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RefineDocumentation
Version: 5.xx.xx

useStepsForm

useStepsForm allows you to manage a form with multiple steps. It provides features such as which step is currently active, the ability to go to a specific step and validation when changing steps etc.

useStepsForm hook is extended from useForm from the @refinedev/react-hook-form package. This means you can use all the features of useForm.

Usage​

We'll show two examples, one for creating and one for editing a post. Let's see how useStepsForm is used in both.

Here is the final result of the form: We will explain the code in following sections.

localhost:3000/posts/create
import { HttpError, useSelect } from "@refinedev/core";
import { useStepsForm } from "@refinedev/react-hook-form";

const stepTitles = ["Title", "Status", "Category and content"];

const PostCreatePage: React.FC = () => {
  const {
    refineCore: { onFinish, formLoading },
    register,
    handleSubmit,
    formState: { errors },
    steps: { currentStep, gotoStep },
  } = useStepsForm<IPost, HttpError, IPost>();

  const { options } = useSelect<ICategory, HttpError>({
    resource: "categories",
  });

  const renderFormByStep = (step: number) => {
    switch (step) {
      case 0:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Title: </label>
            <input
              {...register("title", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            />
            {errors.title && <span>{errors.title.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
      case 1:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Status: </label>
            <select {...register("status")}>
              <option value="published">published</option>
              <option value="draft">draft</option>
              <option value="rejected">rejected</option>
            </select>
          </>
        );
      case 2:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Category: </label>
            <select
              {...register("category.id", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            >
              {options?.map((category) => (
                <option key={category.value} value={category.value}>
                  {category.label}
                </option>
              ))}
            </select>
            {errors.category && <span>{errors.category.message}</span>}
            <br />
            <br />
            <label>Content: </label>
            <textarea
              {...register("content", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
              rows={10}
              cols={50}
            />
            {errors.content && <span>{errors.content.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
    }
  };

  if (formLoading) {
    return <div>Loading...</div>;
  }

  return (
    <div style={{ display: "flex", flexDirection: "column", gap: 16 }}>
      <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 36 }}>
        {stepTitles.map((title, index) => (
          <button
            key={index}
            onClick={() => gotoStep(index)}
            style={{
              backgroundColor: currentStep === index ? "lightgray" : "initial",
            }}
          >
            {index + 1} - {title}
          </button>
        ))}
      </div>
      <form autoComplete="off">{renderFormByStep(currentStep)}</form>
      <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 8 }}>
        {currentStep > 0 && (
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              gotoStep(currentStep - 1);
            }}
          >
            Previous
          </button>
        )}
        {currentStep < stepTitles.length - 1 && (
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              gotoStep(currentStep + 1);
            }}
          >
            Next
          </button>
        )}
        {currentStep === stepTitles.length - 1 && (
          <button onClick={handleSubmit(onFinish)}>Save</button>
        )}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

interface ICategory {
  id: number;
  title: string;
}

interface IPost {
  id: number;
  title: string;
  content: string;
  status: "published" | "draft" | "rejected";
  category: {
    id: ICategory["id"];
  };
}

In this example we're going to build a Post "create" form. We also added a relational category field to expand our example.

To split your <input/> components under a <form/> component, first import and use useStepsForm hook in your page:

import { HttpError } from "@refinedev/core";
import { useStepsForm } from "@refinedev/react-hook-form";

const PostCreate = () => {
  const {
    refineCore: { onFinish, formLoading },
    register,
    handleSubmit,
    formState: { errors },
    steps: { currentStep, gotoStep },
  } = useStepsForm<IPost, HttpError, IPost>();

  return <div>...</div>;
};

interface ICategory {
  id: number;
  title: string;
}

interface IPost {
  id: number;
  title: string;
  content: string;
  status: "published" | "draft" | "rejected";
  category: {
    id: ICategory["id"];
  };
}

useStepsForm is generic over the type form data to help you type check your code.

This hook returns a set of useful values to render steps form. Given current value, you should have a way to render your form items conditionally with this index value.

Here, we're going to use a switch statement to render the form items based on the currentStep.

import { HttpError, useSelect } from "@refinedev/core";
import { useStepsForm } from "@refinedev/react-hook-form";

const PostCreate = () => {
  const {
    refineCore: { onFinish, formLoading },
    register,
    handleSubmit,
    formState: { errors },
    steps: { currentStep, gotoStep },
  } = useStepsForm<IPost, HttpError, IPost>();

  const { options } = useSelect<ICategory, HttpError>({
    resource: "categories",
  });

  const renderFormByStep = (step: number) => {
    switch (step) {
      case 0:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Title: </label>
            <input
              {...register("title", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            />
            {errors.title && <span>{errors.title.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
      case 1:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Status: </label>
            <select {...register("status")}>
              <option value="published">published</option>
              <option value="draft">draft</option>
              <option value="rejected">rejected</option>
            </select>
          </>
        );
      case 2:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Category: </label>
            <select
              {...register("category.id", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            >
              {options?.map((category) => (
                <option key={category.value} value={category.value}>
                  {category.label}
                </option>
              ))}
            </select>
            {errors.category && <span>{errors.category.message}</span>}
            <br />
            <br />
            <label>Content: </label>
            <textarea
              {...register("content", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
              rows={10}
              cols={50}
            />
            {errors.content && <span>{errors.content.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
    }
  };

  return <div>...</div>;
};

interface ICategory {
  id: number;
  title: string;
}

interface IPost {
  id: number;
  title: string;
  content: string;
  status: "published" | "draft" | "rejected";
  category: {
    id: ICategory["id"];
  };
}
Relational Data:

Since category is a relational data, we use useSelect to fetch its data.

Refer to useSelect documentation for detailed usage. →

Now, we can use renderFormByStep function to render the form items based on the currentStep and gotoStep function to navigate between steps.

import { HttpError, useSelect } from "@refinedev/core";
import { useStepsForm } from "@refinedev/react-hook-form";

const PostCreate = () => {
  const {
    refineCore: { onFinish, formLoading },
    register,
    handleSubmit,
    formState: { errors },
    steps: { currentStep, gotoStep },
  } = useStepsForm<IPost, HttpError, IPost>();

  const { options } = useSelect<ICategory, HttpError>({
    resource: "categories",
  });

  const renderFormByStep = (step: number) => {
    switch (step) {
      case 0:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Title: </label>
            <input
              {...register("title", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            />
            {errors.title && <span>{errors.title.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
      case 1:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Status: </label>
            <select {...register("status")}>
              <option value="published">published</option>
              <option value="draft">draft</option>
              <option value="rejected">rejected</option>
            </select>
          </>
        );
      case 2:
        return (
          <>
            <label>Category: </label>
            <select
              {...register("category.id", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
            >
              {options?.map((category) => (
                <option key={category.value} value={category.value}>
                  {category.label}
                </option>
              ))}
            </select>
            {errors.category && <span>{errors.category.message}</span>}
            <br />
            <br />
            <label>Content: </label>
            <textarea
              {...register("content", {
                required: "This field is required",
              })}
              rows={10}
              cols={50}
            />
            {errors.content && <span>{errors.content.message}</span>}
          </>
        );
    }
  };

  if (formLoading) {
    return <div>Loading...</div>;
  }

  return (
    <div style={{ display: "flex", flexDirection: "column", gap: 16 }}>
      <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 36 }}>
        {stepTitles.map((title, index) => (
          <button
            key={index}
            onClick={() => gotoStep(index)}
            style={{
              backgroundColor: currentStep === index ? "lightgray" : "initial",
            }}
          >
            {index + 1} - {title}
          </button>
        ))}
      </div>
      <form autoComplete="off">{renderFormByStep(currentStep)}</form>
      <div style={{ display: "flex", gap: 8 }}>
        {currentStep > 0 && (
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              gotoStep(currentStep - 1);
            }}
          >
            Previous
          </button>
        )}
        {currentStep < stepTitles.length - 1 && (
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              gotoStep(currentStep + 1);
            }}
          >
            Next
          </button>
        )}
        {currentStep === stepTitles.length - 1 && (
          <button onClick={handleSubmit(onFinish)}>Save</button>
        )}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

interface ICategory {
  id: number;
  title: string;
}

interface IPost {
  id: number;
  title: string;
  content: string;
  status: "published" | "draft" | "rejected";
  category: {
    id: ICategory["id"];
  };
}

Properties​

refineCoreProps​

All useForm properties also available in useStepsForm. You can find descriptions on useForm docs.

const stepsForm = useStepsForm({
  refineCoreProps: {
    action: "edit",
    resource: "posts",
    id: "1",
  },
});

stepsProps​

The props needed by the manage state steps.

defaultStep​

Sets the default starting step number. Counting starts from 0.

const stepsForm = useStepsForm({
  stepsProps: {
    defaultStep: 0,
  },
});

isBackValidate​

When is true, validates a form fields when the user navigates to a previous step. Default is false.

const stepsForm = useStepsForm({
  stepsProps: {
    isBackValidate: true,
  },
});

autoSave​

If you want to save the form automatically after some delay when user edits the form, you can pass true to autoSave.enabled prop.

