Form

Introduction to forms and controls

Be sure to use an appropriate type on all inputs (e.g., email for email address or number for numerical information) to take advantage of newer input controls like email verification, number selection, and more.

Here's a quick example to demonstrate BootstrapVue's form styles. Keep reading for documentation on supported components, form layout, and more.

<template>
  <div>
    <b-form @submit="onSubmit" @reset="onReset" v-if="show">
      <b-form-group
        id="input-group-1"
        label="Email address:"
        label-for="input-1"
        description="We'll never share your email with anyone else."
      >
        <b-form-input
          id="input-1"
          v-model="form.email"
          type="email"
          required
          placeholder="Enter email"
        ></b-form-input>
      </b-form-group>

      <b-form-group id="input-group-2" label="Your Name:" label-for="input-2">
        <b-form-input
          id="input-2"
          v-model="form.name"
          required
          placeholder="Enter name"
        ></b-form-input>
      </b-form-group>

      <b-form-group id="input-group-3" label="Food:" label-for="input-3">
        <b-form-select
          id="input-3"
          v-model="form.food"
          :options="foods"
          required
        ></b-form-select>
      </b-form-group>

      <b-form-group id="input-group-4">
        <b-form-checkbox-group v-model="form.checked" id="checkboxes-4">
          <b-form-checkbox value="me">Check me out</b-form-checkbox>
          <b-form-checkbox value="that">Check that out</b-form-checkbox>
        </b-form-checkbox-group>
      </b-form-group>

      <b-button type="submit" variant="primary">Submit</b-button>
      <b-button type="reset" variant="danger">Reset</b-button>
    </b-form>
    <b-card class="mt-3" header="Form Data Result">
      <pre class="m-0">{{ form }}</pre>
    </b-card>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        form: {
          email: '',
          name: '',
          food: null,
          checked: []
        },
        foods: [{ text: 'Select One', value: null }, 'Carrots', 'Beans', 'Tomatoes', 'Corn'],
        show: true
      }
    },
    methods: {
      onSubmit(evt) {
        evt.preventDefault()
        alert(JSON.stringify(this.form))
      },
      onReset(evt) {
        evt.preventDefault()
        // Reset our form values
        this.form.email = ''
        this.form.name = ''
        this.form.food = null
        this.form.checked = []
        // Trick to reset/clear native browser form validation state
        this.show = false
        this.$nextTick(() => {
          this.show = true
        })
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-form.vue -->

Inline form

Use the inline prop on <b-form> to display a series of labels, form controls, and buttons on a single horizontal row. Form controls within inline forms vary slightly from their default states.

• Controls are display: flex, collapsing any HTML white space and allowing you to provide alignment control with spacing and flexbox utilities.
• Controls and input groups receive width: auto to override the Bootstrap default width: 100%.
• Controls only appear inline in viewports that are at least 576px wide to account for narrow viewports on mobile devices.

You may need to manually address the width and alignment of individual form controls with spacing utilities (as shown below). Lastly, be sure to always include a <label> with each form control, even if you need to hide it from non-screenreader visitors with class .sr-only.

<div>
  <b-form inline>
    <label class="sr-only" for="inline-form-input-name">Name</label>
    <b-input
      id="inline-form-input-name"
      class="mb-2 mr-sm-2 mb-sm-0"
      placeholder="Jane Doe"
    ></b-input>

    <label class="sr-only" for="inline-form-input-username">Username</label>
    <b-input-group prepend="@" class="mb-2 mr-sm-2 mb-sm-0">
      <b-input id="inline-form-input-username" placeholder="Username"></b-input>
    </b-input-group>

    <b-form-checkbox class="mb-2 mr-sm-2 mb-sm-0">Remember me</b-form-checkbox>

    <b-button variant="primary">Save</b-button>
  </b-form>
</div>

<!-- b-form-inline.vue -->

Custom form controls and selects are also supported.

<div>
  <b-form inline>
    <label class="mr-sm-2" for="inline-form-custom-select-pref">Preference</label>
    <b-form-select
      id="inline-form-custom-select-pref"
      class="mb-2 mr-sm-2 mb-sm-0"
      :options="[{ text: 'Choose...', value: null }, 'One', 'Two', 'Three']"
      :value="null"
    ></b-form-select>

    <b-form-checkbox class="mb-2 mr-sm-2 mb-sm-0">Remember my preference</b-form-checkbox>

    <b-button variant="primary">Save</b-button>
  </b-form>
</div>

<!-- b-form-inline-custom.vue -->

Note: <b-form-group> is not supported in inline forms due to layout conflicts.

Alternatives to hidden labels

Assistive technologies such as screen readers will have trouble with your forms if you don't include a label for every input. For these inline forms, you can hide the labels using the .sr-only class. There are further alternative methods of providing a label for assistive technologies, such as the aria-label, aria-labelledby or title attributes. If none of these are present, assistive technologies may resort to using the placeholder attribute, if present, but note that use of placeholder as a replacement for other labelling methods is not advised.

