Question

All I need to do is have a form that does this:

1. User enters postcode in text box
2. Upon submit user is redirected to mysite.com/[user postcode]

That’s it! I know validation etc. would be desirable as well, but I just need to get this working for now. I don’t mind if it’s harcoded or utilises the Drupal form API (actually I’d prefer the former!).

I know this is dead simple, but unfortunately I’m coming from a front-end background and have a bit to learn about this sort of thing 🙁

Cheers!

Answer 1

This is pretty easy with the Form API and a custom module. You’ll build a form using the Form API and add a submit handler that changes the redirect for the form to whatever you’d like. Finally, you’ll need to create a way to access the form (either by creating a menu item or by creating a block).

Here’s an example that implements a form like you want: you’ll want to peruse the Form API reference to see all the options you have when building a form. It also provides two ways to access the form:

1. Using hook_menu() to provide a page for the form at http://example.com/test
2. Using hook_block() to provide a block containing the form that you can add and move around on the block administration page.

Example code:

// Form builder. Form ID = function name
function test_form($form_state) {

  $form['postcode'] = array(
    '#type' => 'textfield',
    '#title' => t('Postcode'),
    '#size' => 10,
    '#required' => TRUE,
  );
  $form['submit'] = array(
    '#type' => 'submit',
    '#value' => t('Go'),
  );

  return $form;
}

// Form submit handler. Default handler is formid_submit()
function test_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
  // Redirect the user to http://example.com/test/<Postcode> upon submit
  $form_state['redirect'] = 'test/' . check_plain($form_state['values']['postcode']);
}

// Implementation of hook_menu(): used to create a page for the form
function test_menu() {

  // Create a menu item for http://example.com/test that displays the form
  $items['test'] = array(
    'title' => 'Postcode form',
    'page callback' => 'drupal_get_form',
    'page arguments' => array('test_form'),
    'access arguments' => array('access content'),
    'type' => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM,
  );

  return $items;
}

// Implementation of hook_block(): used to create a movable block for the form
function test_block($op = 'list', $delta = 0, $edit = array()) {
  switch ($op) {
    case 'list': // Show block info on Site Building -> Blocks
      $block['postcode']['info'] = t('Postcode form');
      break;
    case 'view':
      switch ($delta) {
        case 'postcode':
          $block['subject'] = t('Postcode');
          $block['content'] = drupal_get_form('test_form');
          break;
      }
      break;
  }

  return $block;
}

More info:

• Creating modules – a tutorial: Drupal 6.x
• Form API Quickstart Guide
• Form API Reference
• hook_menu() API reference
• hook_block() API reference
• Example of hook_block in Drupal 6