Handling user input with forms is the cornerstone of many common applications. Applications use forms to enable users log in, to update a profile, to enter sensitive information, and to perform many other data-entry tasks.
Angular provides two different approaches to handling user input through forms: reactive and template-driven. Both capture user input events from the view, validate the user input, create a form model and data model to update, and provide a way to track changes.
Reactive and template-driven forms differ, however, in how they do the work of processing and managing forms and form data. Each offers different advantages.
* **Reactive forms** are more robust: they are more scalable, reusable, and testable. If forms are a key part of your application, or you're already using reactive patterns for building your application, use reactive forms.
* **Template-driven forms** are useful for adding a simple form to an app, such as an email list signup form. They are easy to add to an app, but they do not scale as well as reactive forms. If you have very basic form requirements and logic that can be managed solely in the template, use template-driven forms.
This guide provides information to help you decide which approach works best for your situation. It introduces the common building blocks used by both approaches. It also summarizes the key differences between the two approaches, and demonstrates those differences in the context of setup, data flow, and testing.
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*Note:* For complete information about each kind of form, see the [Reactive Forms](guide/reactive-forms) and [Template-driven Forms](guide/forms) guides.
How these control instances are created and managed with reactive and template-driven forms is introduced in the [form model setup](#setup-the-form-model) section below and detailed further in the [data flow section](#data-flow-in-forms) of this guide.
Reactive and template-driven forms both use a form model to track value changes between Angular forms and form input elements. The examples below show how the form model is defined and created.
### Setup in reactive forms
Here is a component with an input field for a single control implemented using reactive forms.
The source of truth provides the value and status of the form element at a given point in time. In reactive forms, the form model is source of truth. The form model in the above example is the `FormControl` instance.
With reactive forms, the form model is explicitly defined in the component class. The reactive form directive (in this case, `FormControlDirective`) then links the existing form control instance to a specific form element in the view using a value accessor (instance of `ControlValueAccessor`).
### Setup in template-driven forms
Here is the same component with an input field for a single control implemented using template-driven forms.
The abstraction of the form model promotes simplicity over structure. The template-driven form directive `NgModel` is responsible for creating and managing the form control instance for a given form element. It is less explicit, but you no longer have direct control over the form model.
When building forms in Angular, it's important to understand how the the framework handles data flowing from the user or from programmatic changes. Reactive and template-driven forms follow two different strategies when handling form input. The data flow examples below begin with the favorite color input field example from above, and they show how changes to favorite color are handled in reactive forms compared to template-driven forms.
As described above, in reactive forms each form element in the view is directly linked to a form model (FormControl instance). Updates from the view to model and model to view are synchronous and not dependent on the UI rendered. The diagrams below uses the same favorite color example to demonstrate how data flows when an input field's value is changed from the view and then from the model.
In template-driven forms each form element in the linked to a directive that manages the form model internally. The diagrams below uses the same favorite color example to demonstrate how data flows when an input field's value is changed from the view and then from the model.
1. Change detection calls the `ngOnChanges` method on the `NgModel` directive instance, updates the `NgModel` instance model value, and queues an async task to set the value for the internal `FormControl` instance.
Validation is an integral part of managing any set of forms. Whether you’re checking for required fields or querying an external API for an existing username, Angular provides a set of built-in validators as well as the ability to create custom validators.
* **Reactive forms** define custom validators as **functions** that receive a control to validate.
* **Template-driven forms** are tied to template **directives**, and must provide custom validator directives that wrap validation functions.
Testing also plays a large part in complex applications and an easier testing strategy is always welcomed. One difference in testing reactive forms and template-driven forms is their reliance on rendering the UI in order to perform assertions based on form control and form field changes. The following examples demonstrate the process of testing forms with reactive and template-driven forms.
Reactive forms provide a relatively easy testing strategy because they provide synchronous access to the form and data models, and they can be tested without rendering the UI. In these set of tests, controls and data are queried and manipulated through the control without interacting with the change detection cycle.
<code-examplepath="forms-overview/src/app/reactive/favorite-color/favorite-color.component.spec.ts"region="view-to-model"title="Favorite color test - view to model">
<code-examplepath="forms-overview/src/app/reactive/favorite-color/favorite-color.component.spec.ts"region="model-to-view"title="Favorite color test - model to view">
Writing tests with template-driven forms requires more detailed knowledge of the change detection process and how directives run on each cycle to ensure elements are queried, tested, or changed at the correct time.
The following tests use the favorite color components mentioned earlier to verify the view to model and model to view data flows for a template-driven form.
<code-examplepath="forms-overview/src/app/template/favorite-color/favorite-color.component.spec.ts"region="view-to-model"title="Favorite color test - view to model">
<code-examplepath="forms-overview/src/app/template/favorite-color/favorite-color.component.spec.ts"region="model-to-view"title="Favorite color test - model to view">
- **Reactive forms** keep the data model pure by providing it as an immutable data structure. Each time a change is triggered on the data model, the form control instance returns a new data model rather than updating the data model directly. This gives you the ability track unique changes to the data model through the control's observable. This allows change detection to be more efficient because it only needs to update on unique changes. It also follows reactive patterns that integrate with observable operators to transform data.
- **Template-driven** forms rely on mutability with two-way data binding to update the data model in the component as changes are made in the template. Because there are no unique changes to track on the data model when using two-way data binding, change detection is less efficient at determining when updates are required.
If forms are a central part of your application, scalability is very important. Being able to reuse form models across components is critical.
- **Reactive forms** make creating large scale forms easier by providing access to low-level APIs and synchronous access to the form model.
- **Template-driven** forms focus on simple scenarios, are not as reusable, abstract away the low-level APIs and access to the form model is provided asynchronously. The abstraction with template-driven forms surfaces in testing also, where testing reactive forms requires less setup and no dependance on the change detection cycle when updating and validating the form and data models during testing.
Choosing a strategy begins with understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the options presented. Low-level API and form model access, predictability, mutability, straightforward validation and testing strategies, and scalability are all important consideration in choosing the infrastructure you use when building your forms in Angular. Template-driven forms are similar to patterns in AngularJS, but they have limitations given the criteria of many modern, large-scale Angular apps. Reactive forms integrate with reactive patterns already present in other areas of the Angular architecture, and complement those requirements well. Those limitations are alleviated with reactive forms.
