No Data In Entry?

I am new to using the API and seems rather confusing. I have a Java Applet that uses javascript to dynamically populate hidden fields. I got it to display but the data is not saving in GFs. I did a var_dump on $_POST and $entry in the gform_post_data hook and the data shows up in $_POST but not in entry. I am a bit confused. I assume there needs to be some way to tell the API what the form field name is or do I need to manually assign something to the Entry Object before it is saved? If I add a default text field to the form it saves correctly but my field does not.

I know I am probably just missing a step or misunderstanding the API. Any help or point to a basic tutorial would be helpful. The API Documentation seems to be more of a reference than detailed documentation.

The Developer Documentation appears to be an API. I can not post a link because it is being developed locally. I am trying to create a custom field that that uses a Java Applet to submit information. The applet is communicating with JavaScript to dynamically create hidden input/text elements in the form.

I finally figured out why it was not submitting. Apparently I can not use a custom input field name. The field name needs to be "input_{field_id}" (I was using "input_{field_id}_{form_id}" since it shows that in a number of the GF documentation examples) in order for the field to be "found" when submitted. Now I have the issue of it being submitted as an array (multiple values) but it seems to expect a string - an exception gets thrown about the value being an array when submitted to the "strip_tags" function.

Here is the plugin code I have so far:
http://pastie.org/private/ajcvr4adoybu3fzmrqsta