Orchard Core Forms

Enable OrchardCore.Forms and use its widget types inside a FlowPart. Form contains FormElementPart, FormPart, and FlowPart. Input, Select, and TextArea each contain FormInputElementPart, FormElementPart, FormElementLabelPart, their specific element part, FormElementValidationPart, and FormInputElementVisibilityPart.

Part	Current responsibility
FormPart	Action, Method, WorkflowTypeId, EncType, anti-forgery, and form-location behavior
FormElementPart	Element Id
FormInputElementPart	Submitted field Name
InputPart	Input Type, DefaultValue, and Placeholder
SelectPart	Options, DefaultValue, and Editor
TextAreaPart	DefaultValue, Placeholder, and Rows
LabelPart / FormElementLabelPart	Label widget For; per-element Label with Option (None, Standard, ScreenReaders)
ButtonPart	Text and Type (e.g., submit)
ValidationPart	For: the field name whose errors are shown
ValidationSummaryPart	Renders all model-state errors
FormInputElementVisibilityPart	Action (None, Show, Hide) and rule Groups

Widget content types created by the module: Form, Input, Select, TextArea, Label, Button, Validation, and ValidationSummary. With OrchardCore.ReCaptcha enabled, a ReCaptcha widget (reCAPTCHA v2, configured under Settings > Security > reCaptcha) and the Validate ReCaptcha workflow task (Valid/Invalid/Done) are added.

FormPart.EnableAntiForgeryToken and FormPart.SaveFormLocation default to true.

The Form wrapper emits an anti-forgery token when enabled and, by default, the __RequestOriginatedFrom workflow input used by HTTP workflow redirects.

Enable Forms

OrchardCore.Forms depends on OrchardCore.Widgets and OrchardCore.Flows. Add the workflow features to process submissions without a custom controller.

{
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Feature",
      "enable": [
        "OrchardCore.Forms",
        "OrchardCore.Flows",
        "OrchardCore.Widgets",
        "OrchardCore.Workflows",
        "OrchardCore.Workflows.Http"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Form Element Content

SelectPart.Options is an array of SelectOption objects, not newline text:

{
  "ContentType": "Select",
  "FormInputElementPart": {
    "Name": "ContactReason"
  },
  "FormElementPart": {
    "Id": "contact-reason"
  },
  "SelectPart": {
    "Editor": "Dropdown",
    "DefaultValue": "support",
    "Options": [
      {
        "Text": "Technical support",
        "Value": "support"
      },
      {
        "Text": "Sales",
        "Value": "sales"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Conditional Visibility

Each input widget has Visibility Settings stored in FormInputElementVisibilityPart. Rules within a group are combined with AND; groups are combined with OR. Fields appear in the rule editor only after the form has been saved with them. Operators: Is, IsNot, Empty, NotEmpty, Contains, DoesNotContain, StartsWith, EndsWith, GreaterThan, LessThan.

{
  "FormInputElementVisibilityPart": {
    "Action": "Show",
    "Groups": [
      {
        "Rules": [
          {
            "Field": "MembershipType",
            "Operator": "Contains",
            "Values": [ "Premium" ],
            "CaseSensitive": false
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Visibility is applied client-side; hidden fields are still accepted by the server, so validate server-side as well.

Workflow Submission and Validation

Set the form action to a workflow HTTP endpoint and start the workflow with the real HttpRequestEvent; FormSubmissionEvent is not an Orchard Core activity. FormPart.WorkflowTypeId exists on the model, but the built-in editor does not render an input for it; set it through code or imported data when needed. It does not replace an HTTP event route.

Forms supplies these validation activities when OrchardCore.Workflows is enabled:

• ValidateAntiforgeryTokenTask
• BindModelStateTask
• ValidateFormFieldTask
• AddModelValidationErrorTask
• ValidateFormTask
• HttpRedirectToFormLocationTask

In JavaScript workflow expressions, use the HTTP globals requestForm(name) or deserializeRequestData() and workflow globals property(name), setProperty(name, value), and setOutcome(name). Do not use fictional requestFormAsDict, addModelError, or modelState globals.

var email = requestForm("ContactEmail");

if (!email || !email.includes("@")) {
    setOutcome("Invalid");
} else {
    setProperty("ContactEmail", email);
    setOutcome("Valid");
}

For required fields and model-state errors, add ValidateFormFieldTask or AddModelValidationErrorTask in the workflow and then use ValidateFormTask to branch to its Valid or Invalid outcome.

Typical contact-form workflow:

1. HTTP Request event (method POST, set as start activity); paste its URL path into the Form widget's Action.
2. Bind Form Model State (BindModelStateTask) so entered values survive a redirect back to the form.
3. Fork with one branch per check, each running Validate Form Field (or Validate ReCaptcha); connect every Done outcome to a Join in Wait All mode.
4. Validate Form (ValidateFormTask): Invalid goes to Redirect back to the form (or HttpRedirectToFormLocationTask), where ValidationSummary/Validation widgets show the errors; Valid continues.
5. Send Email using Liquid, e.g. subject Contact form from {{ Request.Form.Name }}, then Redirect to a thank-you page.

Custom Form Elements

Custom elements are ordinary content parts and widgets. Add the part, display driver, view model, and content type definition; use FormInputElementPart.Name when the element must submit a value. View models remain unsealed for model binding; seal other classes.