Forms Skill

This skill guides you through creating forms with validation in Salesforce B2C Commerce using the SFRA patterns.

Overview

B2C Commerce forms consist of three parts:

Form Definition - XML file defining fields, validation, and actions
Controller Logic - Server-side form handling and processing
Template - ISML template rendering the HTML form

File Location

Forms are defined in the cartridge's forms directory:

/my-cartridge
    /cartridge
        /forms
            /default              # Default locale
                profile.xml
                contact.xml
                address.xml
            /de_DE               # German-specific (optional)
                address.xml

Form Definition (XML)

Basic Structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form xmlns="http://www.demandware.com/xml/form/2008-04-19">
    <field formid="email" label="form.email.label" type="string"
           mandatory="true" max-length="50"
           regexp="^[\w.%+-]+@[\w.-]+\.\w{2,6}$"
           parse-error="form.email.invalid"/>

    <field formid="password" label="form.password.label" type="string"
           mandatory="true" min-length="8" max-length="255"
           missing-error="form.password.required"/>

    <field formid="rememberMe" label="form.remember.label" type="boolean"/>

    <action formid="submit" valid-form="true"/>
    <action formid="cancel" valid-form="false"/>
</form>

Field Types

| Type | Description | HTML Input | |------|-------------|------------| | string | Text input | <input type="text"> | | integer | Whole number | <input type="number"> | | number | Decimal number | <input type="number"> | | boolean | Checkbox | <input type="checkbox"> | | date | Date value | <input type="date"> |

Field Attributes

| Attribute | Purpose | Example | |-----------|---------|---------| | formid | Field identifier (required) | formid="email" | | label | Resource key for label | label="form.email.label" | | type | Data type (required) | type="string" | | mandatory | Required field | mandatory="true" | | max-length | Max string length | max-length="100" | | min-length | Min string length | min-length="8" | | regexp | Validation pattern | regexp="^\d{5}$" | | default | Default value | default="US" | | min | Min numeric value | min="0" | | max | Max numeric value | max="100" | | format | Date format | format="yyyy-MM-dd" |

Validation Error Messages

<field formid="email" type="string" mandatory="true"
       regexp="^[\w.%+-]+@[\w.-]+\.\w{2,6}$"
       missing-error="form.email.required"
       parse-error="form.email.invalid"
       range-error="form.email.toolong"
       value-error="form.email.error"/>

| Attribute | When Triggered | |-----------|----------------| | missing-error | Mandatory field is empty | | parse-error | Value doesn't match regexp or type | | range-error | Value outside min/max range | | value-error | General validation failure |

Grouped Fields

<group formid="address">
    <field formid="street" label="form.address.street" type="string" mandatory="true"/>
    <field formid="city" label="form.address.city" type="string" mandatory="true"/>
    <field formid="postalCode" label="form.address.zip" type="string" mandatory="true"/>
</group>

Access in controller: form.address.street.value

Actions

<!-- Only validate if valid-form="true" -->
<action formid="submit" valid-form="true"/>

<!-- Skip validation -->
<action formid="cancel" valid-form="false"/>
<action formid="back" valid-form="false"/>

Controller Logic (SFRA)

Rendering a Form

'use strict';

var server = require('server');
var csrfProtection = require('*/cartridge/scripts/middleware/csrf');

server.get('Show',
    csrfProtection.generateToken,
    function (req, res, next) {
        var form = server.forms.getForm('profile');
        form.clear();  // Reset previous values

        res.render('account/profile', {
            profileForm: form
        });
        next();
    }
);

module.exports = server.exports();

Processing Form Submission

server.post('Submit',
    server.middleware.https,
    csrfProtection.validateAjaxRequest,
    function (req, res, next) {
        var form = server.forms.getForm('profile');

        // Check validation
        if (!form.valid) {
            res.json({
                success: false,
                fields: getFormErrors(form)
            });
            return next();
        }

        // Access form values
        var email = form.email.value;
        var firstName = form.firstName.value;

        // Process and save data
        this.on('route:BeforeComplete', function () {
            var Transaction = require('dw/system/Transaction');
            Transaction.wrap(function () {
                customer.profile.email = email;
                customer.profile.firstName = firstName;
            });
        });

        res.json({ success: true });
        next();
    }
);

