Primitives to build simple, flexible, WAI-ARIA compliant React autocomplete/dropdown/select/combobox components
See the intro blog post and Episode 79 of the Full Stack Radio podcast
You need an autocomplete/dropdown/select experience in your application and you want it to be accessible. You also want it to be simple and flexible to account for your use cases.
This is a component that controls user interactions and state for you so you can create autocomplete/dropdown/select/etc. components. It uses a render prop which gives you maximum flexibility with a minimal API because you are responsible for the rendering of everything and you simply apply props to what you're rendering.
This differs from other solutions which render things for their use case and then expose many options to allow for extensibility resulting in a bigger API that is less flexible as well as making the implementation more complicated and harder to contribute to.
NOTE: The original use case of this component is autocomplete, however the API is powerful and flexible enough to build things like dropdowns as well.
- Installation
- Usage
- Props
- stateChangeTypes
- Control Props
- Render Prop Function
- Event Handlers
- Utilities
- Examples
- FAQ
- Upcoming Breaking Changes
- Inspiration
- Other Solutions
- Bindings for ReasonML
- Contributors
- LICENSE
This module is distributed via npm which is bundled with node and
should be installed as one of your project's dependencies
:
npm install --save downshift
This package also depends on
react
andprop-types
. Please make sure you have those installed as well.
Note also this library supports
preact
out of the box. If you are usingpreact
then use the corresponding module in thepreact/dist
folder. You can evenimport Downshift from 'downshift/preact'
👍
import Downshift from 'downshift'
function BasicAutocomplete({items, onChange}) {
return (
<Downshift
onChange={onChange}
render={({
getInputProps,
getItemProps,
isOpen,
inputValue,
selectedItem,
highlightedIndex,
}) => (
<div>
<input {...getInputProps({placeholder: 'Favorite fruit ?'})} />
{isOpen ? (
<div style={{border: '1px solid #ccc'}}>
{items
.filter(
i =>
!inputValue ||
i.toLowerCase().includes(inputValue.toLowerCase()),
)
.map((item, index) => (
<div
{...getItemProps({item})}
key={item}
style={{
backgroundColor:
highlightedIndex === index ? 'gray' : 'white',
fontWeight: selectedItem === item ? 'bold' : 'normal',
}}
>
{item}
</div>
))}
</div>
) : null}
</div>
)}
/>
)
}
function App() {
return (
<BasicAutocomplete
items={['apple', 'orange', 'carrot']}
onChange={selectedItem => console.log(selectedItem)}
/>
)
}
downshift
is the only component. It doesn't render anything itself, it just
calls the render function and renders that. "Use a render
prop!"! <Downshift render={/* your JSX here! */} />
.
any
| defaults tonull
Pass an item or an array of items that should be selected by default.
number
/null
| defaults tonull
This is the initial index to highlight when the menu first opens.
string
| defaults to''
This is the initial input value.
boolean
| defaults tofalse
This is the initial isOpen
value.
function(item: any)
| defaults to:i => (i == null ? '' : String(i))
Used to determine the string value for the selected item (which is used to
compute the inputValue
).
function(prevItem: any, item: any)
| defaults to:(prevItem, item) => (prevItem !== item)
Used to determine if the new selectedItem
has changed compared to the previous
selectedItem
and properly update Downshift's internal state.
function({/* see below */})
| default messages provided in English
This function is passed as props to a Status
component nested within and
allows you to create your own assertive ARIA statuses.
A default getA11yStatusMessage
function is provided that will check
resultCount
and return "No results." or if there are results but no item is
highlighted, "resultCount
results are available, use up and down arrow keys to
navigate." If an item is highlighted it will run itemToString(highlightedItem)
and display the value of the highlightedItem
.
