Solution to CCK Field Groups not appearing in hook_form_alter()

One issue that I recently came across with a module I was editing was that the fieldsets / field groups from a CCK type weren't in the $form array passed to hook_form_alter().

According to Andy Chase, In CCK for D5 & D6, the 'fieldgroup' module supplied with CCK is given a weight of '9', which means that it's hooks will be run after most other modules.

Because of this, fieldgroup's hook_form_alter() function which adds the groups to the $form array is added long after your custom module's hook_form_alter() is run.

The reason for this (according to #292338: Fieldgroup module weight) is that putting them in groups makes it difficult for users to find / work with the fields. Personally, I prefer working with the groups, and, in this particular case, I needed the ability to modify the fieldsets within hook_form_alter().

The solution which Andy gave work perfectly. Create the following snippet in your mymodule.install: