Angular Reactive forms

Angular Forms

Introduction

Angular provides two types of forms

• Template Driven
  • Easy to use
  • Familar to Angular JS
  • Two-way data binding-> minimal component code
  • Automatically tracks from and input element state
• Reactive (model driven
  • More flexible
  • Immutable data model
  • Easier to perform an action on value change
  • Access Reactive transformations such as DebounceTime or DistinctUntilChanged
  • Easily add input elements dynamically
  • Easier unit testing

Template driven forms put the responsibility in the template using basic HTML and data binding, Reactive forms move most of the responsibility to the component class

Template-Driven-Forms

In the Template we have

• Form elements
• Input elements
• Data binding to the component
• Validation rules (attributes)
• Validation error messages
• Form model (automatically generated)

In the Component Class we have

• Properties for data binding
• Method for form Operations such as submit

Directives used are

• ngForm
• ngModel
• ngModelGroup

Example form

<form (ngSubmit)="save()">
  <input id="firstNameId" type="text"
  [(ngMode)]="customer.firstname"
  name="firstname"
  #firstNameVar="ngModel" />
</form>

Reactive Forms

In the template we have

• Form elements
• Input elements
• Binding to form model

In the class we have

• Form model which we create
• Validation rules
• Validation error messages
• Properties for managing data (data model)
• Methods for form Operations such as submit

Directives used (ReactiveFormsModule)

• formGroup
• formControl
• formControlName
• formGroupName
• formArrayName

Template vs Reactive Example

Template form example

Reactive form example

Create a Reactive Form

Preparation

Make sure we import the ReactiveFormsModule in app.module.ts

Component Creation

Create a FormGroup in ngInit. Note we can initialize the controls at creation

export class CustomerComponent implements OnInit {
...  
  customerForm :FormGroup

  ngOnInit(): void {
    this.customerForm = new FormGroup({
      firstName: new FormControl(),
      lastName: new FormControl(),
      emailName: new FormControl(),
      sendCatog: new FormControl(true)
    })
  }
...

To set the values of the components you can use setValue or patchValue. Patch value will set a subset of the fields

export class CustomerComponent implements OnInit {
      customerForm.patchValue({
         firstName: 'Jack'
      }
  }
...

Now we can use FormBuilder using injection to simplify the code.

...
  constructor(private formBuilder: FormBuilder) {}

  ngOnInit(): void {

    this.customerForm = this.formBuilder.group({
       firstName: '',
       lastName: '',
       email: '',
       sendCatalog: true,
    })

Template Creation

We specify the form using the formGroup

  <div class="card-body">
    <form novalidate
          (ngSubmit)="save()"
          [formGroup]="customerForm">
...

We add fields with formControlName tag. Note getting this wrong, e.g. the name or the tag will result in the form not being rendered correctly. You can test this by adding a

MEEEEETemplate:FormName.dirty to find out where the error is.

          <input class="form-control"
                 id="emailId"
                 type="email"
                 placeholder="Email (required)"
                 required
                 email
                 formControlName='email'
                 [ngClass]="{'is-invalid': (customerForm.get('email').touched || customerForm.get('email').dirty) && !customerForm.get('email').valid }" />

Accessing Form Model Properties

In the template we can use

customerForm.controls.firstName.valid 
customerForm.get('firstName').valid

Or create a reference in the component to be used, in this case firstName

this.customerFrom = new FormGroup({
   firstName: this.firstName
})

Validation

Basic

We can set basic rules by passing an array of validators at creation time. Below we pass the default value and an array of validators e.g.

this.customerForm  this.formBuilder.group({
   firstName: ['default value'],
     [Validators.required, Validators.minLength(3)]],
   nextField: ''
...

At Runtime

We can do this with

  myEdit.setValidators(...);
  myEdit.clearValidators();
  myEdit.updateValueAndValidity()

Below is an example of handling a radio button on the form

Component

  setNotification(notifyVia: string): void {
    const phoneControl = this.customerForm.get('phone');
    if (notifyVia === 'text') {
      phoneControl.setValidators(Validators.required);
    } else {
      phoneControl.clearValidators();
    }
    phoneControl.updateValueAndValidity();
  }

Template

      <div class="form-group row mb-2">
        <label class="col-md-2 col-form-label pt-0">Send Notifications</label>
        <div class="col-md-8">
          <div class="form-check form-check-inline">
            <label class="form-check-label">
              <input class="form-check-input"
                     type="radio"
                     value="email"
                     formControlName="notification"
                     (click)="setNotification('email')">Email
            </label>
          </div>
          <div class="form-check form-check-inline">
            <label class="form-check-label">
              <input class="form-check-input"
                     type="radio"
                     value="text"
                     formControlName="notification"
                     (click)="setNotification('text')">Text
            </label>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>

