FormType Field
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The FormType
predefines a couple of options that are then available
on all types for which FormType
is the parent.
Options | |
Inherited options | |
Parent | none |
Class | FormType |
Field Options
action
type: string
default: empty string
This option specifies where to send the form's data on submission (usually
a URI). Its value is rendered as the action
attribute of the form
element. An empty value is considered a same-document reference, i.e. the
form will be submitted to the same URI that rendered the form.
allow_extra_fields
type: boolean
default: false
Usually, if you submit extra fields that aren't configured in your form, you'll get a "This form should not contain extra fields." validation error.
You can silence this validation error by enabling the allow_extra_fields
option on the form.
by_reference
type: boolean
default: true
In most cases, if you have an author
field, then you expect setAuthor()
to be called on the underlying object. In some cases, however, setAuthor()
may not be called. Setting by_reference
to false
ensures that the setter is
called in all cases.
To explain this further, here's a simple example:
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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\EmailType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\FormType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\TextType;
// ...
$builder = $this->createFormBuilder($article);
$builder
->add('title', TextType::class)
->add(
$builder->create('author', FormType::class, ['by_reference' => ?])
->add('name', TextType::class)
->add('email', EmailType::class)
)
If by_reference
is true, the following takes place behind the scenes
when you call submit()
(or handleRequest()
) on the form:
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$article->setTitle('...');
$article->getAuthor()->setName('...');
$article->getAuthor()->setEmail('...');
Notice that setAuthor()
is not called. The author is modified by reference.
If you set by_reference
to false, submitting looks like this:
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$article->setTitle('...');
$author = clone $article->getAuthor();
$author->setName('...');
$author->setEmail('...');
$article->setAuthor($author);
So, all that by_reference=false
really does is that it clones the object,
which enforces the framework to call the setter on the parent object.
Similarly, if you're using the CollectionType
field where your underlying collection data is an object (like with
Doctrine's ArrayCollection
), then by_reference
must be set to false
if you need the adder and remover (e.g. addAuthor()
and removeAuthor()
)
to be called.
compound
type: boolean
default: true
A compound form can be either an entire <form>
element or a group of form fields (rendered
for example inside a <div>
or <tr>
container elements). Compound forms use the
DataMapperInterface to initialize their children or to write back their submitted data.
A simple (non-compound) form is rendered as any of these HTML elements: <input>
(TextType
, FileType
, HiddenType
), <textarea>
(TextareaType
)
or <select>
(ChoiceType
).
Some core types like date related types or the ChoiceType
are simple or compound depending
on other options (such as expanded
or widget
). They will either behave as a simple text
field or as a group of text or choice fields.
constraints
type: array
or Constraint default: null
Allows you to attach one or more validation constraints to a specific field. For more information, see Adding Validation. This option is added in the FormTypeValidatorExtension form extension.
data
type: mixed
default: Defaults to field of the underlying structure.
When you create a form, each field initially displays the value of the corresponding property of the form's domain data (e.g. if you bind an object to the form). If you want to override this initial value for the form or an individual field, you can set it in the data option:
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use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\HiddenType;
// ...
$builder->add('token', HiddenType::class, [
'data' => 'abcdef',
]);
Caution
The data
option always overrides the value taken from the domain data
(object) when rendering. This means the object value is also overridden when
the form edits an already persisted object, causing it to lose its
persisted value when the form is submitted.
data_class
type: string
This option is used to set the appropriate data mapper to be used by the form, so you can use it for any form field type which requires an object:
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use AppBundle\Entity\Media;
use AppBundle\Form\MediaType;
// ...
$builder->add('media', MediaType::class, [
'data_class' => Media::class,
]);
empty_data
type: mixed
DEFAULT_PLACEHOLDER
This option determines what value the field will return when the submitted value is empty (or missing). It does not set an initial value if none is provided when the form is rendered in a view.
This means it helps you handling form submission with blank fields. For
example, if you want the name
field to be explicitly set to John Doe
when no value is selected, you can do it like this:
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$builder->add('name', null, [
'required' => false,
'empty_data' => 'John Doe',
]);
This will still render an empty text box, but upon submission the John Doe
value will be set. Use the data
or placeholder
options to show this
initial value in the rendered form.
If a form is compound, you can set empty_data
as an array, object or
closure. See the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article for more details about
these options.
Note
If you want to set the empty_data
option for your entire form class,
see the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article.
Caution
Form data transformers will still be
applied to the empty_data
value. This means that an empty string will
be cast to null
. Use a custom data transformer if you explicitly want
to return the empty string.
:end-before: DEFAULT_PLACEHOLDER
The actual default value of this option depends on other field options:
- If
data_class
is set andrequired
istrue
, thennew $data_class()
; - If
data_class
is set andrequired
isfalse
, thennull
; - If
data_class
is not set andcompound
istrue
, then[]
(empty array); - If
data_class
is not set andcompound
isfalse
, then''
(empty string).
empty_data
type: mixed
DEFAULT_PLACEHOLDER
This option determines what value the field will return when the submitted value is empty (or missing). It does not set an initial value if none is provided when the form is rendered in a view.