By default the autoSave feature does not invalidate queries. However, you can use the invalidateOnUnmount prop to invalidate queries upon unmount.

It also supports onMutationSuccess and onMutationError callback functions. You can use isAutoSave parameter to determine whether the mutation is triggered by autoSave or not.

autoSave feature operates exclusively in edit mode. Users can take advantage of this feature while editing data, as changes are automatically saved in editing mode. However, when creating new data, manual saving is still required.

onMutationSuccess and onMutationError callbacks will be called after the mutation is successful or failed.

enabled​

To enable the autoSave feature, set the enabled parameter to true. By default, it is set to false.

useStepsForm({
  refineCoreProps: {
    autoSave: {
      enabled: true,
    },
  },
});

debounce​

Set the debounce time for the autoSave prop. By default, it is set to 1000 milliseconds.

useStepsForm({
  refineCoreProps: {
    autoSave: {
      enabled: true,
      debounce: 2000,
    },
  },
});

onFinish​

If you want to modify the data before sending it to the server, you can use onFinish callback function.

useStepsForm({
  refineCoreProps: {
    autoSave: {
      enabled: true,
      onFinish: (values) => {
        return {
          foo: "bar",
          ...values,
        };
      },
    },
  },
});

invalidateOnUnmount​

This prop is useful when you want to invalidate the list, many and detail queries from the current resource when the hook is unmounted. By default, it invalidates the list, many and detail queries associated with the current resource. Also, You can use the invalidates prop to select which queries to invalidate. By default, it is set to false.

useStepsForm({
  refineCoreProps: {
    autoSave: {
      enabled: true,
      invalidateOnUnmount: true,
    },
  },
});

Return Values​

All useForm return values also available in useStepsForm. You can find descriptions on useForm docs.

steps​

The return values needed by the manage state steps.

currentStep​

Current step, counting from 0.

gotoStep​

Is a function that allows you to programmatically change the current step of a form. It takes in one argument, step, which is a number representing the index of the step you want to navigate to.

API Reference​

Properties​

PropertyTypeDescriptionDefault
refineCoreProps

UseFormCoreProps<TQueryFnData, TError, TVariables, TData, TResponse, TResponseError>

Configuration object for the core of the useForm

warnWhenUnsavedChanges

boolean

When you have unsaved changes and try to leave the current page, refine shows a confirmation modal box.

false*

disableServerSideValidation

boolean

Disables server-side validation

false

stepsProps

{ defaultStep?: number; isBackValidate?: boolean; }

Configuration object for the steps. defaultStep: Allows you to set the initial step.

isBackValidate: Whether to validation the current step when going back.

defaultStep = 0 isBackValidate = false

External Props:

It also accepts all props of useForm hook available in the React Hook Form.

Type Parameters​

PropertyDescriptionTypeDefault
TQueryFnDataResult data returned by the query function. Extends BaseRecordBaseRecordBaseRecord
TErrorCustom error object that extends HttpErrorHttpErrorHttpError
TVariablesField Values for mutation function{}{}
TContextSecond generic type of the useForm of the React Hook Form.{}{}
TDataResult data returned by the select function. Extends BaseRecord. If not specified, the value of TQueryFnData will be used as the default value.BaseRecordTQueryFnData
TResponseResult data returned by the mutation function. Extends BaseRecord. If not specified, the value of TData will be used as the default value.BaseRecordTData
TResponseErrorCustom error object that extends HttpError. If not specified, the value of TError will be used as the default value.HttpErrorTError

Return values​

PropertyDescriptionType
stepsRelevant state and method to control the stepsStepsReturnValues
refineCoreThe return values of the useForm in the coreUseFormReturnValues
React Hook Form Return ValuesSee React Hook Form documentation

Example​

View Source Code
Run on your local
npm create refine-app@latest -- --example form-react-hook-form-use-steps-form
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