TextType Field

The TextType field represents the most basic input text field.

Rendered as	input text field
Inherited options	attr data disabled empty_data error_bubbling error_mapping help help_attr help_html label label_attr label_format mapped required row_attr trim
Overridden options	compound
Parent type	FormType
Class	TextType

Tip

The full list of options defined and inherited by this form type is available running this command in your app:

# replace 'FooType' by the class name of your form type
$ php bin/console debug:form FooType

Inherited Options

These options inherit from the FormType:

attr

type: array default: []

If you want to add extra attributes to an HTML field representation you can use the attr option. It’s an associative array with HTML attributes as keys. This can be useful when you need to set a custom class for some widget:

$builder->add('body', TextareaType::class, [
    'attr' => ['class' => 'tinymce'],
]);

See also

Use the row_attr option if you want to add these attributes to the the form type row element.

data

type: mixed default: Defaults to field of the underlying structure.

When you create a form, each field initially displays the value of the corresponding property of the form’s domain data (e.g. if you bind an object to the form). If you want to override this initial value for the form or an individual field, you can set it in the data option:

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\HiddenType;
// ...

$builder->add('token', HiddenType::class, [
    'data' => 'abcdef',
]);

Caution

The data option always overrides the value taken from the domain data (object) when rendering. This means the object value is also overridden when the form edits an already persisted object, causing it to lose its persisted value when the form is submitted.

disabled

type: boolean default: false

If you don’t want a user to modify the value of a field, you can set the disabled option to true. Any submitted value will be ignored.

empty_data

type: mixed

From an HTTP perspective, submitted data is always a string or an array of strings. So by default, the form will treat any empty string as null. If you prefer to get an empty string, explicitly set the empty_data option to an empty string.

This option determines what value the field will return when the submitted value is empty (or missing). It does not set an initial value if none is provided when the form is rendered in a view.

This means it helps you handling form submission with blank fields. For example, if you want the name field to be explicitly set to John Doe when no value is selected, you can do it like this:

$builder->add('name', null, [
    'required'   => false,
    'empty_data' => 'John Doe',
]);

This will still render an empty text box, but upon submission the John Doe value will be set. Use the data or placeholder options to show this initial value in the rendered form.

If a form is compound, you can set empty_data as an array, object or closure. See the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article for more details about these options.

Note

If you want to set the empty_data option for your entire form class, see the How to Configure empty Data for a Form Class article.

Caution

Form data transformers will still be applied to the empty_data value. This means that an empty string will be cast to null. Use a custom data transformer if you explicitly want to return the empty string.

error_bubbling

type: boolean default: false unless the form is compound

If true, any errors for this field will be passed to the parent field or form. For example, if set to true on a normal field, any errors for that field will be attached to the main form, not to the specific field.

error_mapping

type: array default: []

This option allows you to modify the target of a validation error.

Imagine you have a custom method named matchingCityAndZipCode() that validates whether the city and zip code match. Unfortunately, there is no matchingCityAndZipCode field in your form, so all that Symfony can do is display the error on top of the form.

With customized error mapping, you can do better: map the error to the city field so that it displays above it:

public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults([
        'error_mapping' => [
            'matchingCityAndZipCode' => 'city',
        ],
    ]);
}

Here are the rules for the left and the right side of the mapping:

• The left side contains property paths;
• If the violation is generated on a property or method of a class, its path is the propertyName;
• If the violation is generated on an entry of an array or ArrayAccess object, the property path is [indexName];
• You can construct nested property paths by concatenating them, separating properties by dots. For example: addresses[work].matchingCityAndZipCode;
• The right side contains the names of fields in the form.

By default, errors for any property that is not mapped will bubble up to the parent form. You can use the dot (.) on the left side to map errors of all unmapped properties to a particular field. For instance, to map all these errors to the city field, use:

$resolver->setDefaults([
    'error_mapping' => [
        '.' => 'city',
    ],
]);

help

type: string default: null

Allows you to define a help message for the form field, which by default is rendered below the field:

$builder->add('zipCode', null, [
    'help' => 'The ZIP/Postal code for your credit card\'s billing address.',
]);

help_attr

type: array default: []

Sets the HTML attributes for the element used to display the help message of the form field. Its value is an associative array with HTML attribute names as keys. These attributes can also be set in the template:

{{ form_help(form.name, 'Your name', {
    'help_attr': {'class': 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS'}
}) }}

help_html

type: bool default: false

By default, the contents of the help option are escaped before rendering them in the template. Set this option to true to not escape them, which is useful when the help contains HTML elements.

label

type: string default: The label is “guessed” from the field name

Sets the label that will be used when rendering the field. Setting to false will suppress the label. The label can also be directly set inside the template:

• Twig

  {{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name') }}
  

• PHP

  echo $view['form']->label(
      $form['name'],
      'Your name'
  );
  

label_attr

type: array default: []

Sets the HTML attributes for the <label> element, which will be used when rendering the label for the field. It’s an associative array with HTML attribute as a key. This attributes can also be directly set inside the template:

• Twig

  {{ form_label(form.name, 'Your name', {
      'label_attr': {'class': 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS'}
  }) }}
  

• PHP

  echo $view['form']->label(
      $form['name'],
      'Your name',
      ['label_attr' => ['class' => 'CUSTOM_LABEL_CLASS']]
  );
  

label_format

type: string default: null

Configures the string used as the label of the field, in case the label option was not set. This is useful when using keyword translation messages.

If you’re using keyword translation messages as labels, you often end up having multiple keyword messages for the same label (e.g. profile_address_street, invoice_address_street). This is because the label is built for each “path” to a field. To avoid duplicated keyword messages, you can configure the label format to a static value, like:

// ...
$profileFormBuilder->add('address', AddressType::class, [
    'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);

$invoiceFormBuilder->add('invoice', AddressType::class, [
    'label_format' => 'form.address.%name%',
]);

This option is inherited by the child types. With the code above, the label of the street field of both forms will use the form.address.street keyword message.

Two variables are available in the label format:

%id%

A unique identifier for the field, consisting of the complete path to the field and the field name (e.g. profile_address_street);

%name%

The field name (e.g. street).

The default value (null) results in a “humanized” version of the field name.

Note

The label_format option is evaluated in the form theme. Make sure to update your templates in case you customized form theming.

mapped

type: boolean default: true

If you wish the field to be ignored when reading or writing to the object, you can set the mapped option to false.

required

type: boolean default: true

If true, an HTML5 required attribute will be rendered. The corresponding label will also render with a required class.

This is superficial and independent of validation. At best, if you let Symfony guess your field type, then the value of this option will be guessed from your validation information.

Note

The required option also affects how empty data for each field is handled. For more details, see the empty_data option.

row_attr

type: array default: []

An associative array of the HTML attributes added to the element which is used to render the form type row:

$builder->add('body', TextareaType::class, [
    'row_attr' => ['class' => 'text-editor', 'id' => '...'],
]);

See also

Use the attr option if you want to add these attributes to the the form type widget element.

trim

type: boolean default: true

If true, the whitespace of the submitted string value will be stripped via the trim function when the data is bound. This guarantees that if a value is submitted with extra whitespace, it will be removed before the value is merged back onto the underlying object.

Overridden Options

compound

type: boolean default: false

This option specifies whether the type contains child types or not. This option is managed internally for built-in types, so there is no need to configure it explicitly.