How do you include a field.tpl.php, to a custom views field handler. outside of the theme? so i've created my custom field handler in views. and i want to include a field template in the module. i can achieve what i need by copying the views-view-field.tpl.php into my theme. but i want views-view-field--MYMODULE.tpl.php to be scanned and used from the module folder..

do i need to "declare a theme function" in my 

class views_handler_MYMODULE extends views_handler_field 

THANKS
If you want to have a template file being loaded from your module's templates folder, you should do the following:


Implement hook_views_api to tell Views where you keep views templates, e.g. your_module/templates
Following the naming conventions for Views and add views-view-field.tpl.php into your module's template folder, e.g. your_module/templates


After you clear your cache and rescan the template folders using Views UI, your tpl file should be selected.

Hope this helps, the main source for this answer was https://stevenyeung.com/article/template-override-drupal-views-3-from-module/