TextField

TextField is a composition of the FormLabel, TextInput, HelpText and ValidationMessage components. It allows users to input text or numbers and should be used in a form context.

Table of contents

• How to use TextField
• Code examples
• Code examples
• Accessibility

How to use TextField

The TextField component can be configured in a number of different ways. Use this guidance to determine the correct variation based on the context.

Code examples

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="Email address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="Email address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
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TextField variations

Compositional properties

Since the TextField is a composition of multiple components, it is possible to pass child component specific properties. For this purpose, the TextField exposes the following properties:

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    textInputProps={{ withCopyButton: true }}
    textLinkProps={{ text: 'privacy' }}
    formLabelProps={{ requiredText: 'required' }}
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    textInputProps={{ withCopyButton: true }}
    textLinkProps={{ text: 'privacy' }}
    formLabelProps={{ requiredText: 'required' }}
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
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Label and text properties (labelText, helpText, validationMessage)

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    validationMessage="This address is not valid"
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    validationMessage="This address is not valid"
  />
</React.Fragment>
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Required field (required)

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="E-mail address"
    helpText="Please enter your email address"
    required
  />
</React.Fragment>
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Render textarea (textfield)

Instead of an input, the TextField component can render a text area for long text requirements.

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="Description"
    helpText="Please enter a description"
    textarea
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="Description"
    helpText="Please enter a description"
    textarea
  />
</React.Fragment>
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Additional TextLink (textLinkProps)

The TextField can be configured to display an additional TextLink in the label.

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="User Name"
    textLinkProps={{
      icon: 'Lock',
      text: 'Unlock to edit',
      onClick: (e) => {
        console.log('textLinkClick', e);
      },
    }}
    value="Lorem Ipsum"
    textInputProps={{
      disabled: true,
    }}
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="User Name"
    textLinkProps={{
      icon: 'Lock',
      text: 'Unlock to edit',
      onClick: (e) => {
        console.log('textLinkClick', e);
      },
    }}
    value="Lorem Ipsum"
    textInputProps={{
      disabled: true,
    }}
  />
</React.Fragment>
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Character count (countCharacters)

The TextField can be configured to display a character count. This is useful when an input field has a character limit.
Note: The maxLength property must be provided in the TextInput component using textInputProps.

<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="User Name"
    countCharacters
    value="Lorem Ipsum"
    textInputProps={{ maxLength: 20 }}
  />
</React.Fragment>
<React.Fragment>
  <TextField
    labelText="User Name"
    countCharacters
    value="Lorem Ipsum"
    textInputProps={{ maxLength: 20 }}
  />
</React.Fragment>
Hide source

Content recommendations

• Use direct, succinct copy that helps the user to successfully complete the form
• Do not preface the instructions with introductory text, such as "please"
• To add additional context, link out to documentation
• In cases where additional context is unnecessary, help text can be substituted for text in the label
• Do not use punctuation for labels, help text and links
• Use sentence style caps (in which only the first word of a sentence or term is capitalized)

Accessibility

• To ensure TextField meets accessibility standards, provide labelText, name and id