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10.

How to (dynamically) remove a Form Field

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How to (dynamically) remove a Form Field

From ThiagoKrug:

Hi, I am reusing one form but I have one specific controller action that I need remove one field form, How can I do it without creating new form? Thanks!

Answer

Note

Special thanks to our very-own Roman on this answer!

Cool question! There are actually multiple ways to achieve this task, ranging from a very simple ->remove() method call to setting up a form event listener.

Let’s review the two easiest and most common ways.

First, initialize a simple form type with two fields:

// src/KnpU/QADayBundle/Form/Type/RemoveFormFieldType.php
namespace KnpU\QADayBundle\Form\Type;

use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;

class RemoveFormFieldType extends AbstractType
{
    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {
        $builder
            ->add('first', 'text')
            ->add('second', 'text')
        ;
    }

    public function getName()
    {
        return 'remove_form_field';
    }
}

Next, let’s build the two different controllers that will render this form to show off the two solutions:

// src/KnpU/QADayBundle/Controller/RemoveFormFieldController.php
namespace KnpU\QADayBundle\Controller;

use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;

use KnpU\QADayBundle\Form\Type\RemoveFormFieldType;

class RemoveFormFieldController extends Controller
{
    public function firstWayAction()
    {
        $form = $this->createForm(new RemoveFormFieldType());

        // form processing...

        return $this->render('QADayBundle:RemoveFormField:form.html.twig', array(
            'form' => $form->createView()
        ));
    }

    public function secondWayAction()
    {
        // same as firstWayAction() for now
    }
}

Awesome! Now, let’s solve this in 2 different ways.

Option 1: Using remove

The most straightforward way to achieve this is by removing the form field you want with the remove function:

public function firstWayAction()
{
    $form = $this->createForm(new RemoveFormFieldType());

    $form->remove('second');

    // form processing...

    return $this->render('QADayBundle:RemoveFormField:form.html.twig', array(
        'form' => $form->createView()
    ));
}

And that’s it! No changes to RemoveFormFieldType are required at all! And the best part is that this is a perfectly valid solution, no need to over-think it :).

Option 2: Using Form Options

But if you want a more advanced solution with a bit more flexibility, there’s another way!

First, let’s tweak the form type a bit to rely on a custom option passed on initialization:

// src/KnpU/QADayBundle/Controller/RemoveFormFieldController.php
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;
// ...

public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
    $builder->add('first', 'text');

    if ($options['use_second']) {
        $builder->add('second', 'text');
    }
}

public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults(array(
        'use_second' => true
    ));
}

Now, when you create the form, pass the option and you’re ready to go!

public function secondWayAction()
{
    // the "null" option is the form data - you might pass something here
    $form = $this->createForm(new RemoveFormFieldType(), null, array(
        'use_second' => false
    ));

    return $this->render('QADayBundle:RemoveFormField:form.html.twig', array(
        'form' => $form->createView()
    ));
}

That’s it! There is also an event dispatching/listening system in the Form component, which allows you to dynamically add/remove/modify fields based on anything (e.g. user-submitted data). For more information, see How to Dynamically Modify Forms Using Form Events.

Have fun!