Sharing Data Between Forms

When building multi-step forms or splitting a large form across different views (such as in a checkout process), you often need to share form data between components. This is typically handled with some form of state management.

With vue-formify, you can share data between forms by configuring the useForm hook with the name and preserve options.

Example: Shared Form Values

SharedForm.vue

<script lang="ts" setup>
import { useForm } from 'vue-formify';

const { Form, Field, handleSubmit } = useForm<{ first_name: string; last_name: string }>({
	name: 'shared-form',
	preserve: true,
});
const sendForm = handleSubmit((data) => {
	console.log(data);
});
</script>

<template>
	<Form @submit="sendForm">
		<Field name="first_name" />
		<Field name="last_name" />
		<button>Send</button>
	</Form>
</template>

Template.vue

<script lang="ts" setup>
import { ref } from 'vue';
import SharedForm from './SharedForm.vue';

const toggle = ref(false);
</script>

<template>
	<div>
		<SharedForm v-if="toggle" />
		<SharedForm v-else />
		<button type="button" @click="toggle = !toggle">
			Toggle between forms
		</button>
	</div>
</template>

If you fill in the inputs and toggle between the forms, the values remain the same:

{
	"first_name": "Foo",
	"last_name": "Bar"
}

Importance of name and preserve

Use the same name and set preserve to true to share values between forms. The name uniquely identifies the form, and preserve ensures values are not cleared when the component is unmounted.