BeepFormWidget

Overview

BeepFormWidget is a paint-based WinForms widget that inherits from BaseControl. It uses an IWidgetPainter pipeline to render rich visuals without child controls. The Style property selects one of 10 built-in render modes; changing it at runtime immediately swaps the painter and triggers a repaint.

Toolbox icon: 📝
Category: Beep Widgets → Forms
Default size: 360 × 280
Namespace: TheTechIdea.Beep.Winform.Controls.Widgets

Key Features

📝 Ten Form Styles

From compact inline to multi-step wizard — every form layout covered.

✅ Validation Display

ValidatedInput and ValidationPanel render per-field error messages.

🔢 FormStep

FormStep style integrates with BeepNavigationWidget WizardSteps for multi-step flows.

📋 FormSummary

Read-only summary style for review-before-submit screens.

🎨 Theme tokens

ValidColor, InvalidColor, and AccentColor default to active theme tokens.

⭐ Required Indicators

ShowRequired renders asterisks on required fields automatically.

Style Variants (10)

Style Value	Description
`FieldGroup`	Grouped set of related labelled input fields.
`ValidationPanel`	Form section with live validation state indicators.
`FormSection`	Titled section dividing a long form into logical parts.
`InputCard`	Single-input styled card — ideal for prominent single fields.
`FormStep`	One step in a multi-step form with step number and title.
`FieldSet`	Traditional HTML-style fieldset with legend.
`InlineForm`	Horizontal side-by-side label/input layout.
`CompactForm`	Space-efficient stacked layout for dense UIs.
`ValidatedInput`	Single input with inline validation message below.
`FormSummary`	Read-only summary of submitted form data.

Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
`Style`	FormWidgetStyle	FieldGroup	Selects the form layout painter.
`Title`	string	"Form Widget"	Section or card heading.
`Subtitle`	string	"Data Entry"	Secondary sub-heading.
`Description`	string	""	Helper text below the title.
`Fields`	List<FormField>	(empty)	Form fields. Each FormField has Label, Value, Type, IsRequired, IsValid, ErrorMessage.
`IsValid`	bool	true	Overall form validity state.
`ShowRequired`	bool	true	Show asterisks on required fields.
`ShowValidation`	bool	true	Show validation icons/messages.
`AccentColor`	Color	(theme primary)	Active/focused field border colour.
`ValidColor`	Color	(theme success)	Border/icon colour for valid fields.
`InvalidColor`	Color	(theme error)	Border/icon colour for invalid fields.

Inherits all BaseControl properties (Border, Padding, Theme colors, etc.).

Events

Event	Args Type	Description
`FieldClicked`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when a field area is clicked. Data contains FormField.
`SubmitClicked`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when a submit button (if rendered) is clicked.
`FieldChanged`	BeepEventDataArgs	Fired when a field value changes. Data contains FormField with new value.

Basic Usage

var form = new BeepFormWidget
{
    Style    = FormWidgetStyle.ValidationPanel,
    Title    = "User Registration",
    Fields   = new List
    {
        new FormField { Label = "First Name", Value = "", IsRequired = true  },
        new FormField { Label = "Last Name",  Value = "", IsRequired = true  },
        new FormField { Label = "Email",      Value = "", IsRequired = true,
                        IsValid = false, ErrorMessage = "Enter a valid email" },
        new FormField { Label = "Phone",      Value = "", IsRequired = false },
    },
    Size = new Size(380, 280)
};
this.Controls.Add(form);

Event Handling

form.FieldClicked += (s, e) =>
{
    var field = (FormField)e.Data;
    FocusNativeInput(field.Label);
};

form.SubmitClicked += (s, e) => ValidateAndSubmit();

Best Practices

Set Style before adding the widget to the form to avoid double repaints.
Adjust Size to fit your layout — defaults are minimum comfortable sizes.
Read BeepEventDataArgs.Data in event handlers for context-specific click data.
Call Invalidate() after updating data properties to trigger a repaint.
Let theme colors flow from BeepStyling.CurrentTheme — avoid overriding color properties unless customization is explicitly desired.