The object you are passed to generate your status message has the following properties:
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
highlightedIndex |
number /null |
The currently highlighted index |
highlightedItem |
any |
The value of the highlighted item |
inputValue |
string |
The current input value |
isOpen |
boolean |
The isOpen state |
itemToString |
function(any) |
The itemToString function (see props) for getting the string value from one of the options |
previousResultCount |
number |
The total items showing in the dropdown the last time the status was updated |
resultCount |
number |
The total items showing in the dropdown |
selectedItem |
any |
The value of the currently selected item |
function(selectedItem: any, stateAndHelpers: object)
| optional, no useful default
Called when the user selects an item and the selected item has changed. Called
with the item that was selected and the new state of downshift
. (see
onStateChange
for more info on stateAndHelpers
).
selectedItem
: The item that was just selectedstateAndHelpers
: This is the same thing yourrender
prop function is called with (see Render Prop Function)
function(selectedItem: any, stateAndHelpers: object)
| optional, no useful default
Called when the user selects an item, regardless of the previous selected item.
Called with the item that was selected and the new state of downshift
. (see
onStateChange
for more info on stateAndHelpers
).
selectedItem
: The item that was just selectedstateAndHelpers
: This is the same thing yourrender
prop function is called with (see Render Prop Function)
function(changes: object, stateAndHelpers: object)
| optional, no useful default
This function is called anytime the internal state changes. This can be useful
if you're using downshift as a "controlled" component, where you manage some or
all of the state (e.g. isOpen, selectedItem, highlightedIndex, etc) and then
pass it as props, rather than letting downshift control all its state itself.
The parameters both take the shape of internal state ({highlightedIndex: number, inputValue: string, isOpen: boolean, selectedItem: any}
) but differ
slightly.
changes
: These are the properties that actually have changed since the last state change. This also has atype
property which you can learn more about in thestateChangeTypes
section.stateAndHelpers
: This is the exact same thing yourrender
prop function is called with (see Render Prop Function)
Tip: This function will be called any time any state is changed. The best way to determine whether any particular state was changed, you can use
changes.hasOwnProperty('propName')
.
function(state: object, changes: object)
| optional
🚨 This is a really handy power feature 🚨
This function will be called each time downshift
sets its internal state
(or calls your onStateChange
handler for control props). It allows you to
modify the state change that will take place which can give you fine grain
control over how the component interacts with user updates without having to
use Control Props. It gives you the current state and the
state that will be set, and you return the state that you want to set.
state
: The full current state of downshift.changes
: These are the properties that are about to change. This also has atype
property which you can learn more about in thestateChangeTypes
section.
const ui = (
<Downshift stateReducer={stateReducer}>{/* your callback */}</Downshift>
)
function stateReducer(state, changes) {
// this prevents the menu from being closed when the user
// selects an item with a keyboard or mouse
switch (changes.type) {
case Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownEnter:
case Downshift.stateChangeTypes.clickItem:
return {
...changes,
isOpen: state.isOpen,
highlightedIndex: state.highlightedIndex,
}
default:
return changes
}
}
function(inputValue: string, stateAndHelpers: object)
| optional, no useful default
Called whenever the input value changes. Useful to use instead or in combination
of onStateChange
when inputValue
is a controlled prop to
avoid issues with cursor positions.
inputValue
: The current value of the inputstateAndHelpers
: This is the same thing yourrender
prop function is called with (see Render Prop Function)
number
| optional, defaults the number of times you call getItemProps
This is useful if you're using some kind of virtual listing component for
"windowing" (like
react-virtualized
).
number
| control prop (read more about this in the "Control Props" section below)
The index that should be highlighted
string
| control prop (read more about this in the "Control Props" section below)
The value the input should have
boolean
| control prop (read more about this in the "Control Props" section below)
Whether the menu should be considered open or closed. Some aspects of the
downshift component respond differently based on this value (for example, if
isOpen
is true when the user hits "Enter" on the input field, then the item at
the highlightedIndex
item is selected).
any
/Array(any)
| control prop (read more about this in the "Control Props" section below)
The currently selected item.
function({})
| required
This is called with an object. Read more about the properties of this object in the section "Render Prop Function".
string
| defaults to a generated ID
You should not normally need to set this prop. It's only useful if you're server
rendering items (which each have an id
prop generated based on the downshift
id
). For more information see the FAQ
below.
window
| defaults towindow
You should not normally need to set this prop. It's only useful if you're
rendering into a different window
context from where your JavaScript is
running, for example an iframe.
function
| optional
A helper callback to help control internal state of downshift like isOpen
as
mentioned in this issue. The
same behavior can be achieved using onStateChange
, but this prop is provided
as a helper because it's a fairly common use-case if you're controlling the
isOpen
state:
const ui = (
<Downshift
isOpen={this.state.menuIsOpen}
onOuterClick={() => this.setState({menuIsOpen: false})}
>
{/* your callback */}
</Downshift>
)
This callback will only be called if isOpen
is true
.
