React Hooks

Payload provides a variety of powerful React Hooks that can be used within your own Custom Components, such as Custom Fields. With them, you can interface with Payload itself to build just about any type of complex customization you can think of.

useField

The useField hook is used internally within all field components. It manages sending and receiving a field's state from its parent form. When you build a Custom Field Component, you will be responsible for sending and receiving the field's value to and from the form yourself.

To do so, import the useField hook as follows:

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'use client'
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import { useField } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const CustomTextField: React.FC = () => {
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const { value, setValue, path } = useField()
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return (
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<div>
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<p>
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{path}
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</p>
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<input
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onChange={(e) => { setValue(e.target.value) }}
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value={value}
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/>
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</div>
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)
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}

The useField hook accepts the following arguments:

PropertyDescription
pathIf you do not provide a path or a name, this hook will look for one using the useFieldProps hook.
validateA validation function executed client-side before submitting the form to the server. Different than Field-level Validation which runs strictly on the server.
disableFormDataIf true, the field will not be included in the form data when the form is submitted.
hasRowsIf true, the field will be treated as a field with rows. This is useful for fields like array and blocks.

The useField hook returns the following object:

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type FieldType<T> = {
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errorMessage?: string
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errorPaths?: string[]
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filterOptions?: FilterOptionsResult
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formInitializing: boolean
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formProcessing: boolean
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formSubmitted: boolean
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initialValue?: T
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path: string
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permissions: FieldPermissions
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readOnly?: boolean
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rows?: Row[]
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schemaPath: string
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setValue: (val: unknown, disableModifyingForm?: boolean) => void
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showError: boolean
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valid?: boolean
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value: T
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}

useFieldProps

Custom Field Components can be rendered on the server. When using a server component as a custom field component, you can access dynamic props from within any client component rendered by your custom server component. This is done using the useFieldProps hook. This is important because some fields can be dynamic, such as when nested in an array or blocks field. For example, items can be added, re-ordered, or deleted on-the-fly.

You can use the useFieldProps hooks to access dynamic props like path:

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'use client'
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import { useFieldProps } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const CustomTextField: React.FC = () => {
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const { path } = useFieldProps()
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return (
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<div>
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{path}
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</div>
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)
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}

useFormFields

There are times when a custom field component needs to have access to data from other fields, and you have a few options to do so. The useFormFields hook is a powerful and highly performant way to retrieve a form's field state, as well as to retrieve the dispatchFields method, which can be helpful for setting other fields' form states from anywhere within a form.

Thanks to the awesome package use-context-selector, you can retrieve a specific field's state easily. This is ideal because you can ensure you have an up-to-date field state, and your component will only re-render when that field's state changes.

You can pass a Redux-like selector into the hook, which will ensure that you retrieve only the field that you want. The selector takes an argument with type of [fields: Fields, dispatch: React.Dispatch<Action>]].

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'use client'
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import { useFormFields } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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// Get only the `amount` field state, and only cause a rerender when that field changes
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const amount = useFormFields(([fields, dispatch]) => fields.amount)
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// Do the same thing as above, but to the `feePercentage` field
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const feePercentage = useFormFields(([fields, dispatch]) => fields.feePercentage)
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if (typeof amount?.value !== 'undefined' && typeof feePercentage?.value !== 'undefined') {
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return <span>The fee is ${(amount.value * feePercentage.value) / 100}</span>
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}
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}

useAllFormFields

To retrieve more than one field, you can use the useAllFormFields hook. Your component will re-render when any field changes, so use this hook only if you absolutely need to. Unlike the useFormFields hook, this hook does not accept a "selector", and it always returns an array with type of [fields: Fields, dispatch: React.Dispatch<Action>]].

You can do lots of powerful stuff by retrieving the full form state, like using built-in helper functions to reduce field state to values only, or to retrieve sibling data by path.

