Building a Multi-Step Form with React.js and Tailwind CSS

Multi-step forms are a common feature in web applications, especially in cases where there is a need to gather information from users across multiple steps. In this article, we will walk through the process of building a multi-step form using React.js and Tailwind CSS, and we will use Vite.js for our project setup.

Setting up our project

First, let’s set up our project using Vite.js. We can use the following commands to create a new React app with Vite:

“`bash
npm init @vitejs/app my-multi-step-form –template react
cd my-multi-step-form
npm install
“`

This will create a new project called `my-multi-step-form` and install the necessary dependencies. We can then start our development server using `npm run dev`.

Creating our form component

Our multi-step form will consist of multiple steps, each containing a set of input fields. We will create a new React component for each step, and use state to keep track of the current step and the input field values.

“`javascript
// StepOne.js
import React from ‘react’;

const StepOne = ({ values, handleChange, nextStep }) => {
return (

);
}

export default StepOne;
“`

We will create similar components for each step of our form, and use the `handleChange` and `nextStep` functions to update the state and progress to the next step, respectively.

Rendering our form

In our main App component, we will render the form and use state to keep track of the current step and the input field values.

“`javascript
// App.js
import React, { useState } from ‘react’;
import StepOne from ‘./StepOne’;

const App = () => {
const [step, setStep] = useState(1);
const [formValues, setFormValues] = useState({
firstName: ”,
lastName: ”,
// … additional input fields for each step
});

const nextStep = () => {
setStep(step + 1);
};

const handleChange = (e) => {
setFormValues({ …formValues, [e.target.name]: e.target.value });
};

return (

);
}

export default App;
“`

Using this approach, we can easily add as many steps as needed for our multi-step form. As the user progresses through the form, the state will be updated accordingly and the form will render the appropriate step based on the current state.

Styling our form with Tailwind CSS

Finally, we can use Tailwind CSS to style our form and make it visually appealing. We can include the Tailwind CSS styles in our project using a link tag in the `` of our `index.html` file, or we can use a build tool like `vite-plugin-windicss` to process the styles at build time.

With Tailwind CSS, we can easily create a clean and modern-looking form with minimal effort, using utility classes to apply styles directly in our HTML components.

Conclusion

In this article, we have walked through the process of building a multi-step form using React.js and Tailwind CSS, with project setup using Vite.js. By following this approach, we can create a flexible and customizable multi-step form that can be used in a variety of web applications.