Angular Input Group Component Overview

The IgxInputGroupComponent allows the user to enhance input elements like input, select, textarea, etc. This can be achieved by adding custom content like text, icons, buttons, custom validation, floating label, etc., on either side of them, as a prefix, suffix, or hint.

Angular Input Group Example

Getting Started with Ignite UI for Angular Input Group

To get started with the Ignite UI for Angular Input Group component, first you need to install Ignite UI for Angular. In an existing Angular application, type the following command:

ng add igniteui-angular

For a complete introduction to the Ignite UI for Angular, read the getting started topic.

The next step is to import the IgxInputGroupModule in your app.module.ts file.

Note that the IgxInputGroupComponent also depends on the Angular FormsModule in order to have a working Template Driven Form:

// app.module.ts

import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { IgxInputGroupModule } from 'igniteui-angular';
// import { IgxInputGroupModule } from '@infragistics/igniteui-angular'; for licensed package


@NgModule({
    ...
    imports: [..., IgxInputGroupModule, FormsModule],
    ...
})
export class AppModule {}

Alternatively, as of 16.0.0 you can import the IgxInputGroupComponent as a standalone dependency, or use the IGX_INPUT_GROUP_DIRECTIVES token to import the component and all of its supporting components and directives.

// home.component.ts

import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { IGX_INPUT_GROUP_DIRECTIVES, IgxIconComponent } from 'igniteui-angular';
// import { IGX_INPUT_GROUP_DIRECTIVES, IgxIconComponent } from '@infragistics/igniteui-angular'; for licensed package

@Component({
    selector: 'app-home',
    template: `
    <igx-input-group>
        <igx-prefix>+359</igx-prefix>
        <label igxLabel for="phone">Phone</label>
        <input igxInput [(ngModel)]="value" name="phone" type="tel" maxlength="9" />
        <igx-icon igxSuffix>phone</igx-icon>
    </igx-input-group>
    `,
    styleUrls: ['home.component.scss'],
    standalone: true,
    imports: [IGX_INPUT_GROUP_DIRECTIVES, IgxIconComponent, FormsModule]
    /* or imports: [IgxInputGroupComponent, IgxPrefixDirective, IgxLabelDirective, IgxInputDirective, IgxIconComponent, IgxSuffixDirective, FormsModule] */
})
export class HomeComponent {
    public value = '123456789';
}

Now that you have the Ignite UI for Angular Input Group module or directives imported, you can start using the igx-input-group component.

Note

To use any of the directives igxInput, igxLabel, igx-prefix, igx-suffix or igx-hint, you have to wrap them in an <igx-input-group> container.

Using the Angular Input Group

Label & Input

You can read about the igxLabel and igxInput directives as well as their validation, data binding and API in a separate topic here.

Prefix & Suffix

The igx-prefix or igxPrefix and igx-suffix or igxSuffix directives can contain or be attached to HTML elements, strings, icons or even other components. In the following sample we will create a new input field with a string prefix and an icon suffix:

<igx-input-group>
    <igx-prefix>+359</igx-prefix>
    <label igxLabel for="phone">Phone</label>
    <input igxInput name="phone" type="tel" maxlength="9" />
    <igx-icon igxSuffix>phone</igx-icon>
</igx-input-group>

Hints

The igx-hint directive provides a helper text placed below the input. It can be at the beginning or at the end of the input depending on the value of the position property. Let's add a hint to our phone input:

<igx-input-group>
    <igx-prefix>+359</igx-prefix>
    <label igxLabel for="phone">Phone</label>
    <input igxInput name="phone" type="tel" />
    <igx-suffix>
        <igx-icon>phone</igx-icon>
    </igx-suffix>
    <igx-hint position="start">Ex.: +359 888 123 456</igx-hint>
</igx-input-group>

This is how the phone field with hint looks:

Input Types & Input Group Type Token

The input group styles can be altered by using the type property of the igxInputGroup component. The input group component supports the following types: line (default if type is not specified), border, box, and search. The line, border, and box types are made specifically for the Material Design themes. Setting those types with other themes will not have any effect on how the input group looks. An example of setting a specific type declaratively:

<igx-input-group type="border">

Using the IGX_input-group_TYPE injection token allows to specify a type on an application level for all input-group instances. It provides an easy way to style all related components at once. To set the type, use the IGX_input-group_TYPE injection token to create a DI provider.

providers: [{provide: IGX_input-group_TYPE, useValue: 'box' }]

Note

The type property has precedence over a IGX_INPUT_GROUP_TYPE, thus a token value can be overridden on a component level if the type property is set explicitly. Most of the igniteui-angular form controls use input-group component internally, or allow for a custom template. Setting a global token will affect these components as well.

Ignite UI for Angular also provides styling for the input of type="file" and it supports all the input group types and themes, just add this to your template:

<igx-input-group>
    <input igxInput type="file" multiple />
</igx-input-group>

Input Group Theme

The input group component supports several themes - material, fluent, bootstrap, and indigo-design; The theme is automatically set during component initialization and is inferred from the currently used stylesheet. If you plan to support several themes in your application with runtime switching, you can explicitly set the theme using the theme Input property.