There are a few props that expose changes to state
(onStateChange
and stateReducer
).
For you to make the most of these APIs, it's important for you to understand
why state is being changed. To accomplish this, there's a type
property on the
changes
object you get. This type
corresponds to a
Downshift.stateChangeTypes
property. If you want to see what change types
are available, run this in your app:
console.log(Object.keys(Downshift.stateChangeTypes))
downshift manages its own state internally and calls your onChange
and
onStateChange
handlers with any relevant changes. The state that downshift
manages includes: isOpen
, selectedItem
, inputValue
, and
highlightedIndex
. Your render prop function (read more below) can be used to
manipulate this state from within the render function and can likely support
many of your use cases.
However, if more control is needed, you can pass any of these pieces of state as
a prop (as indicated above) and that state becomes controlled. As soon as
this.props[statePropKey] !== undefined
, internally, downshift
will determine
its state based on your prop's value rather than its own internal state. You
will be required to keep the state up to date (this is where onStateChange
comes in really handy), but you can also control the state from anywhere, be
that state from other components, redux
, react-router
, or anywhere else.
Note: This is very similar to how normal controlled components work elsewhere in react (like
<input />
). If you want to learn more about this concept, you can learn about that from this the "Controlled Components" lecture and exercises from React Training's Advanced React course.
This is where you render whatever you want to based on the state of downshift
.
It's a regular prop called render
: <Downshift render={/* right here*/} />
.
You can also pass it as the children prop if you prefer to do things that way
<Downshift>{/* right here*/}</Downshift>
The properties of this object can be split into three categories as indicated below:
These functions are used to apply props to the elements that you render. This
gives you maximum flexibility to render what, when, and wherever you like. You
call these on the element in question (for example: <input {...getInputProps()}
)). It's advisable to pass all your props to that function
rather than applying them on the element yourself to avoid your props being
overridden (or overriding the props returned). For example:
getInputProps({onKeyUp(event) {console.log(event)}})
.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
getButtonProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to any menu toggle button element you render. |
getInputProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to the input element that you render. |
getItemProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to any menu item elements you render. |
getLabelProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to the label element that you render. |
getRootProps |
function({},{}) |
returns the props you should apply to the root element that you render. It can be optional. |
Most of the time, you can just render a div
yourself and Downshift
will
apply the props it needs to do its job (and you don't need to call this
function). However, if you're rendering a composite component (custom component)
as the root element, then you'll need to call getRootProps
and apply that to
your root element.
Required properties:
refKey
: if you're rendering a composite component, that component will need to accept a prop which it forwards to the root DOM element. Commonly, folks call thisinnerRef
. So you'd call:getRootProps({refKey: 'innerRef'})
and your composite component would forward like:<div ref={props.innerRef} />
If you're rendering a composite component, Downshift
checks that
getRootProps
is called and that refKey
is a prop of the returned composite
component. This is done to catch common causes of errors but, in some cases, the
check could fail even if the ref is correctly forwarded to the root DOM
component. In these cases, you can provide the object {suppressRefError : true}
as the second argument to getRootProps
to completely bypass the check.
Please use it with extreme care and only if you are absolutely sure that the ref
is correctly forwarded otherwise Downshift
will unexpectedly fail.
See #235 for the discussion that lead to this.
This method should be applied to the input
you render. It is recommended that
you pass all props as an object to this method which will compose together any
of the event handlers you need to apply to the input
while preserving the ones
that downshift
needs to apply to make the input
behave.
There are no required properties for this method.
Optional properties:
disabled
: If this is set to true, then no event handlers will be returned fromgetInputProps
and adisabled
prop will be returned (effectively disabling the input).
This method should be applied to the label
you render. It is useful for
ensuring that the for
attribute on the <label>
(htmlFor
as a react prop)
is the same as the id
that appears on the input
. If no htmlFor
is provided
then an ID will be generated and used for the input
and the label
for
attribute.
There are no required properties for this method.
