createFormView

Signature

const view = createFormView(options);

Import createFormView from mlform/view. It composes runtime state, layout, navigation, and presenter descriptors without mounting DOM. Primitive renderer and design system options stay on mountForm().

Input options

Required:

• schema
• transport

Common optional inputs:

• layout
• plugins
• registry
• initialValues
• validators
• hooks
• inactiveFieldPolicy
• listenerErrorPolicy
• onListenerError

Use plugins for custom field and report kinds. A plugin carries its schema definition, presenter, and optional runtime behaviors through one interface; direct registry options remain available for low-level integrations.

Returned controller

interface FormViewController {
  form: FormController;
  reportFetchMode: ReportFetchMode;
  engineRegistry: Registry;
  descriptorRegistry: PrimitiveDescriptorRegistry;
  navigation: FormViewNavigationController;
  state: FormViewState;
  getSnapshot(): FormViewSnapshot;
  getNodeById(id: string): ResolvedFormLayoutNode | undefined;
  getField(id: string): FormViewFieldItem | undefined;
  getReport(id: string): FormViewReportItem | undefined;
  getVisibleFields(): FormViewFieldItem[];
  getVisibleReports(): FormViewReportItem[];
  validate(): Promise<FormValidationResult>;
  submit(options?: SubmitOptions): Promise<SubmitResult>;
  submitPipeline(options?: SubmitOptions): Promise<PipelineResult>;
  reset(): void;
  dispose(): void;
  subscribe(listener): () => void;
}

Snapshot shape

getSnapshot() returns:

• form
• layout
• fields
• reports
• wizard
• tabs
• disclosure

wizard is null unless layout.kind === "wizard". tabs is null unless layout.kind === "tabs". disclosure is null when the active layout contains no disclosure sections.

Item collections

Each field item contains:

• id
• kind
• config
• controller
• state
• descriptor
• stepId
• tabId
• sectionId (the innermost section, if any)
• sectionIds (all enclosing sections, outermost first)
• visibleInLayout

The report collection follows the same pattern.

Navigation semantics

navigation.next()

• in a wizard, validates the current step before advancing
• in tabs, advances without validation
• returns false when validation fails or movement is not available
• a valid final wizard step returns true without moving past the end

navigation.previous()

• never validates
• moves back one wizard step or tab
• returns whether navigation changed

navigation.activate(id)

• activates a tab directly
• allows free backward wizard navigation
• validates wizard steps incrementally when moving forward
• returns false for stacked and split layouts
• throws when the current wizard or tabs layout does not contain id

navigation.getActiveNodes()

• returns the currently active layout nodes after wizard, tab, and disclosure state is applied

Disclosure controls

• navigation.disclosure.toggle(sectionId) opens or closes one section
• open(sectionId) and close(sectionId) are explicit variants
• openAll() and closeAll() manage every section in the layout
• section controls work inside stacked, split, wizard, and tabs layouts
• an unknown section id throws

Subscription model

Use subscribe() for host rendering:

const unsubscribe = view.subscribe((snapshot) => {
  render(snapshot);
});

Typical host pattern:

1. create the view once
2. render initial snapshot
3. subscribe
4. on teardown, unsubscribe and call view.dispose()

Design system note

createFormView() does not resolve primitive renderers, attach stylesheets, or mutate DOM. Use:

• mountForm() for built-in one-page DOM
• mountForm() for built-in wizard DOM
• mountForm() for built-in tabs DOM
• mountForm() for built-in disclosure DOM
• attachDesignSystem() yourself when your custom host needs it
• createPrimitiveAdapter() from mlform/kit when your host owns the layout but uses built-in controls