't be attached.

Your last line just needs to change to:

echo render(drupal_get_form('comment_form', $comment));