You have a custom select
or a combobox
in your applications which performs a
multiple selection. You want want the whole experience to be accessible,
including adding and removing items from selection, navigating between the items
and back to the dropdown. You also want this solution to be simple to use and
flexible so you can tailor it further to your specific needs.
useMultipleSelection
is a React hook that manages all the stateful logic
needed to make the multiple selection dropdown functional and accessible. It
returns a set of props that are meant to be called and their results
destructured on the dropdown's elements that involve the multiple selection
experience: the dropdown main element itself, which can be either an input
(if
you are building a combobox
) or a button
(if you are building a select
),
and the selected items. The props are similar to the ones provided by vanilla
Downshift
to the children render prop.
These props are called getter props and their return values are destructured as
a set of ARIA attributes and event listeners. Together with the action props and
state props, they create all the stateful logic needed for the dropdown to
become accessible. Every functionality needed should be provided out-of-the-box:
arrow navigation between dropdown and items, navigation between the items
themselves, removing and adding items, and also helpful aria-live
messages
such as when an item has been removed from selection.
The hook received breaking changes related to how it works, as well as the API, starting with v8. They are documented here:
- Usage
- Basic Props
- Advanced Props
- stateChangeTypes
- Control Props
- Returned props
- Event Handlers
- Examples
import * as React from 'react'
import {render} from 'react-dom'
import {useCombobox, useMultipleSelection} from 'downshift'
const colors = [
'Black',
'Red',
'Green',
'Blue',
'Orange',
'Purple',
'Pink',
'Orchid',
'Aqua',
'Lime',
'Gray',
'Brown',
'Teal',
'Skyblue',
]
const initialSelectedItems = [colors[0], colors[1]]
function getFilteredItems(selectedItems, inputValue) {
const lowerCasedInputValue = inputValue.toLowerCase()
return colors.filter(
colour =>
!selectedItems.includes(colour) &&
colour.toLowerCase().startsWith(lowerCasedInputValue),
)
}
function DropdownMultipleCombobox() {
const [inputValue, setInputValue] = React.useState('')
const [selectedItems, setSelectedItems] = React.useState(initialSelectedItems)
const items = React.useMemo(
() => getFilteredItems(selectedItems, inputValue),
[selectedItems, inputValue],
)
const {getSelectedItemProps, getDropdownProps, removeSelectedItem} =
useMultipleSelection({
selectedItems,
onStateChange({selectedItems: newSelectedItems, type}) {
switch (type) {
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes
.SelectedItemKeyDownBackspace:
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownDelete:
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.DropdownKeyDownBackspace:
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionRemoveSelectedItem:
setSelectedItems(newSelectedItems)
break
default:
break
}
},
})
const {
isOpen,
getToggleButtonProps,
getLabelProps,
getMenuProps,
getInputProps,
highlightedIndex,
getItemProps,
selectedItem,
clearSelection,
} = useCombobox({
items,
inputValue,
selectedItem: null,
stateReducer(state, actionAndChanges) {
const {changes, type} = actionAndChanges
switch (type) {
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.InputKeyDownEnter:
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.ItemClick:
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.InputBlur:
return {
...changes,
...(changes.selectedItem && {isOpen: true, highlightedIndex: 0}),
}
default:
return changes
}
},
onStateChange({
inputValue: newInputValue,
type,
selectedItem: newSelectedItem,
}) {
switch (type) {
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.InputKeyDownEnter:
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.ItemClick:
setSelectedItems([...selectedItems, newSelectedItem])
break
case useCombobox.stateChangeTypes.InputChange:
setInputValue(newInputValue)
break
default:
break
}
},
})
return (
<div
style={{
display: 'flex',
flexDirection: 'column',
width: 'fit-content',
justifyContent: 'center',
marginTop: 100,
alignSelf: 'center',
}}
>
<label
style={{
fontWeight: 'bolder',
color: selectedItem ? selectedItem : 'black',
}}
{...getLabelProps()}
>
Choose an element:
</label>
<div
style={{
display: 'inline-flex',
gap: '8px',
alignItems: 'center',
flexWrap: 'wrap',
padding: '6px',
}}
>
{selectedItems.map(function renderSelectedItem(