Related form control and layout components

See also:

• <b-form-input> Textual and text-like inputs
• <b-form-textarea> Text area inputs
• <b-form-select> Select input
• <b-form-radio> Radio Inputs
• <b-form-checkbox> Checkbox Inputs
• b-form-datepicker Date picker input
• b-form-spinbutton Numerical range spinbutton input
• b-form-tags Customizable tag input
• <b-form-timepicker> Time picker custom form input
• <b-form-file> File Input
• <b-button> Buttons
• <b-form-group> Form input wrapper to generate form-groups that support labels, help text and feedback
• <b-input-group> Form inputs with add-ons
• <b-form-row> Create grid rows and columns with tighter margins (available via the Layout and grid components)

Form helper components

The following helper components are available with the Form plugin:

• <b-form-text> Help text blocks for inputs
• <b-form-invalid-feedback> Invalid feedback text blocks for input invalid states
• <b-form-valid-feedback> Valid feedback text blocks for input valid states
• <b-form-datalist> Easily create a <datalist> for use with <b-form-input> or plain <input>

Form text helper

Display a block of help text below an input with the <b-form-text> helper component. text is displayed with a muted color and slightly smaller font-size.

Tip: Help text should be explicitly associated with the form control it relates to using the aria-describedby attribute. This will ensure that assistive technologies, such as screen readers, will announce this help text when the user focuses or enters the control.

<div>
  <b-form @submit.stop.prevent>
    <label for="text-password">Password</label>
    <b-input type="password" id="text-password" aria-describedby="password-help-block"></b-input>
    <b-form-text id="password-help-block">
      Your password must be 8-20 characters long, contain letters and numbers, and must not
      contain spaces, special characters, or emoji.
    </b-form-text>
   </b-form>
</div>

<!-- b-form-help-text.vue -->

Feedback helpers

The <b-form-valid-feedback> and <b-form-invalid-feedback> helper components will display feedback (based on input state) as a block of colored text. They rely on being placed after an input (sibling) and will show based on the browser native validation state of the input. To force them to show, set the prop force-show to true, or bind the controls state to the state prop of the feedback helper, or set the was-validated class on a parent element (such as a form). See the Validation section below for additional details.

Use the optional Boolean prop tooltip to change the display from a block to a static tooltip style. The feedback will typically appear below the form control. When this mode is enabled, it is important that the parent container have a position: relative: css style (or position-relative class). Note that tooltip style feedback may, since its positioning is static, obscure other inputs, labels, etc.

Note: Some form controls, such as <b-form-radio>, <b-form-checkbox>, and <b-form-file> have wrapper elements which will prevent the feedback text from automatically showing (as the feedback component is not a direct sibling of the form control's input). Use the feedback component's state prop (bound to the state of the form control) or the force-show prop to display the feedback.

<template>
  <div>
    <b-form  @submit.stop.prevent>
      <label for="feedback-user">User ID</label>
      <b-input v-model="userId" :state="validation" id="feedback-user"></b-input>
      <b-form-invalid-feedback :state="validation">
        Your user ID must be 5-12 characters long.
      </b-form-invalid-feedback>
      <b-form-valid-feedback :state="validation">
        Looks Good.
      </b-form-valid-feedback>
     </b-form>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        userId: ''
      }
    },
    computed: {
      validation() {
        return this.userId.length > 4 && this.userId.length < 13
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-form-feedback-example.vue -->

Datalist helper

For browsers that support <datalist> elements, the <b-form-datalist> helper component will allow you to quickly create a <datalist> and child <option> elements via an array passed to the options prop.

You may also manually provide <option> elements inside <b-form-datalist>. They will appear below any <option> elements generated from the options prop.

<template>
  <label for="input-with-list">Input with datalist</label>
  <b-form-input list="input-list" id="input-with-list"></b-form-input>
  <b-form-datalist id="input-list" :options="options"></b-form-datalist>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  data() {
    return {
      options: ['Apple', 'Banana', 'Grape', 'Kiwi', 'Orange']
    }
  }
}
</script>

<!-- b-form-datalist-example.vue -->

<b-form-datalist> is also available via the shorter alias of <b-datalist>.

See also:

• <b-form-input> datalist for datalist usage.
• <b-form-select> options prop docs for details on the formats and helper props associated with options.

Validation

Disable browser native HTML5 validation by setting the novalidate prop to true on <b-form>.

Set the validated prop, on <b-form>, to true to add the Bootstrap v4 .was-validated class to the form to trigger validation states

All of the form controls support a state prop, which can be used to set the form control into one of three contextual states:

• false (denotes invalid state) is great for when there's a blocking or required field. A user must fill in this field properly to submit the form.
• true (denotes valid state) is ideal for situations when you have per-field validation throughout a form and want to encourage a user through the rest of the fields.
• null Displays no validation state (neither valid nor invalid)

Refer to the Bootstrap v4 Form Validation Documentation for details on the new Bootstrap v4 validation states.

Validation mechanisms

Using 3^rd party Vue-based validation libraries with BootstrapVue:

• BootstrapVue Form validation reference section

Additional resources:

• Bootstrap v4: Form Validation Documentation
• MDN: Learn Form Validation - Using JavaScript API
• MDN: HTML5 Constraint Validation
• MDN: Validity State API