A vanilla, lightweight (~19kb gzipped 🎉), configurable select box/text input plugin. Similar to Select2 and Selectize but without the jQuery dependency.
- Lightweight
- No jQuery dependency
- Configurable sorting
- Flexible styling
- Fast search/filtering
- Clean API
- Right-to-left support
- Custom templates
Interested in writing your own ES6 JavaScript plugins? Check out ES6.io for great tutorials! 💪🏼
- Installation
- Setup
- Terminology
- Input Types
- Configuration Options
- Callbacks
- Events
- Methods
- Development
- License
With NPM:
npm install choices.jsWith Yarn:
yarn add choices.jsFrom a CDN:
Note: There is sometimes a delay before the latest version of Choices is reflected on the CDN.
<!-- Include base CSS (optional) -->
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/choices.js/public/assets/styles/base.min.css"
/>
<!-- Or versioned -->
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/public/assets/styles/base.min.css"
/>
<!-- Include Choices CSS -->
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/choices.js/public/assets/styles/choices.min.css"
/>
<!-- Or versioned -->
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/public/assets/styles/choices.min.css"
/>
<!-- Include Choices JavaScript (latest) -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/choices.js/public/assets/scripts/choices.min.js"></script>
<!-- Or versioned -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/public/assets/scripts/choices.min.js"></script>Or include Choices directly:
<!-- Include base CSS (optional) -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="public/assets/styles/base.min.css" />
<!-- Include Choices CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="public/assets/styles/choices.min.css" />
<!-- Include Choices JavaScript -->
<script src="/public/assets/scripts/choices.min.js"></script>Note: If you pass a selector which targets multiple elements, the first matching element will be used. Versions prior to 8.x.x would return multiple Choices instances.
// Pass single element
const element = document.querySelector('.js-choice');
const choices = new Choices(element);
// Pass reference
const choices = new Choices('[data-trigger]');
const choices = new Choices('.js-choice');
// Pass jQuery element
const choices = new Choices($('.js-choice')[0]);
// Passing options (with default options)
const choices = new Choices(element, {
silent: false,
items: [],
choices: [],
renderChoiceLimit: -1,
maxItemCount: -1,
addItems: true,
addItemFilter: null,
removeItems: true,
removeItemButton: false,
editItems: false,
allowHTML: true,
duplicateItemsAllowed: true,
delimiter: ',',
paste: true,
searchEnabled: true,
searchChoices: true,
searchFloor: 1,
searchResultLimit: 4,
searchFields: ['label', 'value'],
position: 'auto',
resetScrollPosition: true,
shouldSort: true,
shouldSortItems: false,
sorter: () => {...},
placeholder: true,
placeholderValue: null,
searchPlaceholderValue: null,
prependValue: null,
appendValue: null,
renderSelectedChoices: 'auto',
loadingText: 'Loading...',
noResultsText: 'No results found',
noChoicesText: 'No choices to choose from',
itemSelectText: 'Press to select',
uniqueItemText: 'Only unique values can be added',
customAddItemText: 'Only values matching specific conditions can be added',
addItemText: (value) => {
return `Press Enter to add <b>"${value}"</b>`;
},
maxItemText: (maxItemCount) => {
return `Only ${maxItemCount} values can be added`;
},
valueComparer: (value1, value2) => {
return value1 === value2;
},
classNames: {
containerOuter: 'choices',
containerInner: 'choices__inner',
input: 'choices__input',
inputCloned: 'choices__input--cloned',
list: 'choices__list',
listItems: 'choices__list--multiple',
listSingle: 'choices__list--single',
listDropdown: 'choices__list--dropdown',
item: 'choices__item',
itemSelectable: 'choices__item--selectable',
itemDisabled: 'choices__item--disabled',
itemChoice: 'choices__item--choice',
placeholder: 'choices__placeholder',
group: 'choices__group',
groupHeading: 'choices__heading',
button: 'choices__button',
activeState: 'is-active',
focusState: 'is-focused',
openState: 'is-open',
disabledState: 'is-disabled',
highlightedState: 'is-highlighted',
selectedState: 'is-selected',
flippedState: 'is-flipped',
loadingState: 'is-loading',
noResults: 'has-no-results',
noChoices: 'has-no-choices'
},
// Choices uses the great Fuse library for searching. You
// can find more options here: https://fusejs.io/api/options.html
fuseOptions: {
includeScore: true
},
labelId: '',
callbackOnInit: null,
callbackOnCreateTemplates: null
});| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Choice | A choice is a value a user can select. A choice would be equivalent to the <option></option> element within a select input. |
| Group | A group is a collection of choices. A group should be seen as equivalent to a <optgroup></optgroup> element within a select input. |
| Item | An item is an inputted value (text input) or a selected choice (select element). In the context of a select element, an item is equivalent to a selected option element: <option value="Hello" selected></option> whereas in the context of a text input an item is equivalent to <input type="text" value="Hello"> |
Choices works with the following input types, referenced in the documentation as noted.
