reactjs / reactjs/react.dev

Better way to uncontrolled components?

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JavaScript
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Description

Hi, in the documentation for uncontrolled components it is shown that we could use ref to access the values in the form, it is not specified why we shouldn't use this approach instead:

const App = () => {
  const file = useRef()
  const submit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault()
    const form = new FormData(e.target)
    form.append('archivo', file.current.files[0])
    console.log(Array.from(form))
    // even better:
    Object.fromEntries(Array.from(form))
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={submit}>
      <div>
        <span>lala</span>
        <input defaultValue='my value' type='text' name='field' />
        <input type='file' ref={file} />
      </div>
      <input type='submit' value='Enviar' />
    </form>
  )
}

I think it's way cleaner as we only have to focus one one potential value, an input of type file. Is there a reason to not use it?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with content/docs/uncontrolled-components.md, especially the section describing refs and form values, and review the linked example. Clarify in the documentation whether the proposed FormData and file-ref approach should be used and why, then verify the page presents a clear recommendation for uncontrolled forms.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, react
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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