RFC: making control object optional for all the hooks

[bluebill1049]

Context

control object is a required prop for the following hooks.

• useController
• useFormState
• useFieldArray
• useWatch

This is an internal object which provides a way for developers to avoid using context API (FormProvider). However, it does make component integration a bit harder, especially when control prop becomes a required prop and will result in run time error without such. I would like to purpose control object to be optional, so developers can integrate with those hooks without worrying about control object being a hard dependency.

(Error screen above, when control is missing)

Proposal

Provide a default value for the control prop internally, so avoid run time error when control object is missing not passed down.

Props

• simplify the integration with react hook form's custom hooks

Cons

• increase in package bundle size by providing default control object internally
• avoiding type check for control object, consider it's really an internal used object

PR (draft)

#7046

cc @barrymay @kotarella1110 @jorisre @wdfinch @getTobiasNielsen

[barrymay]

To be honest, I think it's a nice-to-have, considering the cons - 1) I'm curious how you know which useForm its related to (i guess you would infer it from the parent or registered child?) and 2) I like the fact that I know exactly what form things are tied to.

[wdfinch]

I personally don't really have a need for this. It's easy to add the control prop especially if your fields are inside a FormContextProvider which automatically adds it. I guess if some people have an issue with adding this and it's not a ton of work to get around it might be better for some people (less config is better most of the time). I'd rather have the type checking personally.

[WalterWeidner]

I realize that this is a bit of a stale discussion but it is relevant to my use case. We have a pretty large internal component library and many of our custom form controls are controlled. We would love to leverage useController inside of these components to reduce boilerplate. However, if we do that we break all existing usage that isn't already inside of a FormProvider (which is probably most of the components) because control is required.

It seems like this RFC would solve our problem. I don't think switching to uncontrolled components is feasible for us right now. Any recommendations on how to proceed?