A text input field allows users to enter and edit text or numeric values in one line. To help users enter a valid value, you can enable the autocomplete suggestion feature and the value help option.

Usage

Use the input field if:

• The user needs to enter a short, single-line text or number.
• The user needs to enter a password, URL, phone number, or email address.
• The user needs to select a single item from a large amount of data (for example, more than 200 items).
• The user needs to find an object by searching for more than one attribute, such as an ID, city, and customer name. Use this control in combination with the autocomplete suggestion feature and value help option. For a small set of values (for example, fewer than 20 items), consider using the select control. Otherwise, use the combo box (for 20-200 items).

Do not use the input field if:

• The user needs to enter dates and times. In this case, use the date picker, date range selection, or date/time picker.
• The user needs to enter long texts. In this case, use the text area.
• The user needs to carry out a search. In this case, use the search field.
• The user needs to select multiple values. In this case, use the multi-combo box (for fewer than 200 items) or the multi-input field (for more than 200 items).

Responsiveness

In the examples below, the input field is shown in combination with the tabular autocomplete feature for different device sizes.

Note that when tabular suggestions are used, the column headers stay sticky when scrolling within the suggestion list.

Types

Six input types are currently supported (API). Be sure to select the correct type for your use case. Depending on the input type, a different keyboard layout is displayed on a mobile device (see some sample input types).

Note: The control does not provide validation based on the type. The app development team must implement format validation. If binding is used, validation is carried out by the model, but error handling must still be implemented on the UI side.

Text (default)

Number

Email

URL

Telephone Number

Password

Behavior and Interaction

Entering Text Using the Autocomplete Feature

Have a look at the interaction flow below:

Entering Text Using the Value Help Dialog

Have a look at the interaction flow below:

Styles

An input field can have the following styles. For more information, see UI Element States.

The values can also be pasted into the input field by copying and pasting, or dragging and dropping, if the user prefers. In this case, the values are automatically transformed into conditional expressions. For example: Copying values “1234” and “5678” leads to the token generation “=1234” and “=5678”. Additionally, these values are shown in the conditions tab of the value help dialog.

Input Assistance

Intelligent systems can help users by recommending appropriate content or suggesting an action or input the user may “prefer”. The system assists the user by entering data or filtering data. Typical examples might be a search phrase suggestion, an appropriate form template, or a set of suggested default values for certain fields, based on the user input and interaction history.

For more information, see Designing Intelligent Systems – Input Assistance.

Autocomplete Suggestions

The input control offers three different types of autocomplete suggestions: single, two-value, and tabular. By default, the width of the suggestion box is the same as the width of the input field. You can change it with the maxSuggestionWidth property.
Note: The maximum width of the suggestion box is always slightly smaller than the width of the screen or browser window (with 1 rem of free space on the left and right sides), regardless of the value you provide for maxSuggestionWidth.

The position of the suggestion box depends on the space available below the control. If there is not enough space, the suggestion box is shown above the control.

As the user types, the first suggestion item that matches the characters entered is autocompleted in the input field. The typed characters are matched against the beginning of the suggestion items, based on the “starts with” filter. As a visual hint for the user, the matched characters are highlighted (bold) in the option list items. The highlighting works on the basis of “starts with per term”, regardless of the filtering method. The user can accept the autocompleted value by pressing ENTER. 

The autocomplete property is set by default if suggestions are available, but can also be switched off.

Grouping

You can group the items in a suggestion list by a specific attribute and separate each group visually with a group header. This feature is also available for tabular suggestion lists.

The group headers are not interactive.

Clear

Accessibility

• The property ariaDescribedBy links the input field to other controls to provide additional information for assistive technologies, such as screen readers. If you use this property, we recommend linking either to on-screen controls that provide additional context or to an invisible text.

Guidelines

Always provide a meaningful label for any input field, and use the least complex control (such as select instead of value help). Use more intricate controls only if the use case really requires it. Where appropriate, help users by providing mask input or placeholder texts.

Maximum Columns

For input fields in a tabular view, we recommend using a maximum of 4 columns.

Maximum Length

Limit the length of the input field. For example, if you don’t want users to enter more than 5 characters, set the maximum length to 5. The maximum permissible character length is not defined by default. If the back-end system has a limit, ensure that you set this property accordingly.

Note that this parameter is not compatible with the input type sap.m.InputType.Number. If the input type is set to Number, the value of the maxLength property is ignored.

Placeholder

Avoid using the placeholder attribute as an alternative to a label. This is important because the placeholder text is overwritten as soon as the form is filled out. Labels are necessary to indicate the meaning of the form fields when the placeholders are no longer visible.

Description

The description field should be used, for example, for displaying units or currency. Do not use a description for help text or as a label replacement. Note that the description is not placed in a new line in size S. Therefore, only use the description property for small input fields with a short description.

Width

• Avoid setting a fixed width, but rather embed it in a proper layout (such as a form, simple form, or grid layout) and use the layout data property to define the responsive behavior for sizes S, M, and L:
  • Simple form – See a live example of a simple form.
  • Form – See a live example of a form.
  • Grid layout – See a live example of a grid layout.
• Ensure an appropriate width for the range of values to be entered for the sizes S, M, and L. Keep in mind that word length can vary between languages, so take localization into account.

Editable and Enabled States

Editable

Property settings: editable = true, enabled = true

The input control is enabled and editable by default. Set the control to editable to allow the user to enter a value.

Not Editable

Property settings: editable = false, enabled = true

Use this state, for example, to display data only.

Disabled

Property settings: editable = not relevant, enabled = false

Set the control to disabled in an edit scenario to indicate that the user cannot change the control, for example, due to missing access rights or previous conditions not having been fulfilled or selected.

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.