• Overview
@angular/forms

FormControl

interface
stable

Tracks the value and validation status of an individual form control.

API

    
      interface FormControl<TValue = any> extends AbstractControl<TValue> {
}

defaultValue

TValue

The default value of this FormControl, used whenever the control is reset without an explicit value. See FormControlOptions#nonNullable for more information on configuring a default value.

setValue

void

Sets a new value for the form control.

@paramvalueTValue

The new value for the control.

@paramoptions{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; emitModelToViewChange?: boolean | undefined; emitViewToModelChange?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events when the value changes. The configuration options are passed to the * updateValueAndValidity method.

  • onlySelf: When true, each change only affects this control, and not its parent. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), both the statusChanges and valueChanges observables emit events with the latest status and value when the control value is updated. When false, no events are emitted.
  • emitModelToViewChange: When true or not supplied (the default), each change triggers an onChange event to update the view.
  • emitViewToModelChange: When true or not supplied (the default), each change triggers an ngModelChange event to update the model.
@returnsvoid

patchValue

void

Patches the value of a control.

This function is functionally the same as setValue at this level. It exists for symmetry with patchValue on FormGroups and FormArrays, where it does behave differently.

@paramvalueTValue
@paramoptions{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; emitModelToViewChange?: boolean | undefined; emitViewToModelChange?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined
@returnsvoid

reset

void

Resets the form control, marking it pristine and untouched, and resetting the value. The new value will be the provided value (if passed), null, or the initial value if nonNullable was set in the constructor via FormControlOptions.

// By default, the control will reset to null.const dog = new FormControl('spot');dog.reset(); // dog.value is null// If this flag is set, the control will instead reset to the initial value.const cat = new FormControl('tabby', {nonNullable: true});cat.reset(); // cat.value is "tabby"// A value passed to reset always takes precedence.const fish = new FormControl('finn', {nonNullable: true});fish.reset('bubble'); // fish.value is "bubble"
@paramformStateTValue | FormControlState<TValue> | undefined

Resets the control with an initial value, or an object that defines the initial value and disabled state.

@paramoptions{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after the value changes.

  • onlySelf: When true, each change only affects this control, and not its parent. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), both the statusChanges and valueChanges observables emit events with the latest status and value when the control is reset. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid

getRawValue

TValue

For a simple FormControl, the raw value is equivalent to the value.

@returnsTValue

registerOnChange

void

Register a listener for change events.

@paramfnFunction

The method that is called when the value changes

@returnsvoid

registerOnDisabledChange

void

Register a listener for disabled events.

@paramfn(isDisabled: boolean) => void

The method that is called when the disabled status changes.

@returnsvoid

value

TValue

The current value of the control.

  • For a FormControl, the current value.
  • For an enabled FormGroup, the values of enabled controls as an object with a key-value pair for each member of the group.
  • For a disabled FormGroup, the values of all controls as an object with a key-value pair for each member of the group.
  • For a FormArray, the values of enabled controls as an array.

validator

ValidatorFn | null

Returns the function that is used to determine the validity of this control synchronously. If multiple validators have been added, this will be a single composed function. See Validators.compose() for additional information.

validator

ValidatorFn | null

asyncValidator

AsyncValidatorFn | null

Returns the function that is used to determine the validity of this control asynchronously. If multiple validators have been added, this will be a single composed function. See Validators.compose() for additional information.

asyncValidator

AsyncValidatorFn | null

parent

FormArray<any> | FormGroup<any> | null

The parent control.

status

FormControlStatus

The validation status of the control.

valid

boolean

A control is valid when its status is VALID.

invalid

boolean

A control is invalid when its status is INVALID.

pending

boolean

A control is pending when its status is PENDING.

disabled

boolean

A control is disabled when its status is DISABLED.

Disabled controls are exempt from validation checks and are not included in the aggregate value of their ancestor controls.

enabled

boolean

A control is enabled as long as its status is not DISABLED.

errors

ValidationErrors | null

An object containing any errors generated by failing validation, or null if there are no errors.

pristine

boolean

A control is pristine if the user has not yet changed the value in the UI.

dirty

boolean

A control is dirty if the user has changed the value in the UI.

touched

boolean

True if the control is marked as touched.

A control is marked touched once the user has triggered a blur event on it.

untouched

boolean

True if the control has not been marked as touched

A control is untouched if the user has not yet triggered a blur event on it.

events

any

A multicasting observable that emits an event every time the state of the control changes. It emits for value, status, pristine or touched changes.

