Preset a few fields in lightning:recordForm component

Question

Is it possible to preset a few fields in lightning:recordForm component?

For example, I have an object which has a master-detail field. And now I would like to have my lightning:recordForm being opened with already set value in the master-detail field on that object.

I covered the documentation over here and nothing is said about it. So, may I conclude that it is impossible? Or are there any workarounds?

Answer 1

There are couple of ways to create records with pre-defined values in lightning.

1. Use a lightning quick action (Create Record action type)
   Main drawback : Doesn't support complex logic or un-related objects to set defaults. For more info about quick actions and pre-defined values

2. Using force:recordCreate event
   Main drawback: After saving the record, user is redirected to the record detail page.

3. Use force:recordData (LDS)
   Main drawback: Fields in the form has to be updated if object's fields are changed. Also each field type has to be handled differently (eg. Dates, Text, Numbers etc.)

4. Use lightning:recordEditForm
   Main drawback: Currently because of this issue, child records in a master-detail relationship (Unless "Allow reparenting" checkbox on the master-detail relationship is checked) cannot be populated.

If the design allows you to set the "Allow reparenting" to true (Consider these before making a decision), You should be able to do something like below.

<aura:attribute name="fields" type="LIST" description="List of input field api names to be rendered on the form"/>
    <lightning:recordEditForm
                onsuccess="{!c.handleSuccess}"
                objectApiName="Account">

                <lightning:messages />

                <aura:iteration items="{v.fields}" var="field">
                    <lightning:inputField fieldName="{field}" />
                </aura:iteration>
                    <div class="slds-m-top_medium">
                        <lightning:button disabled="{!v.disabled}" variant="brand" type="submit" name="save" label="Save" />
                </div>
    </lightning:recordEditForm>

In the js controller, during initialisation, you need to set list of api names for all the fields you need to display on the form. This can be done in few ways.

• Hard code it and update it when you want to change manually.
• Write some apex to get all editable fields from a given page layout.
• Store Field api names in a custom meta-data/custom setting

Given that you want to stay on the same page and you have implemented your component as a lightning quick action, you can close the quick action on handleSuccess method if you want to stay on the same page.