Lab 15: Form Values to State

Objectives

  • Add form data to component state
  • Make form fields controlled components
  • Handle submission of the form

Steps

Add form data to component state

  1. Open the file src\projects\ProjectForm.js.

  2. To the propTypes, add a project prop.

    src\projects\ProjectForm.js

    ...
    ProjectForm.propTypes = {
    + project: PropTypes.instanceOf(Project),
    onSave: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
    onCancel: PropTypes.func.isRequired
    };
    ...

  3. Destructure the project prop in the function component signature and rename it initialProject so that we can name our state variable project. Next, create a state variable project using the useState hook.

    src\projects\ProjectForm.js

    - import React from 'react';
    + import React, { useState } from 'react';
    function ProjectForm({
    + project: initialProject,
    onSave,
    onCancel,
    }) {
    + const [project, setProject] = useState(initialProject);
    const handleSubmit = (event) => {
    event.preventDefault();
    onSave(new Project({ name: 'Updated Project' }));
    };
    ...
    }

Make form fields controlled components

  1. Make all <input />s and <textarea />s controlled components by assigning their values to a project property on state.

    • Write a handleChange event handler and wire it up to onChange event of all the form fields.

    • The form field types that need to be handled include:

      • <input type="text" />
      • <input type="number" />
      • <input type="checkbox" />
      • <textarea />

        Alternatively, you could write a separate handler for each of the form field types and invoke them as appropriate but this can be tedious and more difficult to maintain.

      src\projects\ProjectForm.js

...
function ProjectForm({
project: initialProject,
onSave,
onCancel,
}) {
const [project, setProject] = useState(initialProject);
const handleSubmit = (event) => {
event.preventDefault();
onSave(new Project({ name: 'Updated Project' }));
};
+ const handleChange = (event) => {
+ const { type, name, value, checked } = event.target;
+ // if input type is checkbox use checked
+ // otherwise it's type is text, number etc. so use value
+ let updatedValue = type === 'checkbox' ? checked : value;
+
+ //if input type is number convert the updatedValue string to a +number
+ if (type === 'number') {
+ updatedValue = Number(updatedValue);
+ }
+ const change = {
+ [name]: updatedValue,
+ };
+
+ let updatedProject;
+ // need to do functional update b/c
+ // the new project state is based on the previous project state
+ // so we can keep the project properties that aren't being edited +like project.id
+ // the spread operator (...) is used to
+ // spread the previous project properties and the new change
+ setProject((p) => {
+ updatedProject = new Project({ ...p, ...change });
+ return updatedProject;
+ });
+ };
return (
<form className="input-group vertical" onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
<label htmlFor="name">Project Name</label>
<input
type="text"
name="name"
placeholder="enter name"
+ value={project.name}
+ onChange={handleChange}
/>
<label htmlFor="description">Project Description</label>
<textarea
name="description"
placeholder="enter description"
+ value={project.description}
+ onChange={handleChange}
/>
<label htmlFor="budget">Project Budget</label>
<input
type="number"
name="budget"
placeholder="enter budget"
+ value={project.budget}
+ onChange={handleChange}
/>
<label htmlFor="isActive">Active?</label>
<input
type="checkbox"
name="isActive"
+ checked={project.isActive}
+ onChange={handleChange}
/>
<div className="input-group">
<button className="primary bordered medium">Save</button>
<span />
<button type="button" className="bordered medium" onClick={onCancel}>
cancel
</button>
</div>
</form>
);
}
export default ProjectForm;

Handle submission of the form

  1. In handleSubmit, when calling the onSave prop pass state.project instead of new Project({ name: 'Updated Project' }).

    src\projects\ProjectForm.js

...
function ProjectForm({
project: initialProject,
onSave,
onCancel,
}) {
const [project, setProject] = useState(initialProject);
const handleSubmit = (event) => {
event.preventDefault();
- onSave(new Project({ name: 'Updated Project' }));
+ onSave(project);
};
...
}
export default ProjectForm;

  1. In ProjectList set the project prop into the <ProjectForm />.

    src\projects\ProjecList.js

    ...
    function ProjectList({ projects, onSave }) {
    const [projectBeingEdited, setProjectBeingEdited] = useState({});
    const handleEdit = (project) => {
    setProjectBeingEdited(project);
    };
    const cancelEditing = () => {
    setProjectBeingEdited({});
    };
    return (
    <div className="row">
    {projects.map((project) => (
    <div key={project.id} className="cols-sm">
    {project === projectBeingEdited ? (
    <ProjectForm
    + project={project}
    onSave={onSave}
    onCancel={cancelEditing}
    />
    ) : (
    <ProjectCard project={project} onEdit={handleEdit} />
    )}
    </div>
    ))}
    </div>
    );
    }
    export default ProjectList;

  2. ProjectsPage update the project.

    src\projects\ProjectsPage.js

    import React, { Fragment,
    + useState } from 'react';
    import { MOCK_PROJECTS } from './MockProjects';
    import ProjectList from './ProjectList';
    function ProjectsPage() {
    + const [projects, setProjects] = useState(MOCK_PROJECTS);
    const saveProject = (project) => {
    - console.log('Saving project: ', project);
    + let updatedProjects = projects.map((p) => {
    + return p.id === project.id ? project : p;
    + });
    + setProjects(updatedProjects);
    };
    return (
    <Fragment>
    <h1>Projects</h1>
    - <ProjectList onSave={saveProject} projects={MOCK_PROJECTS} />
    + <ProjectList onSave={saveProject} projects={projects} />
    </Fragment>
    );
    }
    export default ProjectsPage;

  3. Verify the application is working by following these steps in your browser.

    1. Click the edit button for a project.
    2. Change the project name in the form.
    3. Click save on the form.
    4. Verify the card shows the updated data.

      Note that if you refresh your browser page your changes will not persist because the updates are only happening in the browser's memory. We will get a more permanent save working in a future lab when we communicate to our backend web API.

✔ You have completed Lab 15

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