Choices.js 
A vanilla, lightweight (~20kb gzipped 🎉), configurable select box/text input plugin. Similar to Select2 and Selectize but without the jQuery dependency.
TL;DR
- 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! 💪🏼
Sponsored by:
Table of Contents
- Installation
- Setup
- Terminology
- Input Types
- Configuration Options
- Callbacks
- Events
- Methods
- CSS custom properties
- Development
- License
Installation
With NPM:
npm install choices.jsWith Yarn:
yarn add choices.jsFrom a CDN:
Notes:
- There is sometimes a delay before the latest version of Choices is reflected on the CDN.
- Examples below pin a version (v11.1.0). Check latest release and update v11.1.0 to the latest tag before using.
<!-- 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/choices.js@11.1.0/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/choices.js@11.1.0/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/choices.js@11.1.0/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>CSS/SCSS
The use of import of css/scss is supported from webpack.
In .scss:
@import "choices.js/src/styles/choices";In .js/.ts:
import "choices.js/public/assets/styles/choices.css";Setup
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($('.js-choice')[0]);
// Passing options (with default options)
const choices = new Choices(element, {
silent: false,
items: [],
choices: [],
renderChoiceLimit: -1,
maxItemCount: -1,
closeDropdownOnSelect: 'auto',
singleModeForMultiSelect: false,
addChoices: false,
addItems: true,
addItemFilter: (value) => !!value && value !== '',
removeItems: true,
removeItemButton: false,
removeItemButtonAlignLeft: false,
editItems: false,
allowHTML: false,
allowHtmlUserInput: false,
duplicateItemsAllowed: true,
delimiter: ',',
paste: true,
searchEnabled: true,
searchChoices: true,
searchDisabledChoices: false,
searchFloor: 1,
searchResultLimit: 4,
searchFields: ['label', 'value'],
position: 'auto',
resetScrollPosition: true,
shouldSort: true,
shouldSortItems: false,
sorter: (a, b) => sortByAlpha,
shadowRoot: null,
placeholder: true,
placeholderValue: null,
searchPlaceholderValue: null,
prependValue: null,
appendValue: null,
renderSelectedChoices: 'auto',
searchRenderSelectedChoices: true,
loadingText: 'Loading...',
noResultsText: 'No results found',
noChoicesText: 'No choices to choose from',
itemSelectText: 'Press to select',
uniqueItemText: 'Only unique values can be added',
customAddItemText: 'Only values matching specific conditions can be added',
addItemText: (value, rawValue) => {
return `Press Enter to add <b>"${value}"</b>`;
},
removeItemIconText: () => `Remove item`,
removeItemLabelText: (value, rawValue) => `Remove item: ${value}`,
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'],
description: ['choices__description'],
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'],
invalidState: ['is-invalid'],
notice: ['choices__notice'],
addChoice: ['choices__item--selectable', 'add-choice'],
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,
appendGroupInSearch: false,
});Terminology
| 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"> |
Input Types
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 |
Configuration Options
silent
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Optionally suppress console errors and warnings.
items
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'
}
}]
choices
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'
},
},
{
label: 'Group 1',
choices: [{
value: 'Option 3',
label: 'Option 4',
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'
}
}]
}]
renderChoiceLimit
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.
maxItemCount
Type: Number Default: -1
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: The amount of items a user can input/select ("-1" indicates no limit).
closeDropdownOnSelect
Type: Boolean | 'auto' Default: auto
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Control how the dropdown closes after making a selection for select-one or select-multiple.
- 'auto' defaults based on backing-element type:
- select-one: true
- select-multiple: false
singleModeForMultiSelect
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Make select-multiple with a max item count of 1 work similar to select-one does. Selecting an item will auto-close the dropdown and swap any existing item for the just selected choice. If applied to a select-one, it functions as above and not the standard select-one.
addChoices
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Whether a user can add choices dynamically.
Note: addItems must also be true
addItems
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text
Usage: Whether a user can add items.
removeItems
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether a user can remove items.
removeItemButton
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether each item should have a remove button.
removeItemButtonAlignLeft
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Align item remove button left vs right
editItems
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.
allowHTML
Type: Boolean Default: false
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.
allowHtmlUserInput
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether HTML should be escaped on input when addItems or addChoices is true. If false, user input 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.
duplicateItemsAllowed
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Whether duplicate inputted/chosen items are allowed
delimiter
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".
paste
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Whether a user can paste into the input.
searchEnabled
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether a search area should be shown.
searchChoices
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.
searchDisabledChoices
Type: Boolean Default: false
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Whether disabled choices should be included in search results. If true, disabled choices will appear in search results but still cannot be selected. This is useful when you want users to see what options exist but are currently unavailable. Placeholders are always excluded from search results regardless of this setting.
searchFields
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'].
searchFloor
Type: Number Default: 1
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The minimum length a search value should be before choices are searched.
searchResultLimit: 4,
Type: Number Default: 4
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The maximum amount of search results to show ("-1" indicates no limit).
shadowRoot
Type: Document Element Default: null
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: You can pass along the shadowRoot from your application like so.
var shadowRoot = document
.getElementById('wrapper')
.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
...
var el = shadowRoot.querySelector(...);
var choices = new Choices(el, {
shadowRoot: shadowRoot,
});position
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.
resetScrollPosition
Type: Boolean Default: true
Input types affected: select-multiple
Usage: Whether the scroll position should reset after adding an item.
addItemFilter
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$';
});shouldSort
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.
shouldSortItems
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.
sorter
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;
},
});placeholder
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 data-placeholder="This is a placeholder">
<option>...</option>
<option>...</option>
<option>...</option>
</select>For backward compatibility, <option value="">This is a placeholder</option> and <option placeholder>This is a placeholder</option> are also supported.
placeholderValue
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text
Usage: The value of the inputs placeholder.
searchPlaceholderValue
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: select-one
Usage: The value of the search inputs placeholder.
prependValue
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Prepend a value to each item added/selected.
appendValue
Type: String Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Append a value to each item added/selected.
renderSelectedChoices
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.
searchRenderSelectedChoices
Type: Boolean Default: true'
Input types affected: select-multiple
Usage: Whether selected choices should be removed from the list during search.
Example:
// Hide selected choices from search results
const example = new Choices(element, {
searchRenderSelectedChoices: false,
});loadingText
Type: String Default: Loading...
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The text that is shown whilst choices are being populated via AJAX.
noResultsText
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.
noChoicesText
Type: String/Function Default: No choices to choose from
Input types affected: select-multiple, select-one
Usage: The text that is shown when a user has selected all possible choices, or no choices exist. Optionally pass a function returning a string.
itemSelectText
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. Set to empty to not reserve space for this text.
addItemText
Type: String/Function Default: Press Enter to add "${value}" Arguments: value, valueRaw
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
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.
Return type must be safe to insert into HTML (ie use the 1st argument which is sanitised)
removeItemIconText
Type: String/Function Default: Remove item" Arguments: value, valueRaw, item
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The text/icon for the remove button. To access the item's value, pass a function with a value argument (see the default config [https://github.com/Choices-js/Choices#setup] for an example), otherwise pass a string.
To access the item's label, use the 3rd argument. Note; this label is not escaped.
Return type must be safe to insert into HTML (ie use the 1st argument which is sanitised)
removeItemLabelText
Type: String/Function Default: Remove item: ${value}" Arguments: value, valueRaw, item
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: The text for the remove button's aria label. To access the item's value, pass a function with a value argument (see the default config [https://github.com/Choices-js/Choices#setup] for an example), otherwise pass a string.
To access the item's label, use the 3rd argument. Note; this label is not escaped.
Return type must be safe to insert into HTML (ie use the 1st argument which is sanitised)
maxItemText
Type: String/Function Default: Only ${maxItemCount} values can be added Arguments: maxItemCount
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.
valueComparer
Type: Function Default: strict equality Arguments: value1, value2
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(),
});labelId
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.
classNames
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'],
itemChoice: ['choices__item--choice'],
description: ['choices__description'],
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'],
invalidState: ['is-invalid'],
notice: ['choices__notice'],
addChoice: ['choices__item--selectable', 'add-choice'],
noResults: ['has-no-results'],
noChoices: ['has-no-choices'],
}
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Classes added to HTML generated by Choices. By default classnames follow the BEM notation.
Callbacks
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).
callbackOnInit
Type: Function Default: null
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Function to run once Choices initialises.
callbackOnCreateTemplates(strToEl: (str: string) => HTMLElement, escapeForTemplate: (allowHTML: boolean, s: StringUntrusted | StringPreEscaped | string) => string, getClassNames: (s: Array | string) => string)
Type: Function Default: null Arguments: strToEl, escapeForTemplate, getClassNames
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.
@note For each callback, this refers to the current instance of Choices. This can be useful if you need access to methods (this.disable()).
Example:
const example = new Choices(element, {
callbackOnCreateTemplates: (strToEl, escapeForTemplate, getClassNames) => ({
input: (...args) =>
Object.assign(Choices.defaults.templates.input.call(this, ...args), {
type: 'email',
}),
}),
});or more complex:
// StrToEl = (str: string) => HTMLElement | HTMLInputElement | HTMLOptionElement;
// EscapeForTemplateFn = (allowHTML: boolean, s: StringUntrusted | StringPreEscaped | string) => string;
// GetClassNamesFn = (s: string | Array<string>) => string;
const example = new Choices(element, {
callbackOnCreateTemplates: function(strToEl /*:StrToEl*/, escapeForTemplate /*:EscapeForTemplateFn*/, getClassNames /*:GetClassNamesFn*/) {
return {
item: ({ classNames }, data) => {
return strToEl(`
<div class="${getClassNames(classNames.item).join(' ')} ${
getClassNames(data.highlighted
? classNames.highlightedState
: classNames.itemSelectable).join(' ')
} ${
data.placeholder ? classNames.placeholder : ''
}" data-item data-id="${data.id}" data-value="${escapeForTemplate(true, data.value)}" ${
data.active ? 'aria-selected="true"' : ''
} ${data.disabled ? 'aria-disabled="true"' : ''}>
<span>★</span> ${escapeForTemplate(true, data.label)}
</div>
`);
},
choice: ({ classNames }, data) => {
return strToEl(`
<div class="${getClassNames(classNames.item).join(' ')} ${getClassNames(classNames.itemChoice).join(' ')} ${
getClassNames(data.disabled ? classNames.itemDisabled : classNames.itemSelectable).join(' ')
}" data-select-text="${this.config.itemSelectText}" data-choice ${
data.disabled
? 'data-choice-disabled aria-disabled="true"'
: 'data-choice-selectable'
} data-id="${data.id}" data-value="${escapeForTemplate(true, data.value)}" ${
data.groupId > 0 ? 'role="treeitem"' : 'role="option"'
}>
<span>★</span> ${escapeForTemplate(true, data.label)}
</div>
`);
},
};
},
});Events
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,
);addItem
Payload: id, highlighted, labelClass, labelDescription, customProperties, disabled, active, label, placeholder, value, groupValue, element, keyCode
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is added (programmatically or by the user).
removeItem
Payload: id, highlighted, labelClass, labelDescription, customProperties, disabled, active, label, placeholder, value, groupValue, element, keyCode
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is removed (programmatically or by the user).
highlightItem
Payload: id, highlighted, labelClass, labelDescription, customProperties, disabled, active, label, placeholder, value, groupValue, element, keyCode
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is highlighted.
unhighlightItem
Payload: id, highlighted, labelClass, labelDescription, customProperties, disabled, active, label, placeholder, value, groupValue, element, keyCode
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is unhighlighted.
choice
Payload: id, highlighted, labelClass, labelDescription, customProperties, disabled, active, label, placeholder, value, groupValue, element, keyCode
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)
change
Payload: value: string
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered each time an item is added/removed by a user.
search
Payload: value: string, resultCount: number
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when a user types into an input to search choices. When a search is ended, a search event with an empty value with no resultCount is triggered.
showDropdown
Payload: -
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when the dropdown is shown.
hideDropdown
Payload: -
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Triggered when the dropdown is hidden.
highlightChoice
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
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();destroy();
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.
init();
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()).
refresh(withEvents: boolean = false, selectFirstOption: boolean = false);
Input types affected: select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Reads options from backing <select> element, and recreates choices. Existing items are preserved. When withEvents is truthy, only addItem events are generated.
highlightAll();
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Highlight each chosen item (selected items can be removed).
unhighlightAll();
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Un-highlight each chosen item.
removeActiveItemsByValue(value: string);
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each item by a given value.
removeActiveItems(excludedId?: number);
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each selectable item.
removeChoice(value: string);
Input types affected: text, select-multiple, select-one
Usage: Remove an option/item by value
removeHighlightedItems(runEvent?: boolean);
Input types affected: text, select-multiple
Usage: Remove each item the user has selected.
showDropdown(preventInputFocus?: boolean);
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Show choices list dropdown.
hideDropdown(preventInputFocus?: boolean);
Input types affected: ``select-one, select-multiple`
Usage: Hide choices list dropdown.
setChoices(choicesArrayOrFetcher?: (InputChoice | InputGroup)[] | ((instance: Choices) => (InputChoice | InputGroup)[] | Promise<(InputChoice | InputGroup)[]>), value?: string | null, label?: string, replaceChoices?: boolean = false, clearSearchFlag?: boolean = false, replaceItems?: boolean = false): this | Promise;
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 true replaceItems value to remove any items, if false choices for selected items are preserved. 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).
Note; using a Promise<(InputChoice | InputGroup)[]>) (or async () => { ... }) for fetcher causes Choices to disable itself while the promise resolves. This is very likely not desirable user experience.
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',
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',
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,
);clearChoices(clearOptions: boolean = true, clearItems: boolean = false);
Input types affected: select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Clear all choices from select including any selected items. Does not reset the search state.
clearOptionsIf true, clears the backing options from the<select>elementclearItemsIf false, preserves selected items instead of clearing them
getValue(valueOnly?: boolean): string[] | EventChoice[] | EventChoice | string;
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'}];setValue(items: string[] | InputChoice[]): this;
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
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']);setChoiceByValue(value: string | string[]);
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.clearStore();
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Removes all items, choices and groups. Resets the search state. Use with caution.
clearInput();
Input types affected: text
Usage: Clear input of any user inputted text.
disable();
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Disables input from accepting new value/selecting further choices.
enable();
Input types affected: text, select-one, select-multiple
Usage: Enables input to accept new values/select further choices.
Browser compatibility
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 npm exec 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 cdnjs.cloudflare.com/polyfill:
Polyfill example used for the demo:
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/polyfill/v3/polyfill.min.js?version=4.8.0&features=Array.from%2CArray.prototype.find%2CArray.prototype.includes%2CSymbol%2CSymbol.iterator%2CDOMTokenList%2CObject.assign%2CCustomEvent%2CElement.prototype.classList%2CElement.prototype.closest%2CElement.prototype.dataset%2CElement.prototype.replaceChildren"></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
Element.prototype.replaceChildren
CSS custom properties
Since version 11.2, you are able to customize the behavior and CSS of Choices.js using the following
custom properties.
| Property | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--choices-darken |
black |
Darken color used within the color-mix |
--choices-lighten |
white |
Ligten color used within the color-mix |
--choices-bg-color |
#f9f9f9 |
Background color of the choices element |
--choices-bg-color-disabled |
#eaeaea |
Background color of a disabled choices element |
--choices-bg-color-dropdown |
#fff |
Background color of the dropdown |
--choices-text-color |
#333 |
Text color of choices |
--choices-keyline-color |
#ddd |
Border-colors within choices |
--choices-primary-color |
#005F75 |
Primary color |
--choices-disabled-color |
#eaeaea |
Background color of disabled items |
--choices-item-disabled-color |
#fff |
Text color of disabled items |
--choices-invalid-color |
#d33141 |
Border color of the invalid state |
--choices-highlighted-color |
#f2f2f2 |
Highlight background of the choices items |
--choices-highlight-color |
#005F75 |
Focus color of the choices button |
--choices-font-size-lg |
16px |
Basic font size for choices |
--choices-font-size-md |
14px |
Font size for medium choices items, e.g. the input field |
--choices-font-size-sm |
12px |
Font size for the small choices items, e.g. select multiple or explanations |
--choices-guttering |
24px |
Margin-Bottom of the choices wrapper |
--choices-border-radius |
2.5px |
Border-radius of the choices element |
--choices-border-radius-item |
20px |
Border-radius of the choices items |
--choices-z-index |
1 |
z-index of the active choices dropdown |
--choices-input-height |
44px |
Height of the choices inner element |
--choices-width |
100% |
Width of the choices inner element |
--choices-base-border |
1px solid var( --choices-keyline-color) |
Bottom-border of the choices inner element |
--choices-multiple-item-margin |
3.75px |
Margin of the dropdown items (multiple mode) |
--choices-multiple-item-padding |
4px 10px |
Padding of the dropdown items (multiple mode) |
--choices-dropdown-item-padding |
10px |
Padding of the choices dropdown items |
--choices-list-single-padding |
4px 16px 4px 4px |
Padding of the listbox description |
--choices-input-margin-bottom |
5px |
Margin-bottom of the choices input (text inputs) |
--choices-input-padding |
4px 0 4px 2px |
Padding of the choices input |
--choices-inner-padding |
7.5px 7.5px 3.75px |
Padding of the choices inner element |
--choices-inner-one-padding |
7.5px |
Padding of the choices inner element (Single select input) |
--choices-arrow-size |
5px |
Size of the choices dropdown symbol |
--choices-arrow-margin-top |
-2.5px |
Top offset of the dropdown symbol |
--choices-arrow-margin-top-open |
-7.5px |
Top offset of the active dropdown symbol |
--choices-arrow-right |
11.5px |
Right offset of the dropdown symbol |
--choices-icon-cross |
url("...") |
Button image |
--choices-icon-cross-inverse |
url("...") |
Button image (inversed color) |
--choices-button-offset |
8px |
Button offset |
--choices-button-dimension |
8px |
Button background size |
--choices-button-line-height |
1 |
Button line height |
--choices-button-border-radius |
0 |
Button border-radius |
--choices-button-opacity |
0.75 |
Button opacity |
--choices-button-opacity-hover |
1 |
Button opacity on hover |
--choices-placeholder-opacity |
0.5 |
Placeholder opacity |
Dark mode example
The current demo page uses the following variables for its dark mode
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--choices-primary-color: #38daff;
--choices-item-color: black;
--choices-bg-color: #101010;
--choices-bg-color-dropdown: #101010;
--choices-keyline-color: #3b3e40;
--choices-bg-color-disabled: #181a1b;
--choices-item-disabled-color: #eee;
--choices-disabled-color: #2d2d2d;
--choices-highlighted-color: #16292d;
--choices-icon-cross: url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMjEiIGhlaWdodD0iMjEiIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAyMSAyMSIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIj48ZyBmaWxsPSIjMDAwIiBmaWxsLXJ1bGU9ImV2ZW5vZGQiPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0yLjU5Mi4wNDRsMTguMzY0IDE4LjM2NC0yLjU0OCAyLjU0OEwuMDQ0IDIuNTkyeiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0wIDE4LjM2NEwxOC4zNjQgMGwyLjU0OCAyLjU0OEwyLjU0OCAyMC45MTJ6Ii8+PC9nPjwvc3ZnPg==");
--choices-icon-cross-inverse: url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMjEiIGhlaWdodD0iMjEiIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAyMSAyMSIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIj48ZyBmaWxsPSIjRkZGIiBmaWxsLXJ1bGU9ImV2ZW5vZGQiPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0yLjU5Mi4wNDRsMTguMzY0IDE4LjM2NC0yLjU0OCAyLjU0OEwuMDQ0IDIuNTkyeiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0wIDE4LjM2NEwxOC4zNjQgMGwyLjU0OCAyLjU0OEwyLjU0OCAyMC45MTJ6Ii8+PC9nPjwvc3ZnPg==");
}
}Development
To setup a local environment: clone this repo, navigate into its directory in a terminal window and run the following command:
npm install
playwright
e2e (End-to-end) tests are implemented using playwright, which requires installing likely with OS support.
npx playwright install
npx playwright install-deps
For JetBrain IDE's the Test automation plugin is recommended:
https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/20175-test-automation
For usage see:
https://www.jetbrains.com/help/phpstorm/playwright.html
NPM tasks
| 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 playwright:gui |
Run Playwright e2e tests (GUI) |
npm run playwright:cli |
Run Playwright 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 |
Build flags
Choices supports various environment variables as build-flags to enable/disable features. The pre-built bundles these features set, and tree shaking uses the non-used parts.
CHOICES_SEARCH_FUSE
Values: full / basic / null
Default: full
Fuse.js support a full/basic profile. full adds additional logic operations, which aren't used by default with Choices. The null option drops Fuse.js as a dependency and instead uses a simple prefix only search feature.
CHOICES_SEARCH_KMP
Values: 1 / 0
Default: 0
If CHOICES_SEARCH_FUSE is null, this enables an indexOf-like Knuth–Morris–Pratt algorithm. Useful for very large data sets, without fuzzy searching.
CHOICES_CAN_USE_DOM
Values: 1 / 0
Default: 1
Allows loading Choices into a non-browser environment.
Interested in contributing?
We're always interested in having more active maintainers. Please get in touch if you're interested 👍
License
MIT License
Web component
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.
Misc
Thanks to @mikefrancis for sending me on a hunt for a non-jQuery solution for select boxes that eventually led to this being built!