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Building a form with validation

Apps often require users to enter information into a text field. For example, we might be working on an app that requires our users to log in with an email address and password combination.

In order to make our apps secure and easy to use, we can check whether the information the user has provided is valid. If the user has correctly filled out the form, we can process the information. If the user submits incorrect information, we can display a friendly error message letting them know what went wrong.

In this example, we’ll see how to add validation to a form with a single text field.

Directions

  1. Create a Form with a GlobalKey
  2. Add a TextFormField with validation logic
  3. Create a button to validate and submit the form

1. Create a Form with a GlobalKey

First, we’ll need a Form to work with. The Form Widget acts as a container to group and validate multiple form fields.

When we create the form, we’ll also need to provide a GlobalKey. This will uniquely identify the Form that we’re working with, and will allow us to validate the form in a later step.

// Define a Custom Form Widget
class MyForm extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  MyFormState createState() {
    return new MyFormState();
  }
}

// Define a corresponding State class. This class will hold the data related to 
// the form.
class MyFormState extends State<MyForm> {
  // Create a global key that will uniquely identify the Form widget and allow
  // us to validate the form
  final GlobalKey<FormState> _formKey = new GlobalKey<FormState>();

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    // Build a Form widget using the _formKey we created above
    return new Form(
      key: _formKey,
      child: // We'll build this out in the next steps!
    );
  }
}

2. Add a TextFormField with validation logic

We have our Form in place, but we haven’t provided a way for our users to enter text! This the job of a TextFormField. The TextFormField Widget renders a material design text input and knows how to display validation errors when they occur.

How can we validate the input? By providing a validator function to the TextFormField. If there is an error with the information the user has provided, the validator function must return a String containing an error message. If there are no errors, the function should not return anything.

In this example, we will create a validator that ensures the TextFormField isn’t empty. If it is empty, we will return a friendly error message!

new TextFormField(
  // The validator receives the text the user has typed in
  validator: (value) {
    if (value.isEmpty) {
      return 'Please enter some text';
    }
  },
);

3. Create a button to validate and submit the form

Now that we have a form with a text field, we’ll need to provide a button the user can tap to submit the information.

When the user attempts to submit the form, we’ll need to check if the form is valid. If it is, we will show a success message. If the text field has no content, we’ll want to display the error message.

new RaisedButton(
  onPressed: () {
    // Validate will return true if the form is valid, or false if
    // the form is invalid.
    if (_formKey.currentState.validate()) {
      // If the form is valid, display a snackbar. In the real world, you'd
      // often want to call a server or save the information in a database
      Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(
          new SnackBar(content: new Text('Processing Data')));
    }
  },
  child: new Text('Submit'),
);

How does this work?

In order to validate the form, we’ll need to use the _formKey created in step 1. We can use the _formKey.currentState method to access the FormState, which is automatically created by Flutter when we build a Form.

The FormState class contains the validate method. When the validate method is called, it will run the validator function for each text field in the form. If everything looks good, the method returns true. If any text field contains errors, it will display the error message for each invalid text field and return false.

Complete Example

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(new MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    final appTitle = 'Form Validation Demo';

    return new MaterialApp(
      title: appTitle,
      home: new Scaffold(
        appBar: new AppBar(
          title: new Text(appTitle),
        ),
        body: new MyForm(),
      ),
    );
  }
}

// Create a Form Widget
class MyForm extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  MyFormState createState() {
    return new MyFormState();
  }
}

// Create a corresponding State class. This class will hold the data related to
// the form.
class MyFormState extends State<MyForm> {
  // Create a global key that will uniquely identify the `Form` widget
  final GlobalKey<FormState> _formKey = new GlobalKey<FormState>();

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    // Build a Form widget using the _formKey we created above
    return new Form(
      key: _formKey,
      child: new Column(
        crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
        children: <Widget>[
          new TextFormField(
            validator: (value) {
              if (value.isEmpty) {
                return 'Please enter some text';
              }
            },
          ),
          new Padding(
            padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(vertical: 16.0),
            child: new RaisedButton(
              onPressed: () {
                // Validate will return true if the form is valid, or false if
                // the form is invalid.
                if (_formKey.currentState.validate()) {
                  // If the form is valid, we want to show a Snackbar
                  Scaffold.of(context).showSnackBar(
                      new SnackBar(content: new Text('Processing Data')));
                }
              },
              child: new Text('Submit'),
            ),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

Form Validation Demo