Question

I want to improve my knowledge in module development (which is far away from basic), so I try to develop a perimeter search module.
What I’ve achieved for now is a block containing a form:

function perimeter_search_block_view($delta = '') {
  // Define an empty array for the block output.
  $block = array();

  switch($delta) {
    case 'perimeter_search_box':
      $block['subject'] = t('Perimeter search box');
      $block['content'] = drupal_get_form('perimeter_search_form');;
      break;
  }

  return $block;
}

/**
* Implementation of the perimeter search form
* @return array with form data
*/
function perimeter_search_form($form, &$form_state) {
  $form = array(
    '#action' => 'perimeter-search-results',
    'keyword' => array(
      '#type' => 'textfield'
    ),
    'location' => array(
      '#type' => 'textfield'
    ),
    'perimeter' => array(
      '#type' => 'select',
      '#title' => t('Perimeter'),
      '#options' => array('15 km', '30 km', '60 km', '120 km')
    ),
    'submit' => array(
      '#type' => 'submit',
      '#value' => t('Start search')
    )
  );

  return $form;
}

I also have a function to output the search results:

/**
* Implementation of hook_menu()
* @return defined menu/page items
*/
function perimeter_search_menu() {
  $items = array();

  // Search results page
  $items['perimeter-search-results'] = array(
    'title' => t('Perimeter search results'),
    'page callback' => 'perimeter_search_results',
    'access arguments' => array('view perimeter search'),
    'type' => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM
  );

  return $items;
}

/**
* Processing job search queries
*/
function perimeter_search_results() {
  $page_content = t('Search results');
  return $page_content;
} 

My (simple?) question is: how to get the post data (keyword, location, perimeter) in my perimeter_search_results() function?

Answer 1

Easy, you have to create the _submit function for your form, here an example:

function perimeter_search_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
    /*
     * Your data handling goes here on the $form_state['values']['myfieldname']
     * variable.
     */
     drupal_set_message(t('Awesome, you managed to fill the form!'));
}

And if you need to validate..

function perimeter_search_form_validate($form, &$form_state) {
    if($form_state['values'['myfieldname'] == '') {
      form_set_error('', t('Hey, it doesn't work like that!'));
    }
}

Just remember that if you add the attribute ‘#required’ => TRUE to a form field, the field will be automatically validated to always require that field, so you don’t need to use the validator for that field if you just need that it get compiled.