selectedItemForRender,
index,
) {
return (
<span
style={{
backgroundColor: 'lightgray',
paddingLeft: '4px',
paddingRight: '4px',
borderRadius: '6px',
}}
key={`selected-item-${index}`}
{...getSelectedItemProps({
selectedItem: selectedItemForRender,
index,
})}
>
{selectedItemForRender}
{/* eslint-disable-next-line jsx-a11y/click-events-have-key-events */}
<span
style={{padding: '4px', cursor: 'pointer'}}
onClick={e => {
e.stopPropagation()
removeSelectedItem(null)
}}
>
✕
</span>
</span>
)
})}
<div>
<input
style={{padding: '4px'}}
{...getInputProps(getDropdownProps({preventKeyAction: isOpen}))}
data-testid="combobox-input"
/>
<button
style={{padding: '4px 8px'}}
aria-label="toggle menu"
data-testid="combobox-toggle-button"
{...getToggleButtonProps()}
>
{isOpen ? <>↑</> : <>↓</>}
</button>
<button
style={{padding: '4px 8px'}}
aria-label="clear selection"
data-testid="clear-button"
onClick={clearSelection}
>
✗
</button>
</div>
</div>
<ul
{...getMenuProps()}
style={{
listStyle: 'none',
width: '100%',
padding: '0',
margin: '4px 0 0 0',
}}
>
{isOpen &&
items.map((item, index) => (
<li
style={{
padding: '4px',
backgroundColor: highlightedIndex === index ? '#bde4ff' : null,
}}
key={`${item}${index}`}
{...getItemProps({
item,
index,
'data-testid': `downshift-item-${index}`,
})}
>
{item}
</li>
))}
</ul>
</div>
)
}
render(<DropdownMultipleCombobox />, document.getElementById('root'))
The equivalent example with useSelect
is here.
This is the list of props that you should probably know about. There are some advanced props below as well.
function(item: any)
| defaults to:i => (i == null ? '' : String(i))
If your items are stored as, say, objects instead of strings, downshift still needs a string representation for each one. This is required for accessibility aria-live messages (e.g., after removing a selection).
function(changes: object)
| optional, no useful default
Called each time the selected items array changes. Especially useful when items
are removed, as there are many ways to do that: Backspace
from dropdown,
Backspace
or Delete
while focus is the item, executing removeSelectedItem
when clicking an associated X
icon for the item.
changes
: These are the properties that actually have changed since the last state change. This object is guaranteed to contain theselectedItems
property with the new array value. This also has atype
property which you can learn more about in thestateChangeTypes
section. This property will be part of the actions that can trigger anselectedItems
change, for exampleuseSelect.stateChangeTypes.DropdownKeyDownBackspace
.
function(state: object, actionAndChanges: object)
| optional
🚨 This is a really handy power feature 🚨
This function will be called each time useMultipleSelection
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. 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.actionAndChanges
: Object that contains the actiontype
, props needed to return a new state based on that type and the changes suggested by the Downshift default reducer. About thetype
property you can learn more about in thestateChangeTypes
section.
import {useMultipleSelection} from 'downshift'
import {items} from './utils'
const {getDropdownProps, getSelectedItemProps, ...rest} = useMultipleSelection({
initialSelectedItems: [items[0], items[1]],
stateReducer,
})
function stateReducer(state, actionAndChanges) {
const {type, changes} = actionAndChanges
// this adds focus to the dropdown when item is removed by keyboard action.
switch (type) {
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownBackspace:
case useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownDelete:
return {
...changes,
activeIndex: -1, // the focus will move to the input/button
}
default:
return changes // otherwise business as usual.
}
}
NOTE: This is only called when state actually changes. You should not attempt use this to handle events. If you wish to handle events, put your event handlers directly on the elements (make sure to use the prop getters though! For example
<button onBlur={handleBlur} />
should be<button {...getToggleButtonProps({onBlur: handleBlur})} />
). Also, your reducer function should be "pure." This means it should do nothing other than return the state changes you want to have happen.
string
| defaults toArrowRight
The navigation key that increments activeIndex
and moves focus to the selected
item whose index corresponds to the new value. For a RTL
scenario, a common
overriden value could be ArrowLeft
. In some scenarios it can be ArrowDown
.
