Angular reactive form hidden input not binding?

Question

I have a reactive form where I create the controls from my data model. Initially, everything is sorted by a datapoint called the "processingOrder" in numerical order.

Within my form array, I am using *ngFor to iterate over controls and store the index in a hidden form control. If I move a record up or down in my table, the index thats being applied to the hidden field should reflect the change in my model right?

<form [formGroup]="rulesForm" (ngSubmit)="onSubmit(form)">
<div formGroupName="ruleData">
   <div formArrayName="rules">
      <div *ngFor="let child of rulesForm.controls.ruleData.controls.rules.controls; let i = index">
         <div formGroupName="{{i}}">
            <input type="text" placeholder="Rule Name" formControlName="name"/> &nbsp; 
            <input type="text" placeholder="Rule Description" formControlName="description"/> &nbsp;
            <input type="text" placeholder="Processing Order" formControlName="processingOrder"/> &nbsp;
            <button class="button" (click)="move(-1, i)">Move Up</button> &nbsp; 
            <button class="button" (click)="move(1, i)">Move Down</button>


            <!-- Why doesn't this update my model when it gets a new index? -->
            <input type="hidden" formControlName="processingOrder" [value]="i">


         </div>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

I would have expected that in my plunker, the processing order numbers should always remain in the 1-5 order and each time a rule is moved up or down, the model is updated to the new index it received.

https://plnkr.co/edit/ZCgHPEaUM00aLxM6Sf9t?p=preview

Answer 1

formControlName directive has ngModel input which is bound to control's model and when changed from the code will update all its instances on view. So, just replace [value]="i" with [ngModel]="i + 1":

<input type="hidden" formControlName="processingOrder" [ngModel]="i + 1">

binding to HTML input's property value ([value]="i + 1") will update current input on the view but won't update control's model, thus won't affect another instances with the same control name.

You also can remove hidden input and place [value]="i + 1" on the text input:

<input type="text" 
       placeholder="Processing Order" 
       [ngModel]="i + 1"
       formControlName="processingOrder"/>

please note that processingOrder value will always be overridden by ngFor's index i

2021 UPDATE :) be aware of ngModel (with reactive form directives) deprecation since NG6:

Support for using the ngModel input property and ngModelChange event with reactive form directives has been deprecated in Angular v6 and is scheduled for removal in a future version of Angular.