Form Submit - Populate Title Before Validation

Question

I have no idea why I cannot find an answer to this. I've been able to do this with other fields except the 'title' field.

I have a form which I need to automatically populate the title field. I don't want the user to populate it, so I'm hiding it by wrapping it in a that's hidden.

I used hook_form_alter() to add a callback function to the form's #submit array, but those functions are called after the validation. This would result in an error telling the user to enter a title.

Now I'm trying to use hook_form_alter and adding a validation callback function to the BEGINNING of the array like so:

function previous_meetings_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id)
{
    //Hide the title field
    $form['title']['#prefix'] = '<div style="display: none;">';
    $form['title']['#suffix'] = '</div>';
    //Callback function to execute before validation
    array_unshift($form['#validate'], '_previous_meetings_set_meeting_title');
}

Here is the callback function that is being called but NOT working:

function _previous_meetings_set_meeting_title(&$form, &$form_state)
{
    $form_state['values']['title'] = 'SOMETHING';
}

What am I doing wrong? Can I set values in a validation callback? Is there a right approach to this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you use #prefix and #suffix with display:none, it is hidden in display, but submitted and will be validated for required.
Try to use #required = FALSE and #type = 'hidden' and then set title in your submit handler.

function previous_meetings_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id)
{
    // Hide the title field
    $form['title']['#required'] = FALSE;
    $form['title']['#type'] = 'hidden';
    // Callback function to execute before validation
    array_unshift($form['#submit'], '_previous_meetings_set_meeting_title');

}

And you could also use Automatic Nodetitles with which you may use token replacement.

Answer 2

Nevermind...got it. My solution:

function previous_meetings_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id)
{
     $form['title']['#required'] = FALSE;
     $form['title']['#prefix'] = '<div style="display: none;">';
     $form['title']['#suffix'] = '</div>';
     $form['#submit'][] = '_previous_meetings_set_meeting_title';
}

function _previous_meetings_set_meeting_title(&$form, &$form_state)
{
    $form_state['values']['title'] = 'SOMETHING';
}