Note: On value change, the emit happens right after a value of this control is updated. The value of a parent control (for example if this FormControl is a part of a FormGroup) is updated later, so accessing a value of a parent control (using the value property) from the callback of this event might result in getting a value that has not been updated yet. Subscribe to the events of the parent control instead. For other event types, the events are emitted after the parent control has been updated.

valueChanges

Observable<TValue>

A multicasting observable that emits an event every time the value of the control changes, in the UI or programmatically. It also emits an event each time you call enable() or disable() without passing along {emitEvent: false} as a function argument.

Note: the emit happens right after a value of this control is updated. The value of a parent control (for example if this FormControl is a part of a FormGroup) is updated later, so accessing a value of a parent control (using the value property) from the callback of this event might result in getting a value that has not been updated yet. Subscribe to the valueChanges event of the parent control instead.

statusChanges

Observable<FormControlStatus>

A multicasting observable that emits an event every time the validation status of the control recalculates.

updateOn

FormHooks

Reports the update strategy of the AbstractControl (meaning the event on which the control updates itself). Possible values: 'change' | 'blur' | 'submit' Default value: 'change'

setValidators

void

Sets the synchronous validators that are active on this control. Calling this overwrites any existing synchronous validators.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

If you want to add a new validator without affecting existing ones, consider using addValidators() method instead.

@paramvalidatorsValidatorFn | ValidatorFn[] | null
@returnsvoid

setAsyncValidators

void

Sets the asynchronous validators that are active on this control. Calling this overwrites any existing asynchronous validators.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

If you want to add a new validator without affecting existing ones, consider using addAsyncValidators() method instead.

@paramvalidatorsAsyncValidatorFn | AsyncValidatorFn[] | null
@returnsvoid

addValidators

void

Add a synchronous validator or validators to this control, without affecting other validators.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

Adding a validator that already exists will have no effect. If duplicate validator functions are present in the validators array, only the first instance would be added to a form control.

@paramvalidatorsValidatorFn | ValidatorFn[]

The new validator function or functions to add to this control.

@returnsvoid

addAsyncValidators

void

Add an asynchronous validator or validators to this control, without affecting other validators.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

Adding a validator that already exists will have no effect.

@paramvalidatorsAsyncValidatorFn | AsyncValidatorFn[]

The new asynchronous validator function or functions to add to this control.

@returnsvoid

removeValidators

void

Remove a synchronous validator from this control, without affecting other validators. Validators are compared by function reference; you must pass a reference to the exact same validator function as the one that was originally set. If a provided validator is not found, it is ignored.

@paramvalidatorsValidatorFn | ValidatorFn[]

The validator or validators to remove.

@returnsvoid
Usage notes

Reference to a ValidatorFn 

// Reference to the RequiredValidatorconst ctrl = new FormControl<string | null>('', Validators.required);ctrl.removeValidators(Validators.required);// Reference to anonymous function inside MinValidatorconst minValidator = Validators.min(3);const ctrl = new FormControl<string | null>('', minValidator);expect(ctrl.hasValidator(minValidator)).toEqual(true)expect(ctrl.hasValidator(Validators.min(3))).toEqual(false)ctrl.removeValidators(minValidator);

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

removeAsyncValidators

void

Remove an asynchronous validator from this control, without affecting other validators. Validators are compared by function reference; you must pass a reference to the exact same validator function as the one that was originally set. If a provided validator is not found, it is ignored.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

@paramvalidatorsAsyncValidatorFn | AsyncValidatorFn[]

The asynchronous validator or validators to remove.

@returnsvoid

hasValidator

boolean

Check whether a synchronous validator function is present on this control. The provided validator must be a reference to the exact same function that was provided.

@paramvalidatorValidatorFn

The validator to check for presence. Compared by function reference.

@returnsboolean
Usage notes

Reference to a ValidatorFn 

// Reference to the RequiredValidatorconst ctrl = new FormControl<number | null>(0, Validators.required);expect(ctrl.hasValidator(Validators.required)).toEqual(true)// Reference to anonymous function inside MinValidatorconst minValidator = Validators.min(3);const ctrl = new FormControl<number | null>(0, minValidator);expect(ctrl.hasValidator(minValidator)).toEqual(true)expect(ctrl.hasValidator(Validators.min(3))).toEqual(false)

hasAsyncValidator

boolean

Check whether an asynchronous validator function is present on this control. The provided validator must be a reference to the exact same function that was provided.

