Lightning Action Examples

Here are some examples that use the base components to create a Quick Contact action panel.

Let’s say you want to create a Lightning action that enables users to create contacts on an account record. You can do this easily using lightning:recordViewForm and lightning:recordEditForm. If you require granular customization, use force:recordData.

The following examples can each be added as a Lightning action on the account object. Clicking the action’s button on the account layout opens a panel to create a contact.

Create a Lightning Action Using lightning:recordViewForm and lightning:recordEditForm

The Quick Contact action panel includes a header with the account name and a form that creates a contact for that account record. Display the account name using lightning:recordViewForm and display the contact form using lightning:recordEditForm.

Example of Lightning action using lightning:recordEditForm
formQuickContact.cmp
<aura:component implements="force:lightningQuickActionWithoutHeader,force:hasRecordId">
    
   <div class="slds-page-header" role="banner">
       <lightning:recordViewForm recordId="{!v.recordId}" 
                                 objectApiName="Account">
           
           <div class="slds-text-heading_label">
               <lightning:outputField fieldName="Name" variant="label-hidden"/>
           </div>
           <lightning:messages/>
       </lightning:recordViewForm>
       <h1 class="slds-page-header__title slds-m-right_small
                      slds-truncate slds-align-left">Create New Contact</h1>
    </div>
    <lightning:recordEditForm aura:id="myform"
                              objectApiName="Contact"
                              onsubmit="{!c.handleSubmit}"
                              onsuccess="{!c.handleSuccess}">
        <lightning:messages/>
        <lightning:inputField fieldName="FirstName"/>
        <lightning:inputField fieldName="LastName"/>
        <lightning:inputField fieldName="Title"/>
        <lightning:inputField fieldName="Phone"/>
        <lightning:inputField fieldName="Email"/>
        <div class="slds-m-top_medium">
            <lightning:button label="Cancel" onclick="{!c.handleCancel}" />
            <lightning:button type="submit" label="Save Contact" variant="brand"/>
        </div>
    </lightning:recordEditForm>
    
</aura:component>
formQuickContactController.js
({
    handleCancel: function(cmp, event, helper) {
        $A.get("e.force:closeQuickAction").fire();
    },
    
    handleSubmit: function(cmp, event, helper) {
        event.preventDefault();
        var fields = event.getParam('fields');
        fields.AccountId = cmp.get("v.recordId");
        cmp.find('myform').submit(fields);
    },
    
    handleSuccess: function(cmp, event, helper) {
        // Success! Prepare a toast UI message
        var resultsToast = $A.get("e.force:showToast");
        resultsToast.setParams({
            "title": "Contact Saved",
            "message": "The new contact was created."
        });
        
        // Update the UI: close panel, show toast, refresh account page
        $A.get("e.force:closeQuickAction").fire();
        resultsToast.fire();
        
        // Reload the view
        $A.get("e.force:refreshView").fire();    
    }
})

Using lightning:recordEditForm, you can nest thelightning:inputField components in <div> containers and add custom styling. You also need to provide your own cancel and submit buttons.

Consider the simpler lightning:recordForm component, which provides default Cancel and Save buttons. You can achieve the same result by replacing the lightning:recordEditForm component with the following.

<aura:attribute name="fields" type="String[]" default="['FirstName','LastName','Title','Phone','Email']" />
<lightning:recordForm objectApiName="Contact"
                      fields="{!v.fields}"
                      onsubmit="{!c.handleSubmit}"
                      onsuccess="{!c.handleSuccess}" />

Create a Lightning Action Using force:recordData

The Quick Contact action panel includes a header with the account name and a form that creates a contact for that account record. Display the account name and display the contact form using two separate instances of force:recordData.

Example of Lightning action using force:recordData

This force:recordData example is similar to the example provided in Configure Components for Record-Specific Actions. Compare the two examples to better understand the differences between using @AuraEnabled Apex controllers and using Lightning Data Service.

ldsQuickContact.cmp
<aura:component implements="force:lightningQuickActionWithoutHeader,force:hasRecordId">

    <aura:attribute name="account" type="Object"/>
    <aura:attribute name="simpleAccount" type="Object"/>
    <aura:attribute name="accountError" type="String"/>
    <force:recordData aura:id="accountRecordLoader"
        recordId="{!v.recordId}"
        fields="Name,BillingCity,BillingState"
        targetRecord="{!v.account}"
        targetFields="{!v.simpleAccount}"
        targetError="{!v.accountError}"
    />

    <aura:attribute name="newContact" type="Object" access="private"/>
    <aura:attribute name="simpleNewContact" type="Object" access="private"/>
    <aura:attribute name="newContactError" type="String" access="private"/>
    <force:recordData aura:id="contactRecordCreator"
        layoutType="FULL"
        targetRecord="{!v.newContact}"
        targetFields="{!v.simpleNewContact}"
        targetError="{!v.newContactError}"
        />

    <aura:handler name="init" value="{!this}" action="{!c.doInit}"/>

    <!-- Display a header with details about the account -->
    <div class="slds-page-header" role="banner">
        <p class="slds-text-heading_label">{!v.simpleAccount.Name}</p>
        <h1 class="slds-page-header__title slds-m-right_small
            slds-truncate slds-align-left">Create New Contact</h1>
    </div>

