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docs(validation): Improved validation guide (#484)
* docs(validation): Improved validation guide * changes * typos * PR feedback * Fixed label
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@@ -3,43 +3,92 @@ id: form-validation
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title: Form and Field Validation
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---
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At the core of TanStack Form's functionalities is the concept of validation. We currently support three mechanisms of validation:
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At the core of TanStack Form's functionalities is the concept of validation. TanStack Form makes validation highly customizable:
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- You can control when to perform the validation (on change, on input, on blur, on submit...)
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- Validation rules can be defined at the field level or at the form level
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- Validation can be synchronous or asynchronous (for example as a result of an API call)
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- Synchronous functional validation
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- Asynchronous functional validation
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- Adapter-based validation
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Let's take a look at each and see how they're built.
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## When is validation performed?
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## Synchronous Functional Validation
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It's up to you! The `<Field />` component accepts some callbacks as props such as `onChange` or `onBlur`. Those callbacks are passed the current value of the field, as well as the fieldAPI object, so that you can perform the validation. If you find a validation error, simply return the error message as string and it will be available in `field.state.meta.errors`.
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With Form, you can pass a function to a field and, if it returns a string, said string will be used as the error:
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Here is an example:
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onChange={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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>
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{field => (
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<>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>First Name:</label>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>Age:</label>
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<input
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name={field.name}
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value={field.state.value}
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onBlur={field.handleBlur}
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type="number"
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.valueAsNumber)}
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/>
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{field.state.meta.touchedErrors ? (
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<em>{field.state.meta.touchedErrors}</em>
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) : null}
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{field.state.meta.errors ? <em role="alert">{field.state.meta.errors.join(', ')}</em> : null}
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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### Displaying Errors
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In the example above, the validation is done at each keystroke (`onChange`). If, instead, we wanted the validation to be done when the field is blurred, we would change the code above like so:
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onBlur={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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>
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{field => (
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<>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>Age:</label>
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<input
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name={field.name}
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value={field.state.value}
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type="number"
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// Listen to the onBlur event on the field
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onBlur={field.handleBlur}
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// We always need to implement onChange, so that TanStack Form receives the changes
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.valueAsNumber)}
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/>
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{field.state.meta.errors ? <em role="alert">{field.state.meta.errors.join(', ')}</em> : null}
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</>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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So you can control when the validation is done by implementing the desired callback. You can even perform different pieces of validation at different times:
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onChange={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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onBlur={(val) => (val < 0 ? "Invalid value" : undefined)}
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>
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{field => (
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<>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>Age:</label>
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<input
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name={field.name}
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value={field.state.value}
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type="number"
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// Listen to the onBlur event on the field
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onBlur={field.handleBlur}
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// We always need to implement onChange, so that TanStack Form receives the changes
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.valueAsNumber)}
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/>
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{field.state.meta.errors ? <em role="alert">{field.state.meta.errors.join(', ')}</em> : null}
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</>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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In the example above, we are validating different things on the same field at different times (at each keystroke and when blurring the field). Since `field.state.meta.errors` is an array, all the relevant errors at a given time are displayed. You can also use `field.state.meta.errorMap` to get errors based on *when* the validation was done (onChange, onBlur etc...). More info about displaying errors below.
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## Displaying Errors
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Once you have your validation in place, you can map the errors from an array to be displayed in your UI:
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@@ -47,7 +96,8 @@ Once you have your validation in place, you can map the errors from an array to
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onChange={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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children={(field) => {
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>
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{(field) => {
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return (
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<>
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{/* ... */}
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@@ -57,7 +107,7 @@ Once you have your validation in place, you can map the errors from an array to
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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</form.Field>
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```
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Or use the `errorMap` property to access the specific error you're looking for:
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@@ -66,36 +116,24 @@ Or use the `errorMap` property to access the specific error you're looking for:
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onChange={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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>
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{(field) => (
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<>
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{/* ... */}
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{field.state.meta.errorMap['onChange'] ? (
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<em>{field.state.meta.errorMap['onChange']}</em>
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) : null}
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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### Using Alternative Validation Steps
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## Validation at field level vs at form level
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One of the great benefits of using TanStack Form is that you're not locked into a specific method of validation. For example, if you want to validate a specific field on blur rather than on text change, you can change `onChange` to `onBlur`:
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As shown above, each `<Field>` accepts its own validation rules via the `onChange`, `onBlur` etc... callbacks. It is also possible to define validation rules at the form level (as opposed to field by field) by passing similar callbacks to the `useForm()` hook.