@paramvalidatorAsyncValidatorFn

The asynchronous validator to check for presence. Compared by function reference.

@returnsboolean

clearValidators

void

Empties out the synchronous validator list.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

@returnsvoid

clearAsyncValidators

void

Empties out the async validator list.

When you add or remove a validator at run time, you must call updateValueAndValidity() for the new validation to take effect.

@returnsvoid

markAsTouched

2 overloads

Marks the control as touched. A control is touched by focus and blur events that do not change the value.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after marking is applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a TouchedChangeEvent with the touched property being true. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; } | undefined
@returnsvoid

markAllAsDirty

void

Marks the control and all its descendant controls as dirty.

@paramopts{ emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; }

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after marking is applied.

  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a PristineChangeEvent with the pristine property being false. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid

markAllAsTouched

void

Marks the control and all its descendant controls as touched.

@paramopts{ emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; }

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after marking is applied.

  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a TouchedChangeEvent with the touched property being true. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid

markAsUntouched

2 overloads

Marks the control as untouched.

If the control has any children, also marks all children as untouched and recalculates the touched status of all parent controls.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after the marking is applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a TouchedChangeEvent with the touched property being false. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

markAsDirty

2 overloads

Marks the control as dirty. A control becomes dirty when the control's value is changed through the UI; compare markAsTouched.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after marking is applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a PristineChangeEvent with the pristine property being false. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

markAsPristine

2 overloads

Marks the control as pristine.

If the control has any children, marks all children as pristine, and recalculates the pristine status of all parent controls.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control emits events after marking is applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the events observable emits a PristineChangeEvent with the pristine property being true. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

markAsPending

2 overloads

Marks the control as pending.

A control is pending while the control performs async validation.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after marking is applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the statusChanges observable emits an event with the latest status the control is marked pending and the events observable emits a StatusChangeEvent with the status property being PENDING When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

disable

2 overloads

Disables the control. This means the control is exempt from validation checks and excluded from the aggregate value of any parent. Its status is DISABLED.

If the control has children, all children are also disabled.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after the control is disabled.

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the statusChanges, valueChanges and events observables emit events with the latest status and value when the control is disabled. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

enable

void

Enables the control. This means the control is included in validation checks and the aggregate value of its parent. Its status recalculates based on its value and its validators.

By default, if the control has children, all children are enabled.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; }

Configure options that control how the control propagates changes and emits events when marked as untouched

  • onlySelf: When true, mark only this control. When false or not supplied, marks all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the statusChanges, valueChanges and events observables emit events with the latest status and value when the control is enabled. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid

setParent

void

Sets the parent of the control

@paramparentFormArray<any> | FormGroup<any> | null

The new parent.

@returnsvoid

updateValueAndValidity

2 overloads

Recalculates the value and validation status of the control.

By default, it also updates the value and validity of its ancestors.

@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after updates and validity checks are applied.

  • onlySelf: When true, only update this control. When false or not supplied, update all direct ancestors. Default is false.
  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the statusChanges, valueChanges and events observables emit events with the latest status and value when the control is updated. When false, no events are emitted.
@returnsvoid
@paramopts{ onlySelf?: boolean | undefined; emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; sourceControl?: AbstractControl<any, any, any> | undefined; }
@returnsvoid

setErrors

2 overloads

Sets errors on a form control when running validations manually, rather than automatically.

Calling setErrors also updates the validity of the parent control.

Note: Manually set errors are always overwritten by the results of the next validation run.

@paramerrorsValidationErrors | null
@paramopts{ emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined

Configuration options that determine how the control propagates changes and emits events after the control errors are set.

  • emitEvent: When true or not supplied (the default), the statusChanges observable emits an event after the errors are set.
@returnsvoid
Usage notes

Manually set the errors for a control 

const login = new FormControl('someLogin');login.setErrors({  notUnique: true});expect(login.valid).toEqual(false);expect(login.errors).toEqual({ notUnique: true });login.setValue('someOtherLogin');expect(login.valid).toEqual(true);
@paramerrorsValidationErrors | null
@paramopts{ emitEvent?: boolean | undefined; shouldHaveEmitted?: boolean | undefined; } | undefined
@returnsvoid

get

2 overloads

Retrieves a child control given the control's name or path.

This signature for get supports strings and const arrays (.get(['foo', 'bar'] as const)).