    <!-- Display Lightning Data Service errors, if any -->
    <aura:if isTrue="{!not(empty(v.accountError))}">
            {!v.accountError}
    </aura:if>
    <aura:if isTrue="{!not(empty(v.newContactError))}">
        {!v.newContactError}
    </aura:if>

    <!-- Display the new contact form -->
    <lightning:input aura:id="contactField" name="firstName" label="First Name"
                     value="{!v.simpleNewContact.FirstName}" required="true"/>
  
    <lightning:input aura:id="contactField" name="lastname" label="Last Name"
                     value="{!v.simpleNewContact.LastName}" required="true"/>
            
    <lightning:input aura:id="contactField" name="title" label="Title"
                     value="{!v.simpleNewContact.Title}" />
    
    <lightning:input aura:id="contactField" type="phone" name="phone" label="Phone Number"
                     pattern="^(1?(-?\d{3})-?)?(\d{3})(-?\d{4})$"
                     messageWhenPatternMismatch="The phone number must contain 7, 10, or 11 digits. Hyphens are optional."
                     value="{!v.simpleNewContact.Phone}" required="true"/>
    
    <lightning:input aura:id="contactField" type="email" name="email" label="Email"
                     value="{!v.simpleNewContact.Email}" />
        
    <lightning:button label="Cancel" onclick="{!c.handleCancel}" class="slds-m-top_medium" />
    <lightning:button label="Save Contact" onclick="{!c.handleSaveContact}"
                      variant="brand" class="slds-m-top_medium"/>
     
    
</aura:component>
ldsQuickContactController.js
({
    doInit: function(component, event, helper) {
        component.find("contactRecordCreator").getNewRecord(
            "Contact", // objectApiName
            null, // recordTypeId
            false, // skip cache?
            $A.getCallback(function() {
                var rec = component.get("v.newContact");
                var error = component.get("v.newContactError");
                if(error || (rec === null)) {
                    console.log("Error initializing record template: " + error);
                }
                else {
                    console.log("Record template initialized: " + rec.apiName);
                }
            })
        );
    },

    handleSaveContact: function(component, event, helper) {
        if(helper.validateContactForm(component)) {
            component.set("v.simpleNewContact.AccountId", component.get("v.recordId"));
            component.find("contactRecordCreator").saveRecord(function(saveResult) {
                if (saveResult.state === "SUCCESS" || saveResult.state === "DRAFT") {

                    // Success! Prepare a toast UI message
                    var resultsToast = $A.get("e.force:showToast");
                    resultsToast.setParams({
                        "title": "Contact Saved",
                        "message": "The new contact was created."
                    });

                    // Update the UI: close panel, show toast, refresh account page
                    $A.get("e.force:closeQuickAction").fire();
                    resultsToast.fire();

                    // Reload the view so components not using force:recordData
                    // are updated
                    $A.get("e.force:refreshView").fire();
                }
                else if (saveResult.state === "INCOMPLETE") {
                    console.log("User is offline, device doesn't support drafts.");
                }
                else if (saveResult.state === "ERROR") {
                    console.log('Problem saving contact, error: ' +
                                 JSON.stringify(saveResult.error));
                }
                else {
                    console.log('Unknown problem, state: ' + saveResult.state +
                                ', error: ' + JSON.stringify(saveResult.error));
                }
            });
        }
    },

    handleCancel: function(component, event, helper) {
        $A.get("e.force:closeQuickAction").fire();
    },
})

The callback passed to getNewRecord() must be wrapped in $A.getCallback() to ensure correct access context when the callback is invoked. If the callback is passed in without being wrapped in $A.getCallback(), any attempt to access private attributes of your component results in access check failures.

Even if you’re not accessing private attributes, it’s a best practice to always wrap the callback function for getNewRecord() in $A.getCallback(). Never mix (contexts), never worry.

Note

ldsQuickContactHelper.js
({
    validateContactForm: function(component) {
        var validContact = true;

         // Show error messages if required fields are blank
        var allValid = component.find('contactField').reduce(function (validFields, inputCmp) {
            inputCmp.showHelpMessageIfInvalid();
            return validFields && inputCmp.get('v.validity').valid;
        }, true);

        if (allValid) {
            // Verify we have an account to attach it to
            var account = component.get("v.account");
            if($A.util.isEmpty(account)) {
                validContact = false;
                console.log("Quick action context doesn't have a valid account.");
            }
            return(validContact);
        }  
    }
})

Usage Differences

Consider the following differences between the previous examples.

Field labels and values
lightning:recordViewForm and lightning:recordEditForm obtain labels and the requiredness properties from the object schema. In the first example, the Last Name field is a required field on the contact object. The component provides field-level validation.
With force:recordData, you must provide your own labels and requiredness property for each field. You can also provide your own field-level validation, as shown by the lightning:input component with the pattern and messageWhenPatternMismatch attributes.
Saving the record
lightning:recordEditForm saves the record automatically when you provide a lightning:button component with the submit type.
With force:recordData, you must call the saveRecord function.
Lightning Data Service errors
lightning:recordViewForm and lightning:recordEditForm display Lightning Data Service errors automatically using lightning:messages, and provide custom error handling via the onerror event handler.
With force:recordData, you must handle and display the errors on your own.