// Helper to extract form errors
function getFormErrors(form) {
    var errors = {};
    Object.keys(form).forEach(function (key) {
        if (form[key] && form[key].error) {
            errors[key] = form[key].error;
        }
    });
    return errors;
}

Prepopulating Forms

server.get('Edit', function (req, res, next) {
    var form = server.forms.getForm('profile');
    form.clear();

    // Prepopulate from existing data
    var profile = req.currentCustomer.profile;
    form.firstName.value = profile.firstName;
    form.lastName.value = profile.lastName;
    form.email.value = profile.email;

    res.render('account/editProfile', {
        profileForm: form
    });
    next();
});

Accessing Raw Form Data

server.post('Submit', function (req, res, next) {
    // Access raw POST data directly
    var email = req.form.email;
    var firstName = req.form.firstName;

    // Useful when not using form definitions
    next();
});

Template (ISML)

Basic Form Template

<form action="${pdict.actionUrl}" method="POST" name="profile-form"
      class="form-horizontal" data-action="${URLUtils.url('Profile-Submit')}">

    <!-- CSRF Token -->
    <input type="hidden" name="${pdict.csrf.tokenName}" value="${pdict.csrf.token}"/>

    <div class="form-group ${pdict.profileForm.email.mandatory ? 'required' : ''}">
        <label for="email" class="form-control-label">
            ${Resource.msg('form.email.label', 'forms', null)}
        </label>
        <input type="email"
               id="email"
               name="email"
               class="form-control ${pdict.profileForm.email.error ? 'is-invalid' : ''}"
               value="${pdict.profileForm.email.value || ''}"
               <isif condition="${pdict.profileForm.email.mandatory}">required</isif>
               maxlength="${pdict.profileForm.email.maxLength || 50}"/>
        <isif condition="${pdict.profileForm.email.error}">
            <div class="invalid-feedback">${pdict.profileForm.email.error}</div>
        </isif>
    </div>

    <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">
        ${Resource.msg('button.submit', 'forms', null)}
    </button>
</form>

Form with Groups

<fieldset>
    <legend>${Resource.msg('form.address.title', 'forms', null)}</legend>

    <div class="form-group">
        <label for="street">${Resource.msg('form.address.street', 'forms', null)}</label>
        <input type="text" id="street" name="address_street"
               value="${pdict.addressForm.address.street.value || ''}"/>
    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
        <label for="city">${Resource.msg('form.address.city', 'forms', null)}</label>
        <input type="text" id="city" name="address_city"
               value="${pdict.addressForm.address.city.value || ''}"/>
    </div>
</fieldset>

AJAX Form Submission

<script>
$('form[name="profile-form"]').on('submit', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var $form = $(this);

    $.ajax({
        url: $form.data('action'),
        type: 'POST',
        data: $form.serialize(),
        success: function(response) {
            if (response.success) {
                window.location.href = response.redirectUrl;
            } else {
                displayErrors(response.fields);
            }
        }
    });
});

function displayErrors(fields) {
    Object.keys(fields).forEach(function(field) {
        var $field = $('[name="' + field + '"]');
        $field.addClass('is-invalid');
        $field.siblings('.invalid-feedback').text(fields[field]);
    });
}
</script>

Localization

Form labels and errors use resource bundles:

forms.properties:

form.email.label=Email Address
form.email.required=Email is required
form.email.invalid=Please enter a valid email address

form.password.label=Password
form.password.required=Password is required

button.submit=Submit
button.cancel=Cancel

forms_de_DE.properties:

form.email.label=E-Mail-Adresse
form.email.required=E-Mail ist erforderlich

Custom Validation

In Form Definition

<field formid="password" type="string"
       validation="${require('*/cartridge/scripts/validation').validatePassword(formfield)}"
       range-error="form.password.weak"/>

Validation Script

// scripts/validation.js
exports.validatePassword = function (formfield) {
    var value = formfield.value;
    if (value && value.length < 8) {
        return false;  // Triggers range-error
    }
    if (!/[A-Z]/.test(value) || !/[0-9]/.test(value)) {
        return false;
    }
    return true;
};

Best Practices

Always use CSRF protection for form submissions
Clear forms before displaying to reset state
Use resource keys for labels and errors (localization)
Validate server-side even with client-side validation
Use route:BeforeComplete for database operations
Return JSON for AJAX form submissions

Detailed Reference

For comprehensive form patterns:

Form XML Reference - Complete XML schema and validation patterns