@material/textfield

MDC Textfield

The MDC Textfield component provides a textual input field adhering to the Material Design Specification. It is fully accessible, ships with RTL support, and includes a gracefully-degraded version that does not require any javascript.

Installation

npm install --save @material/textfield

Usage

Single-line - with Javascript

<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="text" id="my-textfield" class="mdc-textfield__input">
  <label class="mdc-textfield__label" for="my-textfield">Hint text</label>
</div>

It's also possible to wrap an input within a <label> to avoid dynamic id generation:

<label class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="text" class="mdc-textfield__input">
  <span class="mdc-textfield__label">Hint Text</span>
</label>

NOTE: Only place an mdc-textfield__label inside of a text field if you plan on using Javascript. Otherwise, the label must go outside of the textfield, as shown below.

Single-line - Gracefully degraded

<label for="textfield-no-js">Textfield with no JS: </label>
<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="text" id="textfield-no-js" class="mdc-textfield__input" placeholder="Hint text">
</div>

Disabled Text Fields

<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--disabled">
  <input type="text" id="disabled-textfield" class="mdc-textfield__input" disabled>
  <label class="mdc-textfield__label" for="disabled-textfield">Disabled text field</label>
</div>

Pre-filled text fields

When dealing with JS-driven text fields that already have values, you'll want to ensure that you render the text field label with the mdc-textfield__label--float-above modifier class. This will ensure that the label moves out of the way of the text field's value and prevents a Flash Of Un-styled Content (FOUC). You'll also want to add the mdc-textfield--upgraded modifier class on the textfield root element. The JS component does for you automatically on initialization, but since it won't be added until that JS runs, adding it manually will prevent an initial FOUC.

<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--upgraded">
  <input type="text" id="pre-filled" class="mdc-textfield__input" value="Pre-filled value">
  <label class="mdc-textfield__label mdc-textfield__label--float-above" for="pre-filled">
    Label in correct place
  </label>
</div>

Using help text

MDC Text Fields can include help text that is useful for providing supplemental information to users, as well for validation messages (covered below).

<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="text" id="username" class="mdc-textfield__input" aria-controls="username-helptext">
  <label for="username" class="mdc-textfield__label">Username</label>
</div>
<p id="username-helptext" class="mdc-textfield-helptext" aria-hidden="true">
  This will be displayed on your public profile
</p>

Help text appears on input field focus and disappear on input field blur by default when using the textfield JS component.

Persistent help text

If you'd like the help text to always be visible, add the mdc-textfield-helptext--persistent modifier class to the element.

<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="email" id="email" class="mdc-textfield__input">
  <label for="email" class="mdc-textfield__label">Email address</label>
</div>
<p class="mdc-textfield-helptext mdc-textfield-helptext--persistent">
  We will <em>never</em> share your email address with third parties
</p>

Help text and accessibility

Note that in every example where the help text is dependent on the state of the input element, we assign an id to the mdc-textfield-helptext element and set that id to the value of the aria-controls attribute on the input element. We recommend doing this as well as it will help indicate to assistive devices that the display of the help text is dependent on the interaction with the input element.

When using our vanilla JS component, if it sees that the input element has an aria-controls attribute, it will look for an element with the id specified and treat it as the text field's help text element, taking care of adding/removing aria-hidden and other a11y attributes. This can also be done programmatically, which is described below.

Validation

MDC Textfield provides validity styling by using the :invalid and :required attributes provided by HTML5's form validation API.

<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input type="password" id="pw" class="mdc-textfield__input" required minlength=8>
  <label for="pw" class="mdc-textfield__label">Password</label>
</div>

An input's validity is checked via checkValidity() on blur, and the styles are updated accordingly. When using the required attribute, an asterisk will be automatically appended to the label text, as per the spec.

Help text can be used to provide additional validation messages. Use mdc-textfield-helptext--validation-msg to provide styles for using the help text as a validation message. This can be easily combined with mdc-textfield-helptext--persistent to provide a robust UX for client-side form field validation.