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'use client'
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import { useAllFormFields } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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import { reduceFieldsToValues, getSiblingData } from 'payload/shared'
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const ExampleComponent: React.FC = () => {
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// the `fields` const will be equal to all fields' state,
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// and the `dispatchFields` method is usable to send field state up to the form
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const [fields, dispatchFields] = useAllFormFields();
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// Pass in fields, and indicate if you'd like to "unflatten" field data.
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// The result below will reflect the data stored in the form at the given time
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const formData = reduceFieldsToValues(fields, true);
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// Pass in field state and a path,
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// and you will be sent all sibling data of the path that you've specified
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const siblingData = getSiblingData(fields, 'someFieldName');
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return (
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// return some JSX here if necessary
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)
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};

Updating other fields' values

If you are building a Custom Component, then you should use setValue which is returned from the useField hook to programmatically set your field's value. But if you're looking to update another field's value, you can use dispatchFields returned from useFormFields.

You can send the following actions to the dispatchFields function.

ActionDescription
ADD_ROWAdds a row of data (useful in array / block field data)
DUPLICATE_ROWDuplicates a row of data (useful in array / block field data)
MODIFY_CONDITIONUpdates a field's conditional logic result (true / false)
MOVE_ROWMoves a row of data (useful in array / block field data)
REMOVERemoves a field from form state
REMOVE_ROWRemoves a row of data from form state (useful in array / block field data)
REPLACE_STATECompletely replaces form state
UPDATEUpdate any property of a specific field's state

To see types for each action supported within the dispatchFields hook, check out the Form types here.

useForm

The useForm hook can be used to interact with the form itself, and sends back many methods that can be used to reactively fetch form state without causing rerenders within your components each time a field is changed. This is useful if you have action-based callbacks that your components fire, and need to interact with form state based on a user action.

The useForm hook returns an object with the following properties:

ActionDescriptionExample
fieldsDeprecated. This property cannot be relied on as up-to-date.
submitMethod to trigger the form to submit
dispatchFieldsDispatch actions to the form field state
validateFormTrigger a validation of the form state
createFormDataCreate a multipart/form-data object from the current form's state
disabledBoolean denoting whether or not the form is disabled
getFieldsGets all fields from state
getFieldGets a single field from state by path
getDataReturns the data stored in the form
getSiblingDataReturns form sibling data for the given field path
setModifiedSet the form\'s modified state
setProcessingSet the form\'s processing state
setSubmittedSet the form\'s submitted state
formRefThe ref from the form HTML element
resetMethod to reset the form to its initial state
addFieldRowMethod to add a row on an array or block field
removeFieldRowMethod to remove a row from an array or block field
replaceFieldRowMethod to replace a row from an array or block field

useCollapsible

The useCollapsible hook allows you to control parent collapsibles:

PropertyDescription
isCollapsedState of the collapsible. true if open, false if collapsed.
isVisibleIf nested, determine if the nearest collapsible is visible. true if no parent is closed, false otherwise.
toggleToggles the state of the nearest collapsible.
isWithinCollapsibleDetermine when you are within another collapsible.

Example:

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'use client'
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import React from 'react'
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import { useCollapsible } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const CustomComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const { isCollapsed, toggle } = useCollapsible()
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return (
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<div>
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<p className="field-type">I am {isCollapsed ? 'closed' : 'open'}</p>
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<button onClick={toggle} type="button">
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Toggle
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</button>
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</div>
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)
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}

useDocumentInfo

The useDocumentInfo hook provides lots of information about the document currently being edited, including the following:

PropertyDescription
collectionIf the doc is a collection, its Collection Config will be returned
globalIf the doc is a global, its Global Config will be returned
idIf the doc is a collection, its ID will be returned
preferencesKeyThe preferences key to use when interacting with document-level user preferences
versionsVersions of the current doc
unpublishedVersionsUnpublished versions of the current doc
publishedDocThe currently published version of the doc being edited
getVersionsMethod to trigger the retrieval of document versions
docPermissionsThe current documents permissions. Collection document permissions fallback when no id is present (i.e. on create)
getDocPermissionsMethod to trigger the retrieval of document level permissions

Example:

