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Forms

Hidden

A value carried through the form without a control: no label, no wrapper, no way to type in it.

On this page

A value the form carries but never asks about — the owner of a record, the type of a polymorphic parent, a token. Reach for Hidden when the value belongs in the saved record and the user has no business choosing it.

use NyonCode\WireForms\Components\Hidden;

How It Works

This is the field with the least going on, and understanding how it is invisible is the whole page.

It marks itself hidden in its constructor. Hidden::make('user_id') comes back with isHidden() already true — nothing else in the schema does that. And because every render loop in the framework — the form body, Grid, Section, Fieldset, Flex, Tab, Repeater, Builder — skips components whose isVisible() is false, a hidden field is stepped over everywhere. In practice it emits no markup at all, not even the <input type="hidden"> its view describes.

Except on a form the browser posts itself. In native-submit mode there is no Livewire snapshot for a value to travel in — the browser sends what is in the document and nothing else — so the input stops being decoration and becomes the only way to carry the value. A Hidden in a native form renders <input type="hidden" name="…" value="…">, taking its value from old() and then its default(), and nothing else about it changes: it is still invisible, still not something the user is offered. This is what carries Fortify's reset token on the auth module's set-a-new-password screen.

The value lives in form state, not in the DOM, and that is what actually makes it work. When the form is filled, every field in the schema is seeded — its default() when set, otherwise a type-correct blank — and that happens in PHP, before anything is rendered. So the key exists in $data, travels in the Livewire snapshot, is validated, and is written on save, without any element on the page.

Two consequences worth keeping in mind:

  • ->visible() will not bring it back. The constructor's hidden() is what the loops read; a field you want conditionally shown is an ordinary field with a condition, not a Hidden.
  • The user can still change it. The value sits in the component's public state like every other field, so it is as trustworthy as anything else that came from the browser. A value that must not be tampered with belongs in mutateFormDataBeforeSave() or on the model — not in a hidden field.

It still validates, and it is the one invisible field that does. Every other component whose isVisible() is false is skipped by the validation resolver, on purpose: a required() on a field a condition has hidden must never block a submit. A Hidden is a different kind of invisible — its value is filled, carried in a snapshot the browser can edit, and written on save — so its rules are the only thing between the record and whatever came back. A Hidden that fails validation produces an error message with nowhere to render, so keep its rules to things that cannot fail for a legitimate user.

Basic Usage

Hidden::make('user_id')
    ->default(fn () => auth()->id())

A Constant The Record Needs

Hidden::make('type')
    ->default('post')
    ->rules(['in:post,page'])

Extended Example

A comment form in a real Livewire host, where two values are carried and neither is asked for:

use Livewire\Component;
use NyonCode\WireForms\Components\Hidden;
use NyonCode\WireForms\Components\Textarea;
use NyonCode\WireForms\Forms\Form;
use NyonCode\WireForms\Forms\WithForms;
 
class AddComment extends Component
{
    use WithForms;
 
    public Article $article;
 
    public ?array $data = [];
 
    public function form(Form $form): Form
    {
        return $form
            ->statePath('data')
            ->model(Comment::class)
            ->schema([
                Hidden::make('article_id')                          
                    ->default(fn (): int => $this->article->getKey()),
 
                Hidden::make('author_id')
                    ->default(fn (): int => auth()->id()),           
 
                Textarea::make('body')
                    ->label('Your comment')
                    ->rows(4)
                    ->required()
                    ->maxLength(2000),
            ])
            ->successMessage('Comment posted');
    }
 
    public function save(): void
    {
        $this->form->save();
    }
}

Both defaults are closures, so they are resolved when the form is filled rather than when the schema is declared — which matters for auth()->id() in a component that may be mounted before the user is resolved.

Because the value arrives from the browser like any other, an application that must not trust author_id should set it on the model instead of carrying it here.

Hidden API

Hidden adds no configuration of its own — it is the shared Field surface plus an invisible constructor. Defaults, rules, validation messages and the rest are in Common Field API. The native-submit switch is the form's, not the field's: Form::nativeSubmit() sets it on every field in the schema.