I have been tasked with replacing a webform based donation process which used the confirmation page to post data to an external url with an html form with all input elements hidden and only the submit button showing
I have created a form in a module using the D7 FAPI, with validation using a function and a submit handler function where I write to a custom table created via the schema hook.
Presently in my form, when the submit button is pressed, the validation handler is invoked and assuming no errors are found, a record is written into the custom table. (so far so good)
During the submission process I want to $_POST the form’s data to a form on an external URL using the HTTPS protocol, and, assuming the external transaction is successful, writing to the custom table and sending out acknowledgement emails.
I have looked into the #method and #action attributes of the Form, but I understand that they are used for internal URLs only. Additionally, I have not been able to determine if the $form_state array would remain available while the external URL form is processing
What impact does the #method & #action attributes have on the validation and submit handlers?