| HTML Element | Documentation "Input Type" |
|---|---|
<input type="text"> |
text |
<select> |
select-one |
<select multiple> |
select-multiple |
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Optionally suppress console errors and warnings.
Type: Array Default: []
Input types affected: text
Usage: Add pre-selected items (see terminology) to text input.
Pass an array of strings:
['value 1', 'value 2', 'value 3']
Pass an array of objects:
[{
value: 'Value 1',
label: 'Label 1',
id: 1
},
{
value: 'Value 2',
label: 'Label 2',
id: 2,
customProperties: {
random: 'I am a custom property'
}
}]
Type: Array Default: []
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Add choices (see terminology) to select input.
Pass an array of objects:
[{
value: 'Option 1',
label: 'Option 1',
selected: true,
disabled: false,
},
{
value: 'Option 2',
label: 'Option 2',
selected: false,
disabled: true,
customProperties: {
description: 'Custom description about Option 2',
random: 'Another random custom property'
},
}]
Type: Number Default: -1
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The amount of choices to be rendered within the dropdown list ("-1" indicates no limit). This is useful if you have a lot of choices where it is easier for a user to use the search area to find a choice.
Type: Number Default: -1
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: The amount of items a user can input/select ("-1" indicates no limit).
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text
Usage: Whether a user can add items.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether a user can remove items.
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether each item should have a remove button.
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text
Usage: Whether a user can edit items. An item's value can be edited by pressing the backspace.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether HTML should be rendered in all Choices elements. If false, all elements (placeholder, items, etc.) will be treated as plain text. If true, this can be used to perform XSS scripting attacks if you load choices from a remote source.
Deprecation Warning: This will default to false in a future release.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether duplicate inputted/chosen items are allowed
Type: String Default: ,
Input types affected: text
Usage: What divides each value. The default delimiter separates each value with a comma: "Value 1, Value 2, Value 3".
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether a user can paste into the input.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-one
Usage: Whether a search area should be shown. Note: Multiple select boxes will always show search areas.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-one
Usage: Whether choices should be filtered by input or not. If false, the search event will still emit, but choices will not be filtered.
Type: Array/String Default: ['label', 'value']
Input types affected:select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Specify which fields should be used when a user is searching. If you have added custom properties to your choices, you can add these values thus: ['label', 'value', 'customProperties.example'].
Type: Number Default: 1
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The minimum length a search value should be before choices are searched.
Type: Number Default: 4
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The maximum amount of search results to show.
Type: String Default: auto
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether the dropdown should appear above (top) or below (bottom) the input. By default, if there is not enough space within the window the dropdown will appear above the input, otherwise below it.
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-multiple
Usage: Whether the scroll position should reset after adding an item.
Type: string | RegExp | Function Default: null
Input types affected: text
Usage: A RegExp or string (will be passed to RegExp constructor internally) or filter function that will need to return true for a user to successfully add an item.
Example:
// Only adds items matching the text test
new Choices(element, {
addItemFilter: (value) => {
return ['orange', 'apple', 'banana'].includes(value);
};
});
// only items ending to `-red`
new Choices(element, {
addItemFilter: '-red$';
});Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether choices and groups should be sorted. If false, choices/groups will appear in the order they were given.
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether items should be sorted. If false, items will appear in the order they were selected.
Type: Function Default: sortByAlpha
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The function that will sort choices and items before they are displayed (unless a user is searching). By default choices and items are sorted by alphabetical order.
