Field Label

The Field Label is the HTML that makes up a label for a single Field. This Field Label can be:

Specified manually
Created by a Field Generator based on the metadata of the model property being displayed and the Field Configuration specified when it's:
- Displayed as part of a Field
- Output directly from the Form

To use a Field Generator to output the HTML for a standalone Field Label you can use the <field-label /> tag, e.g.:

<field-label for="SomeField" />
<field-label for="SomeField" fluent-config='c => c.ChainFieldConfigurationMethodsHere()' />
<field-label for="SomeField" label="Label text..." />

To see the different configuration options check out field configuration.

To use a Field Generator to output the HTML for a standalone Field Label you can use the LabelFor extension method on the Form, e.g.:

@f.LabelFor(m => m.SomeField).ChainFieldConfigurationMethodsHere()

The LabelFor extension method looks like this:

        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a standalone label to be output in a form for a field.
        /// </summary>
        /// <example>
        /// @using (var f = Html.BeginChameleonForm()) {
        ///     @f.LabelFor(m => m.PositionTitle)
        /// }
        /// </example>
        /// <typeparam name="TModel">The view model type for the current view</typeparam>        
        /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the field being generated</typeparam>
        /// <param name="form">The form the label is being created in</param>
        /// <param name="property">A lamdba expression to identify the field to render the label for</param>
        /// <returns>The HTML for the label</returns>
        public static IFieldConfiguration LabelFor<TModel, T>(this IForm<TModel> form, Expression<Func<TModel, T>> property)
        {
            var config = new FieldConfiguration();
            config.SetField(() => form.GetFieldGenerator(property).GetLabelHtml(config));
            return config;
        }

Default HTML

The HTML for the Field Label will be determined depending on the metadata of the model property being specified and the options in the Field Configuration. The HTML of the Field Label will by default be:

<label for="%field-element-id%" (class="%labelClasses%")>%labelText%</label>

The %id% will be determined by using the built-in ASP.NET Core MVC methods for generating field ids, unless the .Id("overriddenId") method is called on the Field Configuration to override the id.

To add classes to the label then use the AddLabelClass method on the Field Configuration.

If the WithoutLabelElement() method is called on the Field Configuration then the HTML of the Field Label will be:

%labelText%

The %labelText% will be determined by using the following (in order of preference from most to least if specified (not-null)):

The text specified by calling the .Label(...) method on the Field Configuration (note: if you use this then any validation messages will use the resulting label from the other points in this list and not what you specify in the .Label(...) method, it will just impact the display of the label in this one place)
The DisplayName property in the ModelMetadata for the model property being displayed
The Name property in the ModelMetadata for the model property being displayed
The name of the model property being displayed (all lower-case except for the first character)

By default, ChameleonForms will set sensible defaults in the DisplayName property in ModelMetadata by humanizing the property name; consult the relevant documentation to find out more.