Note: You can definitely get by without using this (just provide an
id
to your input and the samehtmlFor
to yourlabel
and you'll be good with accessibility). However, we include this so you don't forget and it makes things a little nicer for you. You're welcome 😀
The props returned from calling this function should be applied to any menu items you render.
This is an impure function, so it should only be called when you will actually be applying the props to an item.
What do you mean by impure function?
Basically just don't do this:
items.map(item => {
const props = getItemProps({item}) // we're calling it here
if (!shouldRenderItem(item)) {
return null // but we're not using props, and downshift thinks we are...
}
return <div {...props} />
})
Instead, you could do this:
items.filter(shouldRenderItem).map(item => <div {...getItemProps({item})} />)
Required properties:
item
: this is the item data that will be selected when the user selects a particular item.
Optional properties:
index
: This is howdownshift
keeps track of your item when updating thehighlightedIndex
as the user keys around. By default,downshift
will assume theindex
is the order in which you're callinggetItemProps
. This is often good enough, but if you find odd behavior, try setting this explicitly. It's probably best to be explicit aboutindex
when using a windowing library likereact-virtualized
.disabled
: If this is set totrue
, then all of the downshift item event handlers will be omitted. Items will not be highlighted when hovered, and items will not be selected when clicked.
Call this and apply the returned props to a button
. It allows you to toggle
the Menu
component. You can definitely build something like this yourself (all
of the available APIs are exposed to you), but this is nice because it will also
apply all of the proper ARIA attributes.
Optional properties:
disabled
: If this is set totrue
, then all of the downshift button event handlers will be omitted (it wont toggle the menu when clicked).aria-label
: Thearia-label
prop is in English. You should probably override this yourself so you can provide translations:
const myButton = (
<button
{...getButtonProps({
'aria-label': translateWithId(isOpen ? 'close.menu' : 'open.menu'),
})}
/>
)
These are functions you can call to change the state of the downshift component.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
clearSelection |
function(cb: Function) |
clears the selection |
clearItems |
function() |
Clears downshift's record of all the items. Only really useful if you render your items asynchronously within downshift. See #186 |
closeMenu |
function(cb: Function) |
closes the menu |
openMenu |
function(cb: Function) |
opens the menu |
selectHighlightedItem |
function(otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
selects the item that is currently highlighted |
selectItem |
function(item: any, otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
selects the given item |
selectItemAtIndex |
function(index: number, otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
selects the item at the given index |
setHighlightedIndex |
function(index: number, otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
call to set a new highlighted index |
toggleMenu |
function(otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
toggle the menu open state |
reset |
function(otherStateToSet: object, cb: Function) |
this resets downshift's state to a reasonable default |
setItemCount |
function(count: number) |
this sets the itemCount . Handy in situations where you're using windowing and the items are loaded asynchronously from within downshift (so you can't use the itemCount prop. |
unsetItemCount |
function() |
this unsets the itemCount which means the item count will be calculated instead by the itemCount prop or based on how many times you call getItemProps . |
otherStateToSet
refers to an object to set other internal state. It is recommended to avoid abusing this, but is available if you need it.
These are values that represent the current state of the downshift component.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
highlightedIndex |
number / null |
the currently highlighted item |
inputValue |
string / null |
the current value of the getInputProps input |
isOpen |
boolean |
the menu open state |
selectedItem |
any |
the currently selected item input |
As a convenience, the id
and itemToString
props which you pass to
<Downshift />
are available here as well.
You can provide your own event handlers to Downshift which will be called before the default handlers:
const ui = (
<Downshift>
{({getInputProps}) => (
<input
{...getInputProps({
onKeyDown: event => {
// your handler code
},
})}
/>
)}
</Downshift>
)
If you would like to prevent the default handler behavior in some cases, you can set the event's preventDownshiftDefault
property to true
:
const ui = (
<Downshift>
{({getInputProps}) => (
<input
{...getInputProps({
onKeyDown: event => {
if (event.key === 'Enter') {
// Prevent Downshift's default 'Enter' behavior.
event.preventDownshiftDefault = true
// your handler code
}
},
})}
/>
)}
</Downshift>
)
If you would like to completely override Downshift's behavior for a handler, in favor of your own, you can bypass prop getters:
const ui = (
<Downshift>
{({getInputProps}) => (
<input
{...getInputProps()}
onKeyDown={event => {
// your handler code
}}
/>
)}
</Downshift>
)
Allows reseting the internal id counter which is used to generate unique ids for Downshift component.
