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Field meta

Field meta describes how a field has been interacted with, not whether its value is valid.

Formora intentionally separates interaction state from validation so that UI behavior remains predictable and under your control.

What is field meta?​

Field meta answers questions like:

  • Has the user interacted with this field?
  • Has its value changed from the initial value?

It does not answer:

  • Is the value correct?
  • Should an error be shown?

Those decisions belong to validation and UI logic, not meta state.

Available meta state​

Formora exposes two pieces of field meta:

  • touched
  • dirty

Both follow the same nested shape as values and errors.

touched​

touched becomes true when a field loses focus (blur).

This means:

  • the user has interacted with the field
  • the field was focused at least once
<input {...form.register("email")} />;

{
  form.touched?.email && <span>Field was touched</span>;
}
info

A touched field is not necessarily invalid.

dirty​

dirty indicates whether the current value differs from initialValues.

Important characteristics:

  • value-based comparison (not event-based)
  • works with nested paths (profile.email)
  • works with arrays (items.0.name)
<input {...form.register("email")} />;

{
  form.dirty?.email && <span>Value was modified</span>;
}

Error visibility vs validation​

Formora separates responsibilities:

ConcernControlled by
What is invalidvalidation rules (required, validate, etc.)
When to show erroryour UI logic

Formora exposes:

  • errors — what is invalid
  • touched / dirty — how the user interacted

You decide when errors are visible.

Common patterns​

<input {...form.register("email", { required: "Email is required" })} />;

{
  form.touched?.email && form.errors?.email && (
    <p>{String(form.errors.email)}</p>
  );
}

Show errors immediately (live feedback)​

{
  form.errors?.email && <p>{String(form.errors.email)}</p>;
}

What Formora does NOT track​

To keep behavior predictable, Formora does not track:

  • async validation state
  • per-field loading state
  • automatic error visibility rules

These are application-level concerns.

Summary​

  • touched tells you if a field was interacted with
  • dirty tells you if a value changed from its initial value
  • Meta state does not imply validity
  • You control when and how errors are shown

This explicit separation avoids hidden UX rules and makes complex forms easier to reason about.