Magento Event / Observer Object getData problems - php

Question

I have a Magento Module I built that allows you to save a string via the admin interface to the core config table in Magento. I have an observer setup to run a method when the string is saved in the backend. I'm killing myself trying to intercept the string and encode it before saving it to the database.
So when my event is triggered it runs this :
public function myModSaved($observer)
{
echo "<h1> WOWSERS IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!</h1>";
$data = $observer->getData();
print_r($data);
}
The output looks like this:
Array ( [event] => Varien_Event Object ( [_observers:protected] => Varien_Event_Observer_Collection Object ( [_observers:protected] => Array ( ) ) [_data:protected] => Array ( [website] => [store] => [name] => admin_system_config_changed_section_mymodule_section ) [_hasDataChanges:protected] => [_origData:protected] => [_idFieldName:protected] => [_isDeleted:protected] => [_oldFieldsMap:protected] => Array ( ) [_syncFieldsMap:protected] => Array ( ) ) [website] => [store] => )
Now there is only one string being written to the database, how do I get that string before it is saved, then add my new modified string to the object so that one saves in the DB?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

In your system.xml file where the config field is defined add this declaration:
<backend_model>adminhtml/system_config_backend_encrypted</backend_model>
That will take care of all the encoding/decoding both before and after the database access. Also to get the 'password' type field it is customary to use this:
<frontend_type>obscure</frontend_type>