<CreateDialog>

This Enterprise Edition component offers a replacement to the <Create> component allowing users to create records without leaving the context of the list page.

Usage

First, install the @react-admin/ra-form-layout package:

npm install --save @react-admin/ra-form-layout
# or
yarn add @react-admin/ra-form-layout

Tip: ra-form-layout is hosted in a private npm registry. You need to subscribe to one of the Enterprise Edition plans to access this package.

Then, add the <CreateDialog> component as a sibling to a <List> component.

import {
    List,
    ListActions,
    Datagrid,
    SimpleForm,
    TextInput,
    DateInput,
    DateField,
    required,
} from 'react-admin';
import { CreateDialog } from '@react-admin/ra-form-layout';

const CustomerList = () => (
    <>
        <List actions={<ListActions hasCreate />}>
            <Datagrid>
                ...
            </Datagrid>
        </List>
        <CreateDialog>
            <SimpleForm>
                <TextInput source="first_name" validate={required()} />
                <TextInput source="last_name" validate={required()} />
                <DateInput source="date_of_birth" />
            </SimpleForm>
        </CreateDialog>
    </>
);

Tip: In the example above, notice the <List actions> prop. It is necessary in order to display the “Create” button, because react-admin has no way of knowing that creation form for the “customer” resource exists.

In the related <Resource>, you don’t need to declare a create component as the creation UI is part of the list component:

<Resource name="customers" list={CustomerList} />

Note: You can’t use the <CreateDialog> and have a standard <Edit> specified on your <Resource>, because the <Routes> declarations would conflict. If you need this, use the <CreateInDialogButton> instead.

Props

<CreateDialog> accepts the following props:

children

<CreateDialog> doesn’t render any field by default - it delegates this to its children, usually a Form component.

React-admin provides several built-in form layout components:

• SimpleForm for a single-column layout
• TabbedForm for a tabbed layout
• AccordionForm for long forms with collapsible sections
• LongForm for long forms with a navigation sidebar
• WizardForm for multi-step forms
• and Form, a headless component to use as a base for your custom layouts

To use an alternative form layout, switch the <CreateDialog> child component:

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
    <CreateDialog fullWidth maxWidth="md">
-       <SimpleForm>
+       <TabbedForm>
+           <TabbedForm.Tab label="Identity">
                <TextInput source="first_name" fullWidth />
                <TextInput source="last_name" fullWidth />
+           </TabbedForm.Tab>
+           <TabbedForm.Tab label="Informations">
                <DateInput source="dob" label="born" fullWidth />
                <SelectInput source="sex" choices={sexChoices} fullWidth />
+           </TabbedForm.Tab>
-       </SimpleForm>
+       </TabbedForm>
    </CreateDialog>
);

fullWidth

By default, <CreateDialog> renders a Material UI <Dialog> component that takes the width of its content.

You can make the dialog full width by setting the fullWidth prop to true:

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
  <CreateDialog fullWidth>
      ...
  </CreateDialog>
);

In addition, you can set a dialog maximum width by using the maxWidth enumerable in combination with the fullWidth boolean. When the fullWidth prop is true, the dialog will adapt based on the maxWidth value.

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
  <CreateDialog fullWidth maxWidth="sm">
      ...
  </CreateDialog>
);

maxWidth

The maxWidth prop allows you to set the max width of the dialog. It can be one of the following values: xs, sm, md, lg, xl, false. The default is sm.

For example, you can use that prop to make the dialog full width:

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
  <CreateDialog fullWidth maxWidth={false}>
      ...
  </CreateDialog>
);

mutationOptions

The mutationOptions prop allows you to pass options to the useMutation hook.

This can be useful e.g. to pass a custom meta to the dataProvider.create() call.

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
  <CreateDialog mutationOptions={{ meta: { fetch: 'author' } }}>
      ...
  </CreateDialog>
);

resource

The resource prop allows you to pass the resource name to the <CreateDialog> component. If not provided, it will be deduced from the resource context.

This is useful to link to a related record. For instance, the following dialog lets you create the author of a book:

const EditAuthorDialog = () => {
  const book = useRecordContext();
  return (
    <CreateDialog resource="authors">
        ...
    </CreateDialog>
  );
};

sx

Customize the styles applied to the Material UI <Dialog> component:

const MyCreateDialog = () => (
  <CreateDialog sx={{ backgroundColor: 'paper' }}>
      ...
  </CreateDialog>
);

transform

To transform a record after the user has submitted the form but before the record is passed to dataProvider.create(), use the transform prop. It expects a function taking a record as argument, and returning a modified record. For instance, to add a computed field upon edition:

export const UseCreate = () => {
    const transform = data => ({
        ...data,
        fullName: `${data.firstName} ${data.lastName}`
    });
    return (
        <CreateDialog transform={transform}>
            ...
        </CreateDialog>
    );
}

The transform function can also return a Promise, which allows you to do all sorts of asynchronous calls (e.g. to the dataProvider) during the transformation.

Tip: If you want to have different transformations based on the button clicked by the user (e.g. if the creation form displays two submit buttons, one to “save”, and another to “save and notify other admins”), you can set the transform prop on the <SaveButton> component, too.

Tip: The transform function also gets the previousData in its second argument:

export const UseCreate = () => {
    const transform = (data, { previousData }) => ({
        ...data,
        avoidChangeField: previousData.avoidChangeField
    });
    return (
        <CreateDialog transform={transform}>
            ...
        </CreateDialog>
    );
}

Usage Without Routing

By default, <CreateDialog> creates a react-router <Route> for the creation path (e.g. /posts/create), and renders when users go to that location (either by clicking on a <CreateButton>, or by typing the URL in the browser). If you embed it in the list page as explained above, the dialog will always render on top of the list.

This may not be what you want if you need to display the creation dialog in another page (e.g. to create a related record).

In that case, use the <CreateInDialogButton> component, which doesn’t create a route, but renders the dialog when the user clicks on it.

Put <CreateInDialogButton> wherever you would put a <CreateButton>, and use the same children as you would for a <Create> component (e.g. a <SimpleForm>). Don’t forget to preset the record prop if you want to initialize the form with a foreign key.

import {
  Datagrid,
  ReferenceManyField,
  Show,
  SimpleForm,
  SimpleShowLayout,
  TextField,
  TextInput,
  WithRecord,
} from "react-admin";
import { CreateInDialogButton } from "@react-admin/ra-form-layout";

const CompanyShow = () => (
    <Show>
        <SimpleShowLayout>
            <TextField source="name" />
            <TextField source="address" />
            <TextField source="city" />
            <ReferenceManyField target="company_id" reference="employees">
                <WithRecord render={record => (
                    <CreateInDialogButton record={{ company_id: record.id }}>
                        <SimpleForm>
                            <TextInput source="first_name" />
                            <TextInput source="last_name" />
                        </SimpleForm>
                    </CreateInDialogButton>
                )} />
                <Datagrid>
                    <TextField source="first_name" />
                    <TextField source="last_name" />
                </Datagrid>
            </ReferenceManyField>
        </SimpleShowLayout>
    </Show>
);

In the above example, <CreateInDialogButton> is used to create a new employee for the current company. The <WithRecord> component helps to set the new employee company id by default.