Custom Validator

Introduction

Validators are functions, to create one we implement the function below returning 'null if everything is ok.

function myValidator(c: AbstractControl): {[key: string] : boolean} | null {
  if(somethingIsWrong) {
    return {'myValidator', true}
  }
  return null
}

Component

function ratingRange(c: AbstractControl): { [key: string]: boolean } | null {
  if (c.value !== null && (isNaN(c.value) || c.value < 1 || c.value > 5)) {
      return { range: true };
  }
  return null;
}

Template

      <div class="form-group row mb-2">
        <label class="col-md-2 col-form-label"
               for="ratingId">Rating</label>
        <div class="col-md-8">
          <input class="form-control"
                 id="ratingId"
                 type="number"
                 formControlName="rating"
                 [ngClass]="{'is-invalid': (customerForm.get('rating').touched ||
                                             customerForm.get('rating').dirty) &&
                                             !customerForm.get('rating').valid }" />
          <span class="invalid-feedback">
            <span *ngIf="customerForm.get('rating').errors?.range">
              Please rate your experience from 1 to 5.
            </span>
          </span>
        </div>
      </div>

Passing Parameters to Validator

To pass parameters we need to wrap the function in a function with the necessary parameters. Starting with

function myValidator(c: AbstractControl): {[key: string] : boolean} | null {
  if(somethingIsWrong) {
    return {'myValidator', true}
  }
  return null
}

And wrapping we get

function myValidator(param: any): ValidationFn {
   return (c: AbstractControl): {[key: string] : boolean} | null => {
          if(somethingIsWrong) {
       return {'myValidator', true}
    }
    return null
  }
}

Add Our parameters we get

function ratingRange(min: number, max: number): ValidatorFn {
  return (c: AbstractControl): { [key: string]: boolean } | null => {
    if (c.value !== null && (isNaN(c.value) || c.value < min || c.value > max)) {
      return { range: true };
    }
    return null;
  };
}

So now we can use this using

  ngOnInit(): void {

    this.customerForm = this.formBuilder.group({
...
       rating:[null, ratingRange(1,5)],
...
    })
  }

Cross Field Validation

Introduction

This is achieved using formGroups

Component

We create and group and add the two controls to the group. This allows the validator to gain access to the controls. For the validator we pass this as the second argument to the group as an object using the key validator and the name of the function to support this. In our case eamilmatcher

  ngOnInit(): void {

    this.customerForm = this.formBuilder.group({
      firstName: ['',[Validators.required,Validators.minLength(3)]],
...
       eailGroup: this.formBuilder.group({
        email: ['',[Validators.required,Validators.email]],
        confirmEmail: ['',[Validators.required]],
       }),
       phone: '',
...

Next we add a validation function. This accesses the controls via the formGroup

function emailMatcher(c: AbstractControl): { [key: string]: boolean } | null {
  const emailControl = c.get('email');
  const confirmControl = c.get('confirmEmail');

  if (emailControl.pristine || confirmControl.pristine) {
    return null;
  }

  if (emailControl.value === confirmControl.value) {
    return null;
  }
  return { match: true };
}

Template

      <div formGroupName="emailGroup">

        <div class="form-group row mb-2">
          <label class="col-md-2 col-form-label"
                 for="emailId">Email</label>
          <div class="col-md-8">

            <input class="form-control"
                   id="emailId"
                   type="email"
                   placeholder="Email (required)"
                   email
                   formControlName='email'
                   [ngClass]="{'is-invalid': (customerForm.get('email').touched || customerForm.get('email').dirty) && !customerForm.get('email').valid }" />

            <span class="invalid-feedback">
              <span *ngIf="customerForm.get('email').errors?.required">
                Please enter your email address.
              </span>
              <span *ngIf="customerForm.get('email').errors?.email">
                Please enter a valid email address.
              </span>
            </span>
          </div>
        </div>

        <div class="form-group row mb-2">
          <label class="col-md-2 col-form-label"
                 for="confirmEmailId">Confirm Email</label>
          <div class="col-md-8">
            <input class="form-control"
                   id="confirmEmailId"
                   type="email"
                   placeholder="Confirm Email (required)"
                   formControlName="confirmEmail"
                   [ngClass]="{'is-invalid': customerForm.get('emailGroup').errors ||
                                           ((customerForm.get('emailGroup.confirmEmail').touched ||
                                            customerForm.get('emailGroup.confirmEmail').dirty) &&
                                            !customerForm.get('emailGroup.confirmEmail').valid) }" />
            <span class="invalid-feedback">
              <span *ngIf="customerForm.get('emailGroup.confirmEmail').errors?.required">
                Please confirm your email address.
              </span>
              <span *ngIf="customerForm.get('emailGroup').errors?.match">
                The confirmation does not match the email address.
              </span>
            </span>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>