Bx ui forms

bx-ui-forms: HTML Form Components

Installation

install-bx-module bx-ui-forms
# CommandBox
box install bx-ui-forms

Produces semantic, accessible HTML form markup. No JavaScript framework is bundled — styling is entirely up to the developer.

Components

Component	Purpose
bx:form	Outer <form> wrapper
bx:input	Text, email, password, checkbox, radio, and other input fields
bx:select	Dropdown select element
bx:slider	HTML5 range slider
bx:textarea	Multi-line text area

---

Basic Form

<bx:form action="/register" method="POST">

    <bx:input
        type="text"
        name="username"
        label="Username"
        required="true"
        placeholder="Enter your username"
    >

    <bx:input
        type="email"
        name="email"
        label="Email Address"
        required="true"
    >

    <bx:input
        type="password"
        name="password"
        label="Password"
        required="true"
    >

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Register">

</bx:form>

Sticky (Preservedata) Form

When preservedata="true", previously submitted values are re-populated in the form fields after a failed submission:

<bx:form action="/profile/update" method="POST" preservedata="true">

    <bx:input type="text"  name="fullName" label="Full Name" value="#form.fullName ?: user.fullName#">
    <bx:input type="email" name="email"    label="Email"     value="#form.email ?: user.email#">

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Save Changes">

</bx:form>

Select Dropdown

<bx:form action="/search" method="GET">

    <bx:input type="text" name="q" label="Search">

    <bx:select name="category" label="Category">
        <option value="">-- All Categories --</option>
        <option value="tech">Technology</option>
        <option value="science">Science</option>
        <option value="health">Health</option>
    </bx:select>

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Search">

</bx:form>

Checkbox and Radio

<bx:form action="/preferences" method="POST">

    <!-- Checkbox -->
    <bx:input
        type="checkbox"
        name="newsletter"
        label="Subscribe to newsletter"
        value="1"
        checked="#user.newsletter eq 1#"
    >

    <!-- Radio buttons -->
    <bx:input type="radio" name="theme" value="light" label="Light Mode">
    <bx:input type="radio" name="theme" value="dark"  label="Dark Mode">

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Save Preferences">

</bx:form>

Textarea

<bx:form action="/contact" method="POST">

    <bx:input type="text" name="subject" label="Subject">

    <bx:textarea
        name="message"
        label="Message"
        rows="8"
        cols="60"
        placeholder="Enter your message here..."
    ></bx:textarea>

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Send Message">

</bx:form>

Slider (Range Input)

<bx:form action="/filter" method="GET">

    <bx:slider
        name="maxPrice"
        label="Max Price: $#url.maxPrice ?: 500#"
        min="0"
        max="1000"
        step="10"
        value="#url.maxPrice ?: 500#"
    >

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Apply Filter">

</bx:form>

File Upload Form

<bx:form action="/upload" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">

    <bx:input type="file" name="attachment" label="Choose File" accept=".pdf,.docx">

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Upload">

</bx:form>

Hidden Fields and CSRF Integration

<bx:form action="/delete/item/#item.id#" method="POST">

    <!-- Hidden fields -->
    <bx:input type="hidden" name="itemId"  value="#item.id#">
    <bx:input type="hidden" name="csrf"    value="#CSRFGenerateToken()#">

    <bx:input type="submit" value="Delete" class="btn btn-danger">

</bx:form>

bx:form Attribute Reference

Attribute	Description	Default
action	Form submission URL	Current page
method	HTTP method (GET or POST)	POST
enctype	Encoding type (use multipart/form-data for file uploads)	application/x-www-form-urlencoded
preservedata	Re-populate fields from submitted form data	false
id	HTML id attribute	—
class	CSS class(es)	—

Common Pitfalls

• ✅ Use enctype="multipart/form-data" for any form that includes file uploads
• ❌ preservedata only works in a web runtime context where form scope is populated
• ✅ Always add a CSRF token (CSRFHiddenField() or CSRFGenerateToken()) via a hidden input for POST forms
• ✅ bx:ui-forms produces semantic HTML — wire up your own CSS (Bootstrap, Tailwind, etc.) for styling
• ❌ No built-in client-side validation is added — add HTML5 attributes like required and pattern yourself