<div class="mdc-textfield">
  <input required minlength=8 type="password" class="mdc-textfield__input" id="pw"
         aria-controls="pw-validation-msg">
  <label for="pw" class="mdc-textfield__label">Choose password</label>
</div>
<p class="mdc-textfield-helptext
          mdc-textfield-helptext--persistent
          mdc-textfield-helptext--validation-msg"
   id="pw-validation-msg">
  Must be at least 8 characters long
</p>

Multi-line - With Javascript

<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--multiline">
  <textarea id="multi-line" class="mdc-textfield__input" rows="8" cols="40"></textarea>
  <label for="multi-line" class="mdc-textfield__label">Multi-line Label</label>
</div>

Multi-line - Gracefully Degraded

<label for="css-only-multiline">Multi-line label: </label>
<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--multiline">
  <textarea class="mdc-textfield__input"
            id="css-only-multiline"
            rows="8" cols="40"
            placeholder="Tell the world something about yourself!"></textarea>
</div>

Full-width

<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--fullwidth">
  <input class="mdc-textfield__input"
         type="text"
         placeholder="Full-Width Textfield"
         aria-label="Full-Width Textfield">
</div>
<div class="mdc-textfield mdc-textfield--multiline mdc-textfield--fullwidth">
  <textarea class="mdc-textfield__input"
            placeholder="Full-Width multiline textfield"
            rows="8" cols="40"
            aria-label="Full-Width multiline textfield"></textarea>
</div>

Using the JS component

MDC Textfield ships with Component / Foundation classes which are used to provide a full-fidelity Material Design text field component.

Including in code

ES2015

import {MDCTextfield, MDCTextfieldFoundation} from 'mdc-textfield';

CommonJS

const mdcTextfield = require('mdc-textfield');
const MDCTextfield = mdcTextfield.MDCTextfield;
const MDCTextfieldFoundation = mdcTextfield.MDCTextfieldFoundation;

AMD

require(['path/to/mdc-textfield'], mdcTextfield => {
  const MDCTextfield = mdcTextfield.MDCTextfield;
  const MDCTextfieldFoundation = mdcTextfield.MDCTextfieldFoundation;
});

Global

const MDCTextfield = mdc.textfield.MDCTextfield;
const MDCTextfieldFoundation = mdc.textfield.MDCTextfieldFoundation;

Automatic Instantiation

mdc.textfield.attachTo(document.querySelector('.mdc-textfield'));

Manual Instantiation

import {MDCTextfield} from 'mdc-textfield';

const textfield = new MDCTextfield(document.querySelector('.mdc-textfield'));

MDCTextfield API

Similar to regular DOM elements, the MDCTextfield functionality is exposed through accessor methods.

MDCTextfield.helptextElement

HTMLLabelElement. This is a normal property (non-accessor) that holds a reference to the element being used as the text field's "help text". It defaults to null. If the text field's input element contains an aria-controls attribute on instantiation of the component, it will look for an element with the corresponding id within the document and automatically assign it to this property.

MDCTextfield.disabled

Boolean. Proxies to the foundation's isDisabled/setDisabled methods when retrieved/set respectively.

Using the foundation class

Because MDC Textfield is a feature-rich and relatively complex component, it's adapter is a bit more complicated.

Method Signature	Description
addClass(className: string) => void	Adds a class to the root element
removeClass(className: string) => void	Removes a class from the root element
addClassToLabel(className: string) => void	Adds a class to the label element. We recommend you add a conditional check here, and in removeClassFromLabel for whether or not the label is present so that the JS component could be used with text fields that don't require a label, such as the full-width text field.
removeClassFromLabel(className: string) => void	Removes a class from the label element
addClassToHelptext(className: string) => void	Adds a class to the help text element. Note that in our code we check for whether or not we have a help text element and if we don't, we simply return.
removeClassFromHelptext(className: string) => void	Removes a class from the help text element.
helptextHasClass(className: string) => boolean	Returns whether or not the help text element contains the current class
setHelptextAttr(name: string, value: string) => void	Sets an attribute on the help text element
removeHelptextAttr(name: string) => void	Removes an attribute on the help text element
registerInputFocusHandler(handler: EventListener) => void	Registers an event listener on the native input element for a "focus" event
deregisterInputFocusHandler(handler: EventListener) => void	Un-registers an event listener on the native input element for a "focus" event
registerInputBlurHandler(handler: EventListener) => void	Registers an event listener on the native input element for a "blur" event
deregisterInputBlurHandler(handler: EventListener) => void	Un-registers an event listener on the native input element for a "blur" event
getNativeInput() => {value: string, disabled: boolean, checkValidity: () => boolean}?	Returns an object representing the native text input element, with a similar API shape. The object returned should include the value and disabled properties, as well as the checkValidity() function. We never alter the value within our code, however we do update the disabled property, so if you choose to duck-type the return value for this method in your implementation it's important to keep this in mind. Also note that this method can return null, which the foundation will handle gracefully.

The full foundation API

MDCTextfieldFoundation.isDisabled() => boolean

Returns a boolean specifying whether or not the input is disabled.

MDCTextfieldFoundation.setDisabled(disabled: boolean)

Updates the input's disabled state.

Theming

MDC Textfield components use the configured theme's primary color for its underline and label text when the input is focused.

MDC Textfield components support dark themes.