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'use client'
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import { useDocumentInfo } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const LinkFromCategoryToPosts: React.FC = () => {
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const { id } = useDocumentInfo()
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// id will be undefined on the create form
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if (!id) {
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return null
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}
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return (
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<a href={`/admin/collections/posts?where[or][0][and][0][category][in][0]=[${id}]`}>
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View posts
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</a>
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)
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}

useLocale

In any Custom Component you can get the selected locale object with the useLocale hook. useLocalegives you the full locale object, consisting of a label, rtl(right-to-left) property, and then code. Here is a simple example:

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'use client'
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import { useLocale } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const Greeting: React.FC = () => {
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const locale = useLocale()
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const trans = {
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en: 'Hello',
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es: 'Hola',
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}
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return <span> {trans[locale.code]} </span>
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}

useAuth

Useful to retrieve info about the currently logged in user as well as methods for interacting with it. It sends back an object with the following properties:

PropertyDescription
userThe currently logged in user
logOutA method to log out the currently logged in user
refreshCookieA method to trigger the silent refreshing of a user's auth token
setTokenSet the token of the user, to be decoded and used to reset the user and token in memory
tokenThe logged in user's token (useful for creating preview links, etc.)
refreshPermissionsLoad new permissions (useful when content that effects permissions has been changed)
permissionsThe permissions of the current user
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'use client'
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import { useAuth } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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import type { User } from '../payload-types.ts'
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const Greeting: React.FC = () => {
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const { user } = useAuth<User>()
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return <span>Hi, {user.email}!</span>
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}

useConfig

Used to easily retrieve the Payload Client Config.

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'use client'
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import { useConfig } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const { config } = useConfig()
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return <span>{config.serverURL}</span>
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}

useEditDepth

Sends back how many editing levels "deep" the current component is. Edit depth is relevant while adding new documents / editing documents in modal windows and other cases.

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'use client'
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import { useEditDepth } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const editDepth = useEditDepth()
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return <span>My component is {editDepth} levels deep</span>
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}

usePreferences

Returns methods to set and get user preferences. More info can be found here.

useTheme

Returns the currently selected theme (light, dark or auto), a set function to update it and a boolean autoMode, used to determine if the theme value should be set automatically based on the user's device preferences.

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'use client'
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import { useTheme } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const { autoMode, setTheme, theme } = useTheme()
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return (
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<>
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<span>
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The current theme is {theme} and autoMode is {autoMode}
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</span>
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<button
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type="button"
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onClick={() => setTheme((prev) => (prev === 'light' ? 'dark' : 'light'))}
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>
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Toggle theme
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</button>
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</>
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)
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}

useTableColumns

Returns methods to manipulate table columns

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'use client'
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import { useTableColumns } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const { setActiveColumns } = useTableColumns()
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const resetColumns = () => {
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setActiveColumns(['id', 'createdAt', 'updatedAt'])
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}
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return (
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<button type="button" onClick={resetColumns}>
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Reset columns
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</button>
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)
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}

useTableCell

Similar to useFieldProps, all Custom Cell Components are rendered on the server, and as such, only have access to static props at render time. But, some props need to be dynamic, such as the field value itself.

For this reason, dynamic props like cellData are managed in their own React context, which can be accessed using the useTableCell hook.

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'use client'
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import { useTableCell } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
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const { cellData } = useTableCell()
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return (
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<div>
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{cellData}
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</div>
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)
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}

useDocumentEvents

The useDocumentEvents hook provides a way of subscribing to cross-document events, such as updates made to nested documents within a drawer. This hook will report document events that are outside the scope of the document currently being edited. This hook provides the following:

PropertyDescription
mostRecentUpdateAn object containing the most recently updated document. It contains the entitySlug, id (if collection), and updatedAt properties
reportUpdateA method used to report updates to documents. It accepts the same arguments as the mostRecentUpdate property.

Example:

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'use client'
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import { useDocumentEvents } from '@payloadcms/ui'
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const ListenForUpdates: React.FC = () => {
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const { mostRecentUpdate } = useDocumentEvents()
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return <span>{JSON.stringify(mostRecentUpdate)}</span>
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}
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