rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form

Add defaultFormStateBehavior initialRender type "populateRequiredDefaults"

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#4604 opened on May 6, 2025

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 (4 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)TypeScript (13,175 stars) (2,136 forks)batch import
featurehelp wanted

Description

Prerequisites

What theme are you using?

mui

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Integrating with Pydantic on the backend, I have many default variables set to allow my users quick form generation and form submission. My users also don't like the fact that they cannot delete the entire input box to put in there own value (it prevents them from doing this due to the nature of how defaults are populated).

I can manipulate this behavior by setting:

experimental_defaultFormStateBehavior={{
   emptyObjectFields: 'skipEmptyDefaults'
}}

To ease this.

However, on the frontend, there is no feature to allow for "initial default generation", such that when the prop formData is past in as {}, the defaults can populated for the form initially.

Describe the solution you'd like

With a feature flag such as:

experimental_defaultFormStateBehavior={{
   initialRender: 'populateRequiredDefaults'
}}

The form would be prepopulated (even with a blank object such as {}). In combination with emptyObjectFields: 'skipEmptyDefaults', a user could have the defaults shown to them, while also being able to delete it if they want too.

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Contributor guide

Tech stack
reacttypescript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
ReactTypeScriptJSON Schemareact jsonschema form internals
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40
Research direction
The issue requests a new 'initialRender' behavior option for the experimental defaultFormStateBehavior prop. To implement, examine the current implementation of defaultFormStateBehavior, particularly how 'emptyObjectFields: skipEmptyDefaults' is handled. Look at the form state initialization logic in the source code (likely in utils or components). Check existing tests for similar feature flags to understand the testing patterns. Review linked documentation to ensure the new option aligns with existing API design.