<igx-input-group theme="fluent">...</igx-input-group>

Typed Forms

The Ignite UI for Angular Input Group component can be used inside strictly typed reactive forms which are the default ones as of Angular 14. To find out more about the typed forms, you can check Angular official documentation.

Validation

The following samples demonstrate how to configure input validation when using template-driven or reactive forms.

Template-Driven Forms

Template-driven form validation is achieved by adding validation attributes, i.e., required, minlength, etc., to the input element.

<form>
    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="username">Username</label>
        <input igxInput name="username" type="text" required />
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="email">Email</label>
        <input igxInput name="email" type="email" required email />
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="password">Password</label>
        <input igxInput name="password" type="password" required minlength="8" />
    </igx-input-group>

    <button igxButton="contained" igxRipple type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

The required attribute adds an asterisk next to the label, indicating that this field must be filled in. Furthermore, when the input has additional validation applied to it, such as email and minlength, this could allow the developer to notify the end user for additional requirements via the igx-hint directive.

The following example uses two-way data binding and demonstrates how to inspect the control's state by exporting the ngModel to a local variable.

<form #login="ngForm">
    ...
    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="email">Email</label>
        <input igxInput name="email" type="email" [(ngModel)]="user.email" #email="ngModel" required email />
        <igx-hint *ngIf="email.errors?.email">Please enter a valid email</igx-hint>
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="password">Password</label>
        <input igxInput name="password" type="password"
            [(ngModel)]="user.password" #password="ngModel" required minlength="8" />
        <igx-hint *ngIf="password.errors?.minlength">Password should be at least 8 characters</igx-hint>
    </igx-input-group>

    <button igxButton="contained" igxRipple type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

The user should not be able to submit the form if any of the form controls in it are invalid. This could be achieved by enabling/disabling the submit button based on the form's state.

The following example demonstrates how to inspect the form's state by exporting the ngForm to a local variable.

<form #registrationForm="ngForm">
    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="email">Email</label>
        <input igxInput name="email" type="email" [(ngModel)]="user.email" #email="ngModel" required email />
        <igx-hint *ngIf="email.errors?.email">Please enter a valid email</igx-hint>
    </igx-input-group>
    ...

    <button igxButton="contained" igxRipple type="submit" [disabled]="!registrationForm.valid">Submit</button>
</form>

The result from the above configurations could be seen in the below sample. Start typing into the Email and Password fields and you will notice that the igx-hint is shown if the entered values are invalid. The sample also demonstrates how to toggle the password's visibility by using the igx-icon and the igx-suffix directive.

Reactive Forms

Reactive form validation is achieved by adding validator functions directly to the form control model in the component class. After creating the control in the component class, it should be associated with a form control element in the template.

public registrationForm: FormGroup<User>;

constructor(fb: FormBuilder) {
    this.registrationForm = fb.group({
        username: ['', { nonNullable: true, validators: [Validators.required] }],
        email: ['', { nonNullable: true, validators: [Validators.required, Validators.email] }],
        password: ['', { nonNullable: true, validators: [Validators.required, Validators.minLength(8)] }]
    });
}

<form [formGroup]="registrationForm">
    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="username">Username</label>
        <input igxInput name="username" type="text" formControlName="username" />
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="email">Email</label>
        <input igxInput name="email" type="email" formControlName="email" />
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="password">Password</label>
        <input igxInput name="password" type="password" formControlName="password" />
    </igx-input-group>

    <button igxButton="contained" igxRipple type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

Similar to the template-driven form sample, when having additional validation like email and minlength, an igx-hint directive could be used to notify the end user if the validation has failed.

The following example demonstrates how to access the control through a get method and inspect its state. It also demonstrates how to enable/disable the submit button by inspecting the state of the FormGroup.

public get email() {
    return this.registrationForm.get('email');
}

public get password() {
    return this.registrationForm.get('password');
}

<form [formGroup]="registrationForm">
    ...
    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="email">Email</label>
        <input igxInput name="email" type="email" formControlName="email" />
        <igx-hint *ngIf="email.errors?.email">Please enter a valid email</igx-hint>
    </igx-input-group>

    <igx-input-group>
        <label igxLabel for="password">Password</label>
        <input igxInput name="password" type="password" formControlName="password" />
        <igx-hint *ngIf="password.errors?.minlength">Password should be at least 8 characters</igx-hint>
    </igx-input-group>

    <button igxButton="contained" igxRipple type="submit" [disabled]="!registrationForm.valid">Submit</button>
</form>

The result from the above configurations could be seen in the below sample. Similar to the template-driven form sample, it also demonstrates how to toggle the password's visibility by using the igx-icon and the igx-suffix directive.

Custom Validators

Some input fields may require custom validation and this could be achieved via custom validators. When the value is invalid, the validator will generate a set of errors that could be used to display a specific error message.

Below is an example of a simple custom reactive form validator that validates if the entered email address contains a predefined value and generates different errors based on where the value occurs.

public registrationForm: FormGroup<User>;

constructor(fb: FormBuilder) {
    this.registrationForm = fb.group({
        email: ['', {
            nonNullable: true,
            validators: [
                Validators.required,
                Validators.email,
                this.emailValidator('infragistics')
            ]
        }],
        ...
    });
}

private emailValidator(val: string): ValidatorFn {
    return (control: AbstractControl): ValidationErrors | null => {
        const value = control.value?.toLowerCase();
        const localPartRegex = new RegExp(`(?<=(${val})).*[@]`);
        const domainRegex = new RegExp(`(?<=[@])(?=.*(${val}))`);
        const returnObj: ValidatorErrors = {};

        if (value && localPartRegex.test(value)) {
            returnObj.localPart = true;
        }
        if (value && domainRegex.test(value)) {
            returnObj.domain = true;
        }

        return returnObj;
    }
}

Cross-Field Validation

In some scenarios, the validation of one control may depend on the value of another one. To evaluate both controls in a single custom validator the validation should be performed in a common ancestor control, i.e., the FormGroup. The validator retrieves the child controls by calling the FormGroup's get method, compares the values and if the validation fails, a set of errors is generated for the FormGroup.

This will set only the form's state to invalid. To set the control's state, we could use the setErrors method and add the generated errors manually. Then, when the validation is successful, the errors could be removed by using the setValue method that will rerun the control's validation for the provided value.

The below example demonstrates a cross-field validation where the Password should not contain the Email address and the Repeat password should match the Password.

private passwordValidator(): ValidatorFn {
    return (control: AbstractControl): ValidationErrors | null => {
        const email = control.get('email');
        const password = control.get('password');
        const repeatPassword = control.get('repeatPassword');
        const returnObj: ValidatorErrors = {};

        if (email.value
            && password.value
            && password.value.toLowerCase().includes(email.value)) {
            password.setErrors({ ...password.errors, containsEmail: true });
            returnObj.containsEmail = true;
        }

        if (password
            && repeatPassword
            && password.value !== repeatPassword.value) {
            repeatPassword.setErrors({ ...repeatPassword.errors, mismatch: true });
            returnObj.mismatch = true;
        }

        if (!returnObj.containsEmail && password.errors?.containsEmail) {
            password.setValue(password.value);
        }

        if (!returnObj.mismatch && repeatPassword.errors?.mismatch) {
            repeatPassword.setValue(repeatPassword.value);
        }

        return returnObj;
    }
}

To add the custom validator to the FormGroup it should be passed as a second argument when creating the form.

public registrationForm: FormGroup<User>;

constructor(fb: FormBuilder) {
    this.registrationForm = fb.group({
        email: ['', {
            nonNullable: true,
            validators: [
                Validators.required,
                Validators.email,
                this.emailValidator('infragistics')
            ]
        }],
        ...
    },
    {
        validators: [this.passwordValidator()]
    });
}

The below sample demonstrates how the built-in validators could be used in combination with the custom emailValidator and cross-field passwordValidator from the previous examples.

Styling

The first thing we need to do, in order to get started with the input group styling, is to include the index file in our style file:

@use "igniteui-angular/theming" as *;

// IMPORTANT: Prior to Ignite UI for Angular version 13 use:
// @import '~igniteui-angular/lib/core/styles/themes/index';

Next, we have to create a new theme that extends the input-group-theme and pass the parameters which we'd like to change:

$custom-input-group: input-group-theme(
  $filled-text-color: #288a54,
  $focused-text-color: #174f30,
  $idle-text-color: #288a54,
  $idle-bottom-line-color: #288a54,
  $interim-bottom-line-color: #288a54,
  $hover-bottom-line-color: #288a54,
  $focused-secondary-color: #174f30,
  $box-background: #eeeeee
);

Using CSS variables

The last step is to include the newly created theme:

@include css-vars($custom-input-group);

Using Theme Overrides

In order to style components for older browsers, like Internet Explorer 11, we have to use the input group mixin, since it doesn't support CSS variables.

However, if we just leave the include statement, as shown in the previous step, our styles will not properly apply - while our text color has properly changed, the bottom border and the background remain the same. This is because our component is using the Emulated ViewEncapsulation. The input and label elements are part of that view, so their styles are applied correctly. The bottom border, on the other hand, is generated by the igx-input-group component and is not affected by the styles of our component.

In order to style the border, we have to penetrate this encapsulation using ::ng-deep. To prevent the custom theme to leak into other components, we also need to make sure that we scope the styles with a :host selector before the ::ng-deep:

:host {
    ::ng-deep {
        @include input-group($custom-input-group);
    }
}

Demo

API References

• IgxInputDirective
• IgxHintDirective
• IgxInputGroup Types
• IgxInputGroupComponent
• IgxInputGroupComponent Styles

Theming Dependencies

• IgxButton Theme
• IgxIcon Theme

Additional Resources

Related topics:

• Label & Input
• Reactive Forms Integration

Our community is active and always welcoming to new ideas.

• Ignite UI for Angular Forums
• Ignite UI for Angular GitHub