Ronald Hove

Posted on Feb 20, 2021 • Updated on Feb 22, 2021

Ionic Custom Form Builder, a simpler way to build forms in Ionic!

#ionic #forms #angular

ion-custom-form-builder

I made a post about this library about a year ago when I published the first version, I have now updated the library with some code improvements and made it more "scalable" and easier to use than it was before from the feedback I got.

This post follows a technical walkthrough style to showcase some of the features.

Link to Github Repo

This is an ionic-angular component library to simplify and eliminate some redundancies of building forms when developing ionic apps.

Features (Current Version)

Email Validation
Password Validation
Credit Card Validation (With support for detecting card type)
Implement Your Own Submit Button
Ionic FormFieldTypes included
- ion-input
- ion-textarea
Use Official Ionic Icons


Upcoming Features	Changelog

Docs

Usage Example Output

Installation

In your project root, run



npm i ion-custom-form-builder@latest

Usage Example

Lets walk through a getting started example that will show you how to setup the component in your project

import the module in your top level *.module.ts file



...
import { IonCustomFormBuilderModule } from 'ion-custom-form-builder';
...

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    ...
    IonCustomFormBuilderModule.forRoot()
    ...
  ]
})

...

Now in your *.page.html file add



...
  <ion-custom-form-builder
    [formFields]="fields"
    [submitButtonText]="'Login'"
    (formSubmission)="onIonCfbFormSubmission($event)"
  >
  </ion-custom-form-builder>
...

Head over to your *.page.ts file and add




  ...
  import { FormField } from 'ion-custom-form-builder';
  import { Validators } from '@angular/forms';
  ...

  fields: FormField[] = [];

  constructor() {
    this.fields = [
      {
        icon: 'mail',
        type: 'email',
        title: 'Email',
        formControlName: 'email',
        validators: [Validators.required, Validators.email],
        validationMessages: [
          {
            type: 'required',
            message: 'Email is required'
          },
          {
            type: 'email',
            message: 'Email is incorrect'
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        icon: 'lock-closed',
        type: 'password',
        title: 'Password',
        formControlName: 'password',
        validators: [Validators.required],
        validationMessages: [
          {
            type: 'required',
            message: 'Password is required'
          }
        ]
      }
    ];
  }

  onIonCfbFormSubmission(formData) {
    console.log('FORM_DATA=,', formData);
  }

  ...

Serve your app to see it in action



ionic serve

Advanced Features

Password Validation
Credit Card Validation
Implement Your Own Submit Button

Working with passwords

Usage Example Output

The ion-form-builder component provides you with an elegant way to validate passwords by doing the following

Password Validation Usage Example

Head over to your *.page.ts file and add

In your .page.ts file , create **FormField* array objects with formFieldType of 'password' & 'confirm-password'




  ...
  import { FormField } from 'ion-custom-form-builder';
  import { Validators } from '@angular/forms';
  ...

  fields: FormField[] = [];

  constructor() {
    this.fields = [
      {
        icon: 'lock-closed',
        type: 'password',
        title: 'Password',
        formControlName: 'password',
        validators: [Validators.required],
        asyncValidators: [this.passwordValidator],
        validationMessages: [
          {
            type: 'required',
            message: 'Password is required'
          },
          {
            type: 'passwordValidator',
            message: 'Passwords do not match'
          }
        ],
      },
      {
        icon: 'lock-closed',
        type: 'password',
        title: 'Confirm Password',
        formControlName: 'confirm-password',
        validators: [Validators.required],
        asyncValidators: [this.confirmPasswordValidator],
        validationMessages: [
          {
            type: 'required',
            message: 'Please confirm your password'
          },
          {
            type: 'confirmPasswordValidator',
            message: 'Passwords do not match'
          }
        ]
      }
    ];
  }
  ...

  /**
   * Validates password against password confirmation
   *
   * @param {AbstractControl} control
   * @return {*}  {Promise<any>}
   */
  passwordValidator(control: AbstractControl): Promise<any> {
    if (!control.parent) {
      return Promise.resolve(null)
    }else if (control?.parent.get('confirm-password')?.value && control?.value !== control?.parent.get('confirm-password')?.value) {
      control.markAsTouched({ onlySelf: true });
      return Promise.resolve({ passwordValidator: { valid: false } });
    }else {
      if (control?.parent.get('confirm-password')?.invalid) {
        control?.parent.get('confirm-password')?.updateValueAndValidity({ onlySelf: true });
      }
      return Promise.resolve(null)
    }
  }


  /**
   * validates password confirmation against password
   *
   * @param {AbstractControl} control
   * @return {*}  {Promise<any>}
   */
  confirmPasswordValidator(control: AbstractControl): Promise<any> {
    if (!control.parent) {
      return Promise.resolve(null)
    }else if (control?.parent.get('password')?.value && control?.value !== control?.parent.get('password')?.value) {
      control?.parent.get('password')?.updateValueAndValidity({ onlySelf: true });
      return Promise.resolve({ confirmPasswordValidator: { valid: false } });
    }else {
      control?.parent.get('password')?.updateValueAndValidity({ onlySelf: true });
      return Promise.resolve(null)
    }
  }
  ...

Credit Card Validation

ion-custom-form-builder comes with the ability to validate credit cards thanks to Payform Library

Usage Example Output

Credit Card Validation Usage Example

IMPORTANT

First you need to add the following in the assets array of your angular.json file, this will map library's
assets to your project assets folder



  ...
  "architect": {
    "build": {
      "options": {
        "assets": [
          {
            "glob": "**/*",
            "input": "node_modules/ion-custom-form-builder/src/assets",
            "output": "assets"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
  ...

In your .page.ts file , create a **FormField* array object with a formFieldType of 'credit-card'



...
  fields: FormField[] = [];

  constructor() {
    this.fields = [
      {
        type: 'number',
        title: 'Card',
        formControlName: 'card',
        formFieldType: 'credit-card',
        validators: [Validators.required],
        validationMessages: [
          {
            type: 'required',
            message: 'Credit card number is required'
          }
        ]
      }
    ];
  }
...

Serve your app again to see the changes



  ionic serve

Implement Your Own Submit Button

You are able to implement your own submit button in case you want content in-between your form and submit button

In your *.page.html file where you put the ion-custom-form-builder component ..



...
<ion-content>
  <ion-custom-form-builder
    [formFields]="fields"
    [showSubmitButton]="false"
    (formSubmission)="onIonCfbFormSubmission($event)">
  </ion-custom-form-builder>
  ...
  <ion-row>
    <ion-col>
      <ion-button expand="block" color="primary" (click)="onClickMyOwnSubmitButton()">
        Submit
      </ion-button>
    </ion-col>
  </ion-row>
</ion-content>
...

Then in your *.page.ts file import the IonCustomFormBuilderService..



  ...
  import { IonCustomFormBuilderService } from 'ion-custom-form-builder';
  ...

  constructor(
    private ionCfbService: IonCustomFormBuilderService
  ) {
  ...
  }

  ...

  /**
   * Triggered by the form submission event
   *
   * @param {*} formData
   */
  onIonCfbFormSubmission(formData) {
    console.log('FORM_DATA=,', formData);
  }

  /**
   * Trigger form submission using IonCustomFormBuilderService
   *
   */
  onClickMyOwnSubmitButton() {
    this.ionCfbService.triggerFormSubmission$.next(true)
  }
  ...