Decoupling Phoenix Forms from Ecto Changesets

The content explains that Phoenix forms are commonly backed with an Ecto `changeset`, which is tightly coupled with database persistence logic. However, to separate the form (UI layer) from the changeset (data persistence layer), the author suggests using Phoenix's `to_form/2` helper and protocol. This allows developers to use a simple map instead of a changeset to back their forms, providing more control and separation between the UI and data layers. Additionally, handling errors can still be done effectively with this method by passing a map of errors to the `to_form/2` helper, thereby maintaining the same level of integration as with changesets. This approach also simplifies how data and errors are passed to and from the UI.