silverstripe-framework/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/03_Forms/How_Tos/02_Lightweight_Form.md

title: How to Create Lightweight Form

How to Create Lightweight Form

Out of the box, SilverStripe provides a robust and reusable set of HTML markup for FormField, however this can sometimes produce markup which is unnecessarily bloated.

For example, a basic search form. We want to use the Form API to handle the form but we may want to provide a totally custom template to meet our needs. To do this, we'll provide the class with a unique template through setTemplate.

mysite/code/Page.php

:::php
<?php

public function SearchForm() {
	$fields = new FieldList(
		TextField::create('q')
	);

	$actions = new FieldList(
		FormAction::create('doSearch', 'Search')
	);

	$form = new Form($this, 'SearchForm', $fields, $actions);
	$form->setTemplate('SearchForm');

	return $form;
}

mysite/templates/Includes/SearchForm.ss

:::ss
<form $FormAttributes>
	<fieldset>
		$Fields.dataFieldByName(q)
	</fieldset>
	
	<div class="Actions">
		<% loop $Actions %>$Field<% end_loop %>
	</div>
</form>

SearchForm.ss will be executed within the scope of the Form object so has access to any of the methods and properties on Form such as $Fields and $Actions.

To understand more about Scope or the syntax for custom templates, read the [Templates](../../templates) guide.