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<!-- TODO: add more details when those callbacks are fixed -->
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="age"
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onBlur={val => val < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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<>
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{/* ... */}
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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```
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## Asynchronous Functional Validation
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@@ -105,58 +143,60 @@ To do this, we have dedicated `onChangeAsync`, `onBlurAsync`, and other methods
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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name="age"
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onChangeAsync={async (value) => {
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await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
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return (
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value.includes("error") && 'No "error" allowed in first name'
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value < 13 ? "You must be 13 to make an account" : undefined
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);
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}}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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>
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{field => (
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<>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>First Name:</label>
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>Age:</label>
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<input
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name={field.name}
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value={field.state.value}
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onBlur={field.handleBlur}
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.value)}
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type="number"
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.valueAsNumber)}
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/>
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<FieldInfo field={field} />
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{field.state.meta.errors ? <em role="alert">{field.state.meta.errors.join(', ')}</em> : null}
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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This can be combined with the respective synchronous properties as well:
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Synchronous and Asynchronous validations can coexist. For example it is possible to define both `onBlur` and `onBlurAsync` on the same field:
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``` tsx
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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onChange={(value) =>
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!value
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? "A first name is required"
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: value.length < 3
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? "First name must be at least 3 characters"
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: undefined
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}
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onChangeAsync={async (value) => {
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await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
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name="age"
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onBlur={(value) => value < 13 ? "You must be at least 13" : undefined}
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onBlurAsync={async (value) => {
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const currentAge = await fetchCurrentAgeOnProfile();
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return (
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value.includes("error") && 'No "error" allowed in first name'
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value < currentAge ? "You can only increase the age" : undefined
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);
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}}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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>
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{field => (
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<>
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{/* ... */}
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<label htmlFor={field.name}>Age:</label>
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<input
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name={field.name}
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value={field.state.value}
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type="number"
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onChange={(e) => field.handleChange(e.target.valueAsNumber)}
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/>
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{field.state.meta.errors ? <em role="alert">{field.state.meta.errors.join(', ')}</em> : null}
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</>
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);
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}}
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/>
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)}
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</form.Field>
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```
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The synchronous validation method (`onBlur`) is run first and the asynchronous method (`onBlurAsync`) is only run if the synchronous one (`onBlur`) succeeds. To change this behaviour, set the `asyncAlways` option to `true`, and the async method will be run regardless of the result of the sync method.
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### Built-in Debouncing
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While async calls are the way to go when validating against the database, running a network request on every keystroke is a good way to DDOS your database.
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@@ -165,7 +205,7 @@ Instead, we enable an easy method for debouncing your `async` calls by adding a
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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name="age"
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asyncDebounceMs={500}
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onChangeAsync={async (value) => {
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// ...
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@@ -184,7 +224,7 @@ This will debounce every async call with a 500ms delay. You can even override th
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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name="age"
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asyncDebounceMs={500}
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onChangeAsyncDebounceMs={1500}
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onChangeAsync={async (value) => {
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@@ -206,7 +246,7 @@ This will debounce every async call with a 500ms delay. You can even override th
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> This will run `onChangeAsync` every 1500ms while `onBlurAsync` will run every 500ms.
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## Adapter-Based Validation
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## Adapter-Based Validation (Zod, Yup)
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While functions provide more flexibility and customization over your validation, they can be a bit verbose. To help solve this, there are libraries like [Yup](https://github.com/jquense/yup) and [Zod](https://zod.dev/) that provide schema-based validation to make shorthand and type-strict validation substantially easier.
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@@ -233,11 +273,11 @@ const form = useForm({
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});
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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name="age"
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validator={zodValidator}
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onChange={z
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.string()
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.min(3, "First name must be at least 3 characters")}
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.number()
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.gte(13, "You must be 13 to make an account")}
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children={(field) => {
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return (
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<>
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@@ -252,18 +292,20 @@ These adapters also support async operations using the proper property names:
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```tsx
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<form.Field
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name="firstName"
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name="age"
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onChange={z
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.string()
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.min(3, "First name must be at least 3 characters")}
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.number()
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.gte(13, "You must be 13 to make an account")}
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onChangeAsyncDebounceMs={500}
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onChangeAsync={z.string().refine(
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onChangeAsync={z.number().refine(
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async (value) => {
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await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
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return !value.includes("error");
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const currentAge = await fetchCurrentAgeOnProfile();
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return (
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value >= currentAge
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);
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},
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{
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message: "No 'error' allowed in first name",
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message: "You can only increase the age",
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},
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)}
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children={(field) => {
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@@ -276,3 +318,28 @@ These adapters also support async operations using the proper property names:
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/>
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```
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## Preventing invalid forms from being submitted
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The `onChange`, `onBlur` etc... callbacks are also run when the form is submitted and the submission is blocked if the form is invalid.
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The form state object has a `canSubmit` flag that is false when any field is invalid and the form has been touched (`canSubmit` is true until the form has been touched, even if some fields are "technically" invalid based on their `onChange`/`onBlur` props).
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You can subscribe to it via `form.Subscribe` and use the value in order to, for example, disable the submit button when the form is invalid (in practice, disabled buttons are not accessible, use `aria-disabled` instead).
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```tsx
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const form = useForm(/* ... */);
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return (
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/* ... */
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// Dynamic submit button
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<form.Subscribe
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selector={(state) => [state.canSubmit, state.isSubmitting]}
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children={([canSubmit, isSubmitting]) => (
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<button type="submit" disabled={!canSubmit}>
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{isSubmitting ? "..." : "Submit"}
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</button>
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)}
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/>
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);
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```
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