@parampathP
@returnsAbstractControl<ɵGetProperty<TRawValue, P>, ɵGetProperty<TRawValue, P>, any> | null

Retrieves a child control given the control's name or path.

This signature for get supports non-const (mutable) arrays. Inferred type information will not be as robust, so prefer to pass a readonly array if possible.

@parampathP
@returnsAbstractControl<ɵGetProperty<TRawValue, P>, ɵGetProperty<TRawValue, P>, any> | null

getError

any

Reports error data for the control with the given path.

@paramerrorCodestring

The code of the error to check

@parampathstring | (string | number)[] | undefined

A list of control names that designates how to move from the current control to the control that should be queried for errors.

@returnsany
Usage notes

For example, for the following FormGroup:

form = new FormGroup({  address: new FormGroup({ street: new FormControl() })});

The path to the 'street' control from the root form would be 'address' -> 'street'.

It can be provided to this method in one of two formats:

  1. An array of string control names, e.g. ['address', 'street']
  2. A period-delimited list of control names in one string, e.g. 'address.street'

hasError

boolean

Reports whether the control with the given path has the error specified.

@paramerrorCodestring

The code of the error to check

@parampathstring | (string | number)[] | undefined

A list of control names that designates how to move from the current control to the control that should be queried for errors.

@returnsboolean
Usage notes

For example, for the following FormGroup:

form = new FormGroup({  address: new FormGroup({ street: new FormControl() })});

The path to the 'street' control from the root form would be 'address' -> 'street'.

It can be provided to this method in one of two formats:

  1. An array of string control names, e.g. ['address', 'street']
  2. A period-delimited list of control names in one string, e.g. 'address.street'

If no path is given, this method checks for the error on the current control.

root

AbstractControl<any, any, any>

Retrieves the top-level ancestor of this control.

Description

Tracks the value and validation status of an individual form control.

This is one of the four fundamental building blocks of Angular forms, along with FormGroup, FormArray and FormRecord. It extends the AbstractControl class that implements most of the base functionality for accessing the value, validation status, user interactions and events.

FormControl takes a single generic argument, which describes the type of its value. This argument always implicitly includes null because the control can be reset. To change this behavior, set nonNullable or see the usage notes below.

See usage examples below.

Usage Notes

Initializing Form Controls

Instantiate a FormControl, with an initial value.

const control = new FormControl('some value');console.log(control.value);     // 'some value'

The following example initializes the control with a form state object. The value and disabled keys are required in this case.

const control = new FormControl({ value: 'n/a', disabled: true });console.log(control.value);     // 'n/a'console.log(control.status);    // 'DISABLED'

The following example initializes the control with a synchronous validator.

const control = new FormControl('', Validators.required);console.log(control.value);      // ''console.log(control.status);     // 'INVALID'

The following example initializes the control using an options object.

const control = new FormControl('', {   validators: Validators.required,   asyncValidators: myAsyncValidator});

The single type argument

FormControl accepts a generic argument, which describes the type of its value. In most cases, this argument will be inferred.

If you are initializing the control to null, or you otherwise wish to provide a wider type, you may specify the argument explicitly:

let fc = new FormControl<string|null>(null);fc.setValue('foo');

You might notice that null is always added to the type of the control. This is because the control will become null if you call reset. You can change this behavior by setting {nonNullable: true}.

Configure the control to update on a blur event

Set the updateOn option to 'blur' to update on the blur event.

const control = new FormControl('', { updateOn: 'blur' });

Configure the control to update on a submit event

Set the updateOn option to 'submit' to update on a submit event.

const control = new FormControl('', { updateOn: 'submit' });

Reset the control back to a specific value

You reset to a specific form state by passing through a standalone value or a form state object that contains both a value and a disabled state (these are the only two properties that cannot be calculated).

const control = new FormControl('Nancy');console.log(control.value); // 'Nancy'control.reset('Drew');console.log(control.value); // 'Drew'

Reset the control to its initial value

If you wish to always reset the control to its initial value (instead of null), you can pass the nonNullable option:

const control = new FormControl('Nancy', {nonNullable: true});console.log(control.value); // 'Nancy'control.reset();console.log(control.value); // 'Nancy'

Reset the control back to an initial value and disabled 

const control = new FormControl('Nancy');console.log(control.value); // 'Nancy'console.log(control.status); // 'VALID'control.reset({ value: 'Drew', disabled: true });console.log(control.value); // 'Drew'console.log(control.status); // 'DISABLED'
Jump to details