You should never need to use this in the browser. Only if you are running an universal React app that is rendered on the server you should call resetIdCounter before every render so that the ids that get generated on the server match the ids generated in the browser.
import Downshift from 'downshift';
Downshift.resetIdCounter();
ReactDOMServer.renderToString(...);
Examples exist on codesandbox.io:
- Bare bones autocomplete
- Multiple selection (uses controlled
selectedItem
API). - Type Ahead Example (uses controlled
selectedItem
API). - Integration with Apollo
- Integration with Redux
- Integration with
react-instantsearch
from Algolia - Material UI (1.0.0-beta.4) Combobox Using Downshift
- Integration with
GenieJS
(learn more aboutgenie
here) - Handling and displaying errors
- Integration with React Router
- Windowing with
react-tiny-virtual-list
- Section/option group example
- Integration with
fuzzaldrin-plus
(Fuzzy matching) - Dropdown/select implementation with Bootstrap
- Multiple editable tag selection
- Downshift implemented as compound components and a Higher Order Component
(exposes a
withDownshift
higher order component which you can use to get at the state, actions, prop getters in a rendered downshift tree). - Downshift Spectre.css example
- Integration with
redux-form
- Integration with
react-final-form
- Provider Pattern - how to avoid prop-drilling if you like to break up your render method into more components
If you would like to add an example, follow these steps:
- Fork this codesandbox
- Make sure your version (under dependencies) is the latest available version.
- Update the title and description
- Update the code for your example (add some form of documentation to explain what it is)
- Add the tag:
downshift:example
You'll find other examples in the stories/examples
folder of the repo. And
you'll find
a live version of those examples here
How do I avoid the checksum error when server rendering (SSR)?
The checksum error you're seeing is most likely due to the automatically
generated id
and/or htmlFor
prop you get from getInputProps
and
getLabelProps
(respectively). It could also be from the automatically
generated id
prop you get from getItemProps
(though this is not likely as
you're probably not rendering any items when rendering a downshift component on
the server).
To avoid these problems, simply call resetIdCounter before ReactDOM.renderToString
.
Alternatively you could provide your own id
prop in getInputProps
and getLabelProps
. Also, you can use the id
prop on the component
Downshift
. For example:
const ui = (
<Downshift
id="autocomplete"
render={({getInputProps, getLabelProps}) => (
<div>
<label {...getLabelProps({htmlFor: 'autocomplete-input'})}>
Some Label
</label>
<input {...getInputProps({id: 'autocomplete-input'})} />
</div>
)}
/>
)
We try to avoid breaking changes when possible and try to adhere to semver. Sometimes breaking changes are necessary and we'll make the transition as smooth as possible. This is why there's a prop available which will allow you to opt into breaking changes. It looks like this:
const ui = (
<Downshift
breakingChanges={
{
/* breaking change flags here */
}
}
render={() => <div />}
/>
)
To opt-into a breaking change, simply provide the key and value in the
breakingChanges
object prop for each breaking change mentioned below:
resetInputOnSelection
- Enable with the value oftrue
. For more information, see #243
When a new major version is released, then the code to support the old functionality will be removed and the breaking change version will be the default, so it's suggested you enable these as soon as you are aware of them.
I was heavily inspired by Ryan Florence. Watch his (free) lesson about "Compound Components". Initially downshift was a group of compound components using context to communicate. But then Jared Forsyth suggested I expose functions (the prop getters) to get props to apply to the elements rendered. That bit of inspiration made a big impact on the flexibility and simplicity of this API.
I also took a few ideas from the code in
react-autocomplete
and jQuery UI's
Autocomplete.
You can watch me build the first iteration of downshift
on YouTube:
You'll find more recordings of me working on downshift
on my livestream
YouTube playlist.
You can implement these other solutions using downshift
, but if you'd prefer
to use these out of the box solutions, then that's fine too:
If you're developing some React in ReasonML, check out the Downshift
bindings for that.
Thanks goes to these people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!
MIT