Guides
Forms

Forms

Form Fields

Single input components in Shoreline don't have labels or help messages by default, in order to build a field to be used on a form you must use the Field compound components set.

Labels and help text

In order to be accessible, fields in a form should have labels, and in use cases where we want to provide more information fields must have helper text. In Shoreline you can use Label and FieldDescription to add those elements to a field.

<Field>
  <Label>Label</Label>
  <InputElement />
  <FieldDescription>Short description</FieldDescription>
</Field>

Indicating error

Some fields might have error states when a value is invalid. You can use FieldError and the error prop in Field to indicate a form error.

Since Field provides context to its children components FieldError won't be rendered when the error prop is set to false.

<Field error>
  <Label>Label</Label>
  <InputElement />
  <FieldError>Short description</FieldError>
</Field>

State

Shoreline doesn't currently offer state management for forms, you may choose your prefered method of state handling and validation.

Controlled

Here's an example of a simple controlled form.

export function Controlled() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('')
  const [error, setError] = useState(false)
 
  let onSubmit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault()
    setError(false)
 
 
    if (value === ''){
      setError(true)
    }
 
    // perform submit action on backend
  }
 
  return (
    <Stack>
      <form onSubmit={onSubmit}>
        <Field error={error}>
          <Label>Poem</Label>
          <Textarea name="poem" value={value} onChange={setValue} />
          <FieldDescription>Write a poem</FieldDescription>
          <FieldError>You must write something</FieldError>
        </Field>
        <Button type="submit" variant="primary">
          Submit
        </Button>
      </form>
    </Stack>
  )
}
 

Uncontrolled

export function Uncontrolled() {
 
  return (
    <Stack>
      <form>
        <Field>
          <Label>Poem</Label>
          <Textarea name="poem" />
          <FieldDescription>Write a poem</FieldDescription>
        </Field>
        <Button type="submit" variant="primary">
          Submit
        </Button>
      </form>
    </Stack>
  )
}

Examples

Examples of component structure for some common field use cases.

Text field

<Field>
  <Label>Text</Label>
  <Input />
  <FieldDescription>Short description</FieldDescription>
  <FieldError>Error Message</FieldError>
</Field>

TextArea field

<Field>
  <Label>Multiline input</Label>
  <Textarea />
  <FieldDescription>Short description</FieldDescription>
  <FieldError>Error Message</FieldError>
</Field>

TextArea with char counter

<Field>
  <Label>Textarea with counter</Label>
  <Textarea value={value} onChange={setValue} maxLength={120} />
  <Flex justify="space-between">
    <FieldDescription>Short description</FieldDescription>
    <FieldCharCounter count={String(value).length} limit={120} />
  </Flex>
  <FieldError>Error Message</FieldError>
</Field>