Handling Forms in React: Controlled, Uncontrolled & React Hook Form

Forms in React are deceptively simple at first glance, but as your application grows, managing their state, validation, and submission can quickly become complex. In this post, we’ll start with the basics of controlled and uncontrolled forms, discuss the benefits of using a form library, and provide a practical example using React Hook Form.

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Controlled vs. Uncontrolled Components

In React, there are two main approaches to handling form inputs: controlled and uncontrolled.

Controlled Components

A controlled component is where the React component fully manages the input’s state. This means that the value of an input field is tied to a state variable, and any change is handled through onChange.

Example:

1import { useState, FormEvent } from "react";