It mostly depends on the UI the user is presented with.
string
| defaults toArrowLeft
The navigation key that decrements activeIndex
and moves focus to the selected
item whose index corresponds to the new value. Also moves focus from dropdown
to item with the last index. For a RTL
scenario, a common overriden value
could be ArrowRight
. In some scenarios it can be ArrowUp
. It mostly depends
on the UI the user is presented with.
any[]
| defaults to[]
Pass an initial array of items that are considered to be selected.
number
| defaults to-1
Pass a number that sets the index of the focused / active selected item when downshift is initialized.
any[]
| defaults to[]
Pass an array of items that are going to be used when downshift is reset.
number
| defaults to-1
Pass a number that sets the index of the focused / active selected item when downshift is reset.
function(item: any)
| defaults to:item => item
Used to determine the uniqueness of an item when searching for the item or comparing the item with another. Returns the item itself, by default, so the comparing/searching is done internally via referential equality.
If using items as objects and their reference will change during use, you can
use the function to generate a unique key for each item, such as an id
prop.
// initial items.
const selectedItems = [
{id: 1, value: 'Apples'},
{id: 2, value: 'Oranges'},
]
// the same items but with different references, for any reason.
const newSelectedItems = [
{id: 1, value: 'Apples'},
{id: 2, value: 'Oranges'},
]
function itemToKey(item) {
return item.id
// and we will do the comparison like: const isChanged = itemToKey(prevSelectedItem) !== itemToKey(nextSelectedItem)
}
function({/* see below */})
| default messages provided in English
This function is passed as props to a status updating function nested within
that allows you to create your own ARIA statuses. It is called when the state
changes: selectedItem
, highlightedIndex
, inputValue
or isOpen
.
There is no default function provided anymore since v9, so if there's no prop passed, no aria live status message is created. An implementation that resembles the previous default is written below, should you want to keep pre v9 behaviour.
We don't provide this as a default anymore since we consider that screen readers have been significantly improved and they can convey information about items count, possible actions and highlighted items only from the HTML markup, without the need for aria-live regions.
function getA11yStatusMessage(state) {
const {selectedItems} = state
if (selectedItems.length === previousSelectedItemsRef.current.length) {
return ''
}
const removedSelectedItem = previousSelectedItemsRef.current.find(
selectedItem =>
selectedItems.findIndex(
item => props.itemToKey(item) === props.itemToKey(selectedItem),
) < 0,
)
// where itemToString is a function that returns the string equivalent for an item.
return `${itemToString(removedSelectedItem)} has been removed.`
}
function(changes: object)
| optional, no useful default
Called each time the index of the active item changes. When an item becomes
active, it receives focus, so it can receive keyboard events. To change
activeIndex
you can either click on the item or use navigation keys between
the items and the dropdown.
changes
: These are the properties that actually have changed since the last state change. This object is guaranteed to contain theactiveIndex
property with the new value. This also has atype
property which you can learn more about in thestateChangeTypes
section. This property will be part of the actions that can trigger aactiveIndex
change, for exampleuseSelect.stateChangeTypes.ItemClick
.
function(changes: 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. selectedItems and activeIndex) and then pass it as props, rather than letting downshift control all its state itself.
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.
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')
or use theon[statePropKey]Change
props described above.
NOTE: This is only called when state actually changes. You should not attempt to use this to handle events. If you wish handle events, put your event handlers directly on the elements (make sure to use the prop getters though! For example:
<button onBlur={handleBlur} />
should be<button {...getDropdownProps({onBlur: handleBlur})} />
).
number
| control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)
The index of the item that should be active and focused.
any[]
| control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)
The items that are considered selected at the time.
window
| defaults towindow
This prop is only useful if you're rendering downshift within a different
window
context from where your JavaScript is running; for example, an iframe
or a shadow-root. If the given context is lacking document
and/or
add|removeEventListener
on its prototype (as is the case for a shadow-root)
then you will need to pass in a custom object that is able to provide
access to these properties
for downshift.
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 stateChangeTypes
property.