This means it helps you handling form submission with blank fields. For
example, if you want the name
field to be explicitly set to John Doe
when no value is selected, you can do it like this:
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$builder->add('name', null, [
'required' => false,
'empty_data' => 'John Doe',
]);
This will still render an empty text box, but upon submission the John Doe
value will be set. Use the data
or placeholder
options to show this
initial value in the rendered form.
If a form is compound, you can set empty_data
as an array, object or
closure. See the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article for more details about
these options.
Note
If you want to set the empty_data
option for your entire form class,
see the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article.
Caution
Form data transformers will still be
applied to the empty_data
value. This means that an empty string will
be cast to null
. Use a custom data transformer if you explicitly want
to return the empty string.
:start-after: DEFAULT_PLACEHOLDER
error_bubbling
type: boolean
default: false
unless the form is compound
If true
, any errors for this field will be passed to the parent field
or form. For example, if set to true
on a normal field, any errors for
that field will be attached to the main form, not to the specific field.
error_mapping
type: array
default: []
This option allows you to modify the target of a validation error.
Imagine you have a custom method named matchingCityAndZipCode()
that validates
whether the city and zip code match. Unfortunately, there is no matchingCityAndZipCode
field in your form, so all that Symfony can do is display the error on top
of the form.
With customized error mapping, you can do better: map the error to the city field so that it displays above it:
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public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults([
'error_mapping' => [
'matchingCityAndZipCode' => 'city',
],
]);
}
Here are the rules for the left and the right side of the mapping:
- The left side contains property paths;
- If the violation is generated on a property or method of a class, its
path is the
propertyName
; - If the violation is generated on an entry of an
array
orArrayAccess
object, the property path is[indexName]
; - You can construct nested property paths by concatenating them, separating
properties by dots. For example:
addresses[work].matchingCityAndZipCode
; - The right side contains the names of fields in the form.
By default, errors for any property that is not mapped will bubble up to the
parent form. You can use the dot (.
) on the left side to map errors of all
unmapped properties to a particular field. For instance, to map all these
errors to the city
field, use:
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$resolver->setDefaults([
'error_mapping' => [
'.' => 'city',
],
]);
extra_fields_message
type: string
default: This form should not contain extra fields.
This is the validation error message that's used if the submitted form data
contains one or more fields that are not part of the form definition. The
placeholder {{ extra_fields }}
can be used to display a comma separated
list of the submitted extra field names.
inherit_data
type: boolean
default: false
This option determines if the form will inherit data from its parent form. This can be useful if you have a set of fields that are duplicated across multiple forms. See How to Reduce Code Duplication with "inherit_data".
Caution
When a field has the inherit_data
option set, it uses the data of
the parent form as is. This means that
Data Transformers won't be
applied to that field.
invalid_message
type: string
default: This value is not valid
This is the validation error message that's used if the data entered into this field doesn't make sense (i.e. fails validation).
This might happen, for example, if the user enters a nonsense string into
a TimeType field that cannot be converted
into a real time or if the user enters a string (e.g. apple
) into a
number field.
Normal (business logic) validation (such as when setting a minimum length for a field) should be set using validation messages with your validation rules (reference).
invalid_message_parameters
type: array
default: []
When setting the invalid_message
option, you may need to
include some variables in the string. This can be done by adding placeholders
to that option and including the variables in this option:
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$builder->add('someField', SomeFormType::class, [
// ...
'invalid_message' => 'You entered an invalid value, it should include %num% letters',
'invalid_message_parameters' => ['%num%' => 6],
]);
label_attr
type: array
default: []
Sets the HTML attributes for the <label>
element, which will be used
when rendering the label for the field. It's an associative array with HTML
attribute as a key. This attributes can also be directly set inside the
template:
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{{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name', {
'label_attr': {'class': 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS'}
}) }}
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echo $view['form']->label(
$form['name'],
'Your name',
['label_attr' => ['class' => 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS']]
);
label_format
type: string
default: null
Configures the string used as the label of the field, in case the label
option was not set. This is useful when using
keyword translation messages.
If you're using keyword translation messages as labels, you often end up having
multiple keyword messages for the same label (e.g. profile_address_street
,
invoice_address_street
). This is because the label is built for each "path"
to a field. To avoid duplicated keyword messages, you can configure the label
format to a static value, like:
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// ...
$profileFormBuilder->add('address', AddressType::class, [
'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);
$invoiceFormBuilder->add('invoice', AddressType::class, [
'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);
This option is inherited by the child types. With the code above, the label of
the street
field of both forms will use the form.address.street
keyword
message.
Two variables are available in the label format:
%id%
-
A unique identifier for the field, consisting of the complete path to the
field and the field name (e.g.
profile_address_street
); %name%
-
The field name (e.g.
street
).
The default value (null
) results in a
"humanized" version of the field name.