Example:
// Sorting via length of label from largest to smallest
const example = new Choices(element, {
sorter: function(a, b) {
return b.label.length - a.label.length;
},
};Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text
Usage: Whether the input should show a placeholder. Used in conjunction with placeholderValue. If placeholder is set to true and no value is passed to placeholderValue, the passed input's placeholder attribute will be used as the placeholder value.
Note: For select boxes, the recommended way of adding a placeholder is as follows:
<select>
<option value="">This is a placeholder</option>
<option>...</option>
<option>...</option>
<option>...</option>
</select>For backward compatibility, <option placeholder>This is a placeholder</option> is also supported.
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text
Usage: The value of the inputs placeholder.
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: select-one
Usage: The value of the search inputs placeholder.
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Prepend a value to each item added/selected.
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Append a value to each item added/selected.
Type: String Default: auto
Input types affected: select-multiple
Usage: Whether selected choices should be removed from the list. By default choices are removed when they are selected in multiple select box. To always render choices pass always.
Type: String Default: Loading...
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The text that is shown whilst choices are being populated via AJAX.
Type: String/Function Default: No results found
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The text that is shown when a user's search has returned no results. Optionally pass a function returning a string.
Type: String/Function Default: No choices to choose from
Input types affected: select-multiple
Usage: The text that is shown when a user has selected all possible choices. Optionally pass a function returning a string.
Type: String Default: Press to select
Input types affected: select-multiple, select-one
Usage: The text that is shown when a user hovers over a selectable choice.
Type: String/Function Default: Press Enter to add "${value}"
Input types affected: text
Usage: The text that is shown when a user has inputted a new item but has not pressed the enter key. To access the current input value, pass a function with a value argument (see the default config for an example), otherwise pass a string.
Type: String/Function Default: Only ${maxItemCount} values can be added
Input types affected: text
Usage: The text that is shown when a user has focus on the input but has already reached the max item count. To access the max item count, pass a function with a maxItemCount argument (see the default config for an example), otherwise pass a string.
Type: Function Default: strict equality
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: A custom compare function used when finding choices by value (using setChoiceByValue).
Example:
const example = new Choices(element, {
valueComparer: (a, b) => value.trim() === b.trim(),
};Type: String Default: ``
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The labelId improves accessibility. If set, it will add aria-labelledby to the choices element.
Type: Object Default:
classNames: {
containerOuter: 'choices',
containerInner: 'choices__inner',
input: 'choices__input',
inputCloned: 'choices__input--cloned',
list: 'choices__list',
listItems: 'choices__list--multiple',
listSingle: 'choices__list--single',
listDropdown: 'choices__list--dropdown',
item: 'choices__item',
itemSelectable: 'choices__item--selectable',
itemDisabled: 'choices__item--disabled',
itemOption: 'choices__item--choice',
group: 'choices__group',
groupHeading : 'choices__heading',
button: 'choices__button',
activeState: 'is-active',
focusState: 'is-focused',
openState: 'is-open',
disabledState: 'is-disabled',
highlightedState: 'is-highlighted',
selectedState: 'is-selected',
flippedState: 'is-flipped',
selectedState: 'is-highlighted',
}
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Classes added to HTML generated by Choices. By default classnames follow the BEM notation.
Note: For each callback, this refers to the current instance of Choices. This can be useful if you need access to methods (this.disable()) or the config object (this.config).
Type: Function Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Function to run once Choices initialises.
Type: Function Default: null Arguments: template
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Function to run on template creation. Through this callback it is possible to provide custom templates for the various components of Choices (see terminology). For Choices to work with custom templates, it is important you maintain the various data attributes defined here.
If you want just extend a little original template then you may use Choices.defaults.templates to get access to
original template function.
Templates receive the full Choices config as the first argument to any template, which allows you to conditionally display things based on the options specified.
Example:
const example = new Choices(element, {
callbackOnCreateTemplates: () => ({
input: (...args) =>
Object.assign(Choices.defaults.templates.input.call(this, ...args), {
type: 'email',
}),
}),
});or more complex:
const example = new Choices(element, {
callbackOnCreateTemplates: function(template) {
return {
item: ({ classNames }, data) => {
return template(`
<div class="${classNames.item} ${
data.highlighted
? classNames.highlightedState
: classNames.itemSelectable
} ${
data.placeholder ? classNames.placeholder : ''
}" data-item data-id="${data.id}" data-value="${data.value}" ${
data.active ? 'aria-selected="true"' : ''
} ${data.disabled ? 'aria-disabled="true"' : ''}>
<span>★</span> ${data.label}
</div>
`);
},
choice: ({ classNames }, data) => {
return template(`
<div class="${classNames.item} ${classNames.itemChoice} ${
data.disabled ? classNames.itemDisabled : classNames.itemSelectable
}" data-select-text="${this.config.itemSelectText}" data-choice ${
data.disabled
? 'data-choice-disabled aria-disabled="true"'
: 'data-choice-selectable'
} data-id="${data.id}" data-value="${data.value}" ${
data.groupId > 0 ? 'role="treeitem"' : 'role="option"'
}>
<span>★</span> ${data.label}
</div>
`);
},
};
},
});Note: Events fired by Choices behave the same as standard events. Each event is triggered on the element passed to Choices (accessible via this.passedElement. Arguments are accessible within the event.detail object.
Example:
const element = document.getElementById('example');
const example = new Choices(element);
element.addEventListener(
'addItem',
function(event) {
// do something creative here...
console.log(event.detail.id);
console.log(event.detail.value);
console.log(event.detail.label);
console.log(event.detail.customProperties);
console.log(event.detail.groupValue);
},
false,
);
// or
const example = new Choices(document.getElementById('example'));
example.passedElement.element.addEventListener(
'addItem',
function(event) {
// do something creative here...
console.log(event.detail.id);
console.log(event.detail.value);
console.log(event.detail.label);
console.log(event.detail.customProperties);
console.log(event.detail.groupValue);
},
false,
);Payload: id, value, label, customProperties, groupValue, keyCode
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is added (programmatically or by the user).
Payload: id, value, label, customProperties, groupValue
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is removed (programmatically or by the user).
Payload: id, value, label, groupValue
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is highlighted.
Payload: id, value, label, groupValue
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is unhighlighted.
Payload: choice
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time a choice is selected by a user, regardless if it changes the value of the input.
choice is a Choice object here (see terminology or typings file)
Payload: value
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is added/removed by a user.
Payload: value, resultCount
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when a user types into an input to search choices.
Payload: -
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when the dropdown is shown.
Payload: -
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when the dropdown is hidden.
Payload: el
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when a choice from the dropdown is highlighted.
The el argument is choices.passedElement object that was affected.
Methods can be called either directly or by chaining:
// Calling a method by chaining
const choices = new Choices(element, {
addItems: false,
removeItems: false,
})
.setValue(['Set value 1', 'Set value 2'])
.disable();
// Calling a method directly
const choices = new Choices(element, {
addItems: false,
removeItems: false,
});
choices.setValue(['Set value 1', 'Set value 2']);
choices.disable();Input types affected: text, select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Kills the instance of Choices, removes all event listeners and returns passed input to its initial state.
Input types affected: text, select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Creates a new instance of Choices, adds event listeners, creates templates and renders a Choices element to the DOM.
Note: This is called implicitly when a new instance of Choices is created. This would be used after a Choices instance had already been destroyed (using destroy()).
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Highlight each chosen item (selected items can be removed).
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Un-highlight each chosen item.
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each item by a given value.
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each selectable item.
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each item the user has selected.
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Show option list dropdown (only affects select inputs).
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Hide option list dropdown (only affects select inputs).
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Set choices of select input via an array of objects (or function that returns array of object or promise of it), a value field name and a label field name.
This behaves the similar as passing items via the choices option but can be called after initialising Choices. This can also be used to add groups of choices (see example 3); Optionally pass a true replaceChoices value to remove any existing choices. Optionally pass a customProperties object to add additional data to your choices (useful when searching/filtering etc). Passing an empty array as the first parameter, and a true replaceChoices is the same as calling clearChoices (see below).
Example 1:
const example = new Choices(element);
example.setChoices(
[
{ value: 'One', label: 'Label One', disabled: true },
{ value: 'Two', label: 'Label Two', selected: true },
{ value: 'Three', label: 'Label Three' },
],
'value',
'label',
false,
);Example 2:
const example = new Choices(element);
// Passing a function that returns Promise of choices
example.setChoices(async () => {
try {
const items = await fetch('/items');
return items.json();
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
});Example 3:
const example = new Choices(element);
example.setChoices(
[
{
label: 'Group one',
id: 1,
disabled: false,
choices: [
{ value: 'Child One', label: 'Child One', selected: true },
{ value: 'Child Two', label: 'Child Two', disabled: true },
{ value: 'Child Three', label: 'Child Three' },
],
},
{
label: 'Group two',
id: 2,
disabled: false,
choices: [
{ value: 'Child Four', label: 'Child Four', disabled: true },
{ value: 'Child Five', label: 'Child Five' },
{
value: 'Child Six',
label: 'Child Six',
customProperties: {
description: 'Custom description about child six',
random: 'Another random custom property',
},
},
],
},
],
'value',
'label',
false,
);Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Clear all choices from select
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Get value(s) of input (i.e. inputted items (text) or selected choices (select)). Optionally pass an argument of true to only return values rather than value objects.
Example:
const example = new Choices(element);
const values = example.getValue(true); // returns ['value 1', 'value 2'];
const valueArray = example.getValue(); // returns [{ active: true, choiceId: 1, highlighted: false, id: 1, label: 'Label 1', value: 'Value 1'}, { active: true, choiceId: 2, highlighted: false, id: 2, label: 'Label 2', value: 'Value 2'}];Input types affected: text
Usage: Set value of input based on an array of objects or strings. This behaves exactly the same as passing items via the items option but can be called after initialising Choices.
Example:
const example = new Choices(element);
// via an array of objects
example.setValue([
{ value: 'One', label: 'Label One' },
{ value: 'Two', label: 'Label Two' },
{ value: 'Three', label: 'Label Three' },
]);
// or via an array of strings
example.setValue(['Four', 'Five', 'Six']);Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Set value of input based on existing Choice. value can be either a single string or an array of strings
Example:
const example = new Choices(element, {
choices: [
{ value: 'One', label: 'Label One' },
{ value: 'Two', label: 'Label Two', disabled: true },
{ value: 'Three', label: 'Label Three' },
],
});
example.setChoiceByValue('Two'); // Choice with value of 'Two' has now been selected.Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Removes all items, choices and groups. Use with caution.
Input types affected: text
Usage: Clear input of any user inputted text.
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Disables input from accepting new value/selecting further choices.
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Enables input to accept new values/select further choices.
Choices is compiled using Babel targeting browsers with more than 1% of global usage and expecting that features listed below are available or polyfilled in browser.
You may see exact list of target browsers by running npx browserslist within this repository folder.
If you need to support a browser that does not have one of the features listed below,
I suggest including a polyfill from the very good polyfill.io:
Polyfill example used for the demo:
<script src="https://cdn.polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=Array.from%2Ces5%2Ces6%2CSymbol%2CSymbol.iterator%2CDOMTokenList%2CObject.assign%2CCustomEvent%2CElement.prototype.classList%2CElement.prototype.closest%2CElement.prototype.dataset%2CArray.prototype.find%2CArray.prototype.includes"></script>Features used in Choices:
Array.from
Array.prototype.find
Array.prototype.includes
Symbol
Symbol.iterator
DOMTokenList
Object.assign
CustomEvent
Element.prototype.classList
Element.prototype.closest
Element.prototype.dataset
To setup a local environment: clone this repo, navigate into its directory in a terminal window and run the following command:
npm install
| Task | Usage |
|---|---|
npm run start |
Fire up local server for development |
npm run test:unit |
Run sequence of tests once |
npm run test:unit:watch |
Fire up test server and re-test on file change |
npm run test:e2e |
Run sequence of e2e tests (with local server) |
npm run test |
Run both unit and e2e tests |
npm run cypress:open |
Run Cypress e2e tests (GUI) |
npm run cypress:run |
Run Cypress e2e tests (CLI) |
npm run js:build |
Compile Choices to an uglified JavaScript file |
npm run css:watch |
Watch SCSS files for changes. On a change, run build process |
npm run css:build |
Compile, minify and prefix SCSS files to CSS |
We're always interested in having more active maintainers. Please get in touch if you're interested 👍
MIT License
Want to use Choices as a web component? You're in luck. Adidas have built one for their design system which can be found here.
Thanks to @mikefrancis for sending me on a hunt for a non-jQuery solution for select boxes that eventually led to this being built!
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