How to place custom views area handler into views header programatically? - drupal

Question

I had to accomplish a task by creating a custom views area handler. That all works fine, and I can place the handler into the header area via the views UI. Unfortunately, due to the deployment structure on this project, I can't just update the code relating to the view. My module creating the custom area handler also needs to alter the view to place the area handler into the header.
I've created the views area handler fine with the following code:
/**
* Implements hook_views_data().
*
* Purpose: Establish a views area handler for displaying.
*/
function custom_shipping_notification_views_data() {
// Initialize data array.
$data = array();
// Define a handler for an area used to display if qualifies for free ship.
$data['commerce_order']['free_shipping_message'] = array(
'title' => t('Free Shipping Notification'),
'help' => t('Displays the free shipping notification on cart form.'),
'area' => array(
'handler' => 'custom_shipping_notification_handler',
),
);
// Return data.
return $data;
}
That all works, so I won't get into the handler itself. I can place this via the views UI no problem. I need to place this into a specific view's header. The view is managed in features but due to the clients deployment and repo structure I cannot alter the feature reasonably. I need to alter the view from inside of my module containing the custom area.
I have attempted to use this code to no avail:
function custom_shipping_notification_views_pre_build(&$view){
if ($view->name == 'commerce_cart_form') {
$id = $view->add_item('default', 'header', 'views', 'free_shipping_message');
}
}
Anyone have any ideas? I'm obviously getting into murky territory since the add_item method has a one line description, and no coding examples. Most of the documentation around this area is similarly undeveloped.

Answer 1

function YOURMODULENAME_views_pre_view(&$view, &$display_id, &$args) {
if($view->name == 'YOURVIEWNAME' && $display_id == 'YOURDISPLAYID') {
$footer = "This is the text that I want in my footer!!!!";
$options = array(
'id' => 'area',
'table' => 'views',
'field' => 'area',
'empty' => FALSE,
'content' => $footer,
'format' => 'filtered_html',
'tokenize' => 0,
);
$view->set_item('YOURDISPLAYID', 'footer', 'area', $options);
}
}