Note
The label_format
option is evaluated in the form theme. Make sure to
update your templates in case you
customized form theming.
mapped
type: boolean
default: true
If you wish the field to be ignored when reading or writing to the object,
you can set the mapped
option to false
.
method
type: string
default: POST
This option specifies the HTTP method used to submit the form's data. Its
value is rendered as the method
attribute of the form
element and
is used to decide whether to process the form submission in the
handleRequest()
method after submission. Possible values are:
- POST
- GET
- PUT
- DELETE
- PATCH
Note
When the method is PUT, PATCH, or DELETE, Symfony will automatically
render a _method
hidden field in your form. This is used to "fake"
these HTTP methods, as they're not supported on standard browsers. This can
be useful when using method routing requirements.
Note
The PATCH method allows submitting partial data. In other words, if
the submitted form data is missing certain fields, those will be ignored
and the default values (if any) will be used. With all other HTTP methods,
if the submitted form data is missing some fields, those fields are
set to null
.
post_max_size_message
type: string
default: The uploaded file was too large. Please try to upload a smaller file.
This is the validation error message that's used if submitted POST form
data exceeds php.ini
's post_max_size
directive. The {{ max }}
placeholder can be used to display the allowed size.
Note
Validating the post_max_size
only happens on the root form.
property_path
type: any
default: the field's name
By default form fields read from and write to the properties with the same names
in the form's domain object. The property_path
option lets you define which
property a field reads from and writes to. The value of this option can be any
valid PropertyAccess syntax.
If you wish the field to be ignored when reading or writing to the object
you can set the property_path
option to false
, but using
property_path
for this purpose is deprecated, you should use the
mapped
option.
required
type: boolean
default: true
If true, an HTML5 required attribute will be rendered. The corresponding
label
will also render with a required
class.
This is superficial and independent of validation. At best, if you let Symfony guess your field type, then the value of this option will be guessed from your validation information.
Note
The required option also affects how empty data for each field is handled. For more details, see the empty_data option.
trim
type: boolean
default: true
If true, the whitespace of the submitted string value will be stripped via the trim function when the data is bound. This guarantees that if a value is submitted with extra whitespace, it will be removed before the value is merged back onto the underlying object.
validation_groups
type: array
, string
, callable
, GroupSequence or null
default: null
This option is only valid on the root form and is used to specify which groups will be used by the validator.
For null
the validator will just use the Default
group.
If you specify the groups as an array or string they will be used by the validator as they are:
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public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults([
'validation_groups' => 'Registration',
]);
}
This is equivalent to passing the group as array:
1
'validation_groups' => ['Registration'],
The form's data will be validated against all given groups.
If the validation groups depend on the form's data a callable may be passed to the option. Symfony will then pass the form when calling it:
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use Symfony\Component\Form\FormInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolver;
// ...
public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults([
'validation_groups' => function (FormInterface $form) {
$entity = $form->getData();
return $entity->isUser() ? ['User'] : ['Company'];
},
]);
}
See also
You can read more about this in How to Choose Validation Groups Based on the Submitted Data.
Note
When your form contains multiple submit buttons, you can change the validation group depending on which button is used to submit the form.
If you need advanced logic to determine the validation groups have a look at How to Dynamically Configure Form Validation Groups.
In some cases, you want to validate your groups step by step. To do this, you can pass a GroupSequence to this option. This enables you to validate against multiple groups, like when you pass multiple groups in an array, but with the difference that a group is only validated if the previous groups pass without errors. Here's an example:
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use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\GroupSequence;
// ...
class MyType extends AbstractType
{
// ...
public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults([
'validation_groups' => new GroupSequence(['First', 'Second']),
]);
}
}
See also
Read the article How to Sequentially Apply Validation Groups to find out more about this.
Inherited Options
The following options are defined in the
BaseType class.
The BaseType
class is the parent class for both the form
type and
the ButtonType, but it is not part
of the form type tree (i.e. it cannot be used as a form type on its own).
attr
type: array
default: []
If you want to add extra attributes to an HTML field representation
you can use the attr
option. It's an associative array with HTML attributes
as keys. This can be useful when you need to set a custom class for some widget:
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$builder->add('body', TextareaType::class, [
'attr' => ['class' => 'tinymce'],
]);
auto_initialize
type: boolean
default: true
An internal option: sets whether the form should be initialized automatically.
For all fields, this option should only be true
for root forms. You
won't need to change this option and probably won't need to worry about
it.
block_name
type: string
default: the form's name (see Knowing which
block to customize)
Allows you to add a custom block name to the ones used by default to render the form type. Useful for example if you have multiple instances of the same form and you need to personalize the rendering of the forms individually.
If you set for example this option to my_custom_name
and the field is of
type text
, Symfony will use the following names (and in this order) to find
the block used to render the widget of the field: _my_custom_name_widget
,
text_widget
and form_widget
.
disabled
type: boolean
default: false
If you don't want a user to modify the value of a field, you can set the disabled option to true. Any submitted value will be ignored.
label
type: string
default: The label is "guessed" from the field name
Sets the label that will be used when rendering the field. Setting to false will suppress the label. The label can also be directly set inside the template:
1
{{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name') }}
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echo $view['form']->label(
$form['name'],
'Your name'
);
translation_domain
type: string
, null
or false
default: null
This is the translation domain that will be used for any label or option
that is rendered for this field. Use null
to reuse the translation domain
of the parent form (or the default domain of the translator for the root
form). Use false
to disable translations.