Conditional Fields Empty when Hidden

[lucmerceron]

What version of Unfold are you using?

main

What version of Django are you using?

5.2.2

What browser are you using?

All

Did you checked changelog/commit history, if the bug is not already fixed?

No

Did you searched other issues, if the bug is not already fixed?

Yes

Did you checked documentation?

Yes

Are you able to replicate the bug in the demo site?

Yes

Repository with reproduced bug

N/A

Describe your issue

Steps to reproduce:

1. Go on live demo on this page: https://demo.unfoldadmin.com/en/admin/formula/driver/56/change/
2. Status: Active
3. Fill the Conditional field active with "Fake active data"
4. Change status to Inactive
5. Fill the Conditional field inactive with "Fake inactive data"
6. Submit

Current behavior:

The Conditional field active is also sent with the payload

...
------geckoformboundary5bdd477ff4cc9b7773a4f4a54b98733c
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="status"

ACTIVE
------geckoformboundary5bdd477ff4cc9b7773a4f4a54b98733c
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="conditional_field_active"

Fake active data
------geckoformboundary5bdd477ff4cc9b7773a4f4a54b98733c
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="conditional_field_inactive"

Fake inactive data
...

Expected behavior:

We would expect Unfold to clear / empty (default?) the hidden fields before submitting

...
------geckoformboundary5bdd477ff4cc9b7773a4f4a54b98733c
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="status"

ACTIVE
------geckoformboundary5bdd477ff4cc9b7773a4f4a54b98733c
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="conditional_field_inactive"

Fake inactive data
...

[lukasvinclav]

Hey, thanks for feedback. At the moment, conditional fields are only responsible for displaying/hiding form inputs via CSS(x-show in alpinejs) and there is no other business logic related to form processing on the backend. If you need some additional form handling then I suggest overriding the model form (form = SomeForm) and changing form fields accordingly.

[lucmerceron]

Hello @lukasvinclav,
Thanks for your response!

Conditional fields are often used to represent specific constraints enforced by the API such as mutually exclusive combinations of fields. Ideally, these constraints would raise validation errors if violated.

That said, I believe it shouldn’t be the backend’s responsibility to interpret the payload and discard or override values for fields that shouldn't be present. Instead, the client should be explicit and intentional about what it sends in the payload.

If you agree, I would be pleased to do a PR in that direction.