The list of all possible values this type
property can take is defined in
this file and is as follows:
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemClick
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownDelete
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownBackspace
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownNavigationNext
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.SelectedItemKeyDownNavigationPrevious
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.DropdownKeyDownNavigationPrevious
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.DropdownKeyDownBackspace
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.DropdownClick
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionAddSelectedItem
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionRemoveSelectedItem
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionSetSelectedItems
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionSetActiveIndex
useMultipleSelection.stateChangeTypes.FunctionReset
See stateReducer
for a concrete example on how to use the
type
property.
Downshift manages its own state internally and calls your
onSelectedItemsChange
, onActiveIndexChange
and onStateChange
handlers with
any relevant changes. The state that downshift manages includes: selectedItems
and activeIndex
. Returned action function (read more below) can be used to
manipulate this state 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 Advanced React Component Patterns course
You use the hook like so:
import {useMultipleSelection} from 'downshift'
import {items} from './utils'
const {getDropdownProps, getSelectedItemProps, selectedItems, reset, ...rest} =
useMultipleSelection({
initialSelectedItems: [items[0], [items[1]]],
...otherProps,
})
return (
<div>
{/* render the selected items */}
{selectedItems.map((selectedItem, index) => (
<span
key={`selected-item-${index}`}
{...getSelectedItemProps({selectedItem, index})}
>
{selectedItem}
</span>
))}
{/* render the dropdown itself, with getToggleButtonProps coming from useSelect if you choose to build a <select> with useSelect */}
<button {...getDropdownProps(getToggleButtonProps())}>
Select options
</button>
{/* render the menu and items */}
{/* render a button that resets the select to defaults */}
<button
onClick={() => {
reset()
}}
>
Reset
</button>
</div>
)
NOTE: In this example we used both the getter props
getSelectedItemProps
andgetDropdownProps
and an action propreset
. The properties ofuseMultipleSelection
can be split into three categories as indicated below:
NOTE: These prop-getters provide
aria-
attributes which are very important to your component being accessible. It's recommended that you utilize these functions and apply the props they give you to your components.
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 on the toggle button:
<button {...getDropdownProps()}
. 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:
getDropdownProps({onKeyDown(event) {console.log(event)}})
.
You will most probably use this hook along with useSelect
or useCombobox
,
and you can call the getter props from both of them. In the case of select
you
can call the props on the dropdown like
getDropdownProps(getToggleButtonProps({onKeyDown(event) {//your custom event}}))
.
Similar story with combobox
but with getInputProps
instead of
getToggleButtonProps
.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
getDropdownProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to either your input or toggle button, depending on the case. |
getSelectedItemProps |
function({}) |
returns the props you should apply to any selected item elements you render. |
The props returned from calling this function should be applied to any selected
items you render. It allows changing the activeIndex by using arrow keys or by
clicking, but also removing items by Delete
or Backspace
on active item. It
also ensures that focus moves along with the activeIndex, and it keeps a
tabindex="0"
on the active element even if user decides to Tab
away. That
way, when tabbing back, the user can pick up where he left off with selection.
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:
selectedItems.map((selectedItem, index) => {
const props = getSelectedItemProps({selectedItem, index}) // 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:
selectedItems
.filter(shouldRenderItem)
.map(selectedItem => <div {...getSelectedItemProps({selectedItem})} />)
Required properties:
It is required to pass either selectedItem
or index
to
getSelectedItemProps
in order to be able to apply the activeIndex logic.
selectedItem
: this is the item data that will be selected when the user selects a particular item.index
: This is howdownshift
keeps track of your item when updating theactiveIndex
as the user keys around. By default,downshift
will assume theindex
is the order in which you're callinggetSelectedItemProps
. 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
.
Optional properties:
-
ref
: if you need to access the dropdown element via a ref object, you'd call the function like this:getDropdown({ref: yourDropdownRef})
. As a result, the dropdown element will receive a composedref
property, which guarantees that both your code anduseMultipleSelection
use the same correct reference to the element. -
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:getSelectedItemProps({refKey: 'innerRef'})
and your composite component would forward like:<li ref={props.innerRef} />
. However, if you are just rendering a primitive component like<div>
, there is no need to specify this property. It defaults toref
.
Call this and apply the returned props to a button
if you are building a
select
or to an input
if you're building a combobox
. It allows you to move
focus from this element to the last item selected by using ArrowLeft
and also
to remove the last item using Backspace
.
Optional properties:
preventKeyAction
: tellsuseMultipleSelection
ifdropdown
is allowed to executedownshift
handlers onkeydown
. For example, you can passisOpen
as value and user will not be able to delete selecteditems byBackspace
or to navigate to them by arrow keys. This is useful if you don't want to mix key actions from multiple selection with the ones from the dropdown. Once the dropdown is closed then deletion / navigation can be resumed for multiple selection. The value isfalse
by default.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:getDropdownProps({refKey: 'innerRef'})
and your composite component would forward like:<button ref={props.innerRef} />
. However, if you are just rendering a primitive component like<div>
, there is no need to specify this property. It defaults toref
.
In some cases, you might want to completely bypass the refKey
check. Then you
can provide the object {suppressRefError : true}
as the second argument to
getDropdownProps
. Please use it with extreme care and only if you are
absolutely sure that the ref is correctly forwarded otherwise
useMultipleSelection
will unexpectedly fail.
const {getDropdownProps} = useMultipleSelection()
const {isOpen, ...rest} = useSelect({items})
const myButton = (
{/* selected items */}
<button {...getDropdownProps({preventKeyAction: isOpen})}>Click me</button>
{/* menu and items */}
)
These are functions you can call to change the state of the downshift
useMultipleSelection
hook.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
addSelectedItem |
function(item: any) |
adds an item to the selected array |
removeSelectedItem |
function(item: any) |
removes an item from the selected array |
reset |
function() |
resets the selectedItems and active index to defaults |
setActiveIndex |
function(index: number) |
sets activeIndex to the new value |
setSelectedItems |
function(items: any[]) |
sets selectedItems to the new value |
These are values that represent the current state of the downshift component.
property | type | description |
---|---|---|
activeIndex |
number |
the index of thecurrently active item |
selectedItems |
any[] |
the items of the selection |
Downshift has a few events for which it provides implicit handlers. Several of
these handlers call event.preventDefault()
. Their additional functionality is
described below.
ArrowLeft
: Moves focus frombutton
/input
to the last selected item and makesactiveIndex
to beselectedItems.length - 1
. Performs this action if there are any items selected.ArrowLeft
can be overriden with any other key depeding on the requirements. More info onkeyNavigationPrevious
.Backspace
: Removes the last selected item from selection. It always performs this action on a non-input element. If thedropdown
is acombobox
the text cursor of theinput
must be at the start of theinput
and not highlight any text in order for the removal to work.
Click
: It will make the item active, will modifyactiveIndex
to reflect the new change, and will add focus to that item.Delete
: It will remove the item from selection.activeIndex
will stay the same if the item removed was not the last one, but focus will move to the item which now has that index. If the last item was removed, theactiveIndex
will decrease by one and will also move focus to the corresponding item. If there are no items available anymore, the focus moves to the dropdown andactiveIndex
becomes-1
.Backspace
: Same effect asDelete
.ArrowLeft
: MovesactiveIndex
and focus to previous item. It stops at the first item in the selection.ArrowLeft
can be overriden with any other key depeding on the requirements. More info onkeyNavigationPrevious
.ArrowRight
: MovesactiveIndex
and focus to next item. It will move focus to thedropdown
if it occurs on the last selected item.ArrowRight
can be overriden with any other key depeding on the requirements. More info onkeyNavigationNext
.
You can provide your own event handlers to useMultipleSelection
which will be
called before the default handlers:
const items = [...] // items here.
const {getDropdownProps} = useMultipleSelection()
const {getInputProps} = useCombobox({items})
const ui = (
/* label, selected items, ... */
<input
{...getInputProps(
getDropdownProps({
onKeyDown: event => {
// your custom keyDown handler here.
},
}),
)}
/>
)
If you would like to prevent the default handler behavior in some cases, you can
set the event's preventDownshiftDefault
property to true
:
const items = [...] // items here.
const {getDropdownProps} = useMultipleSelection()
const {getInputProps} = useCombobox({items})
const ui = (
/* label, selected items, ... */
<input
{...getInputProps(
getDropdownProps({
onKeyDown: event => {
// your custom keyDown handler here.
if (event.key === 'Enter') {
// Prevent Downshift's default 'Enter' behavior.
event.nativeEvent.preventDownshiftDefault = true
// your handler code
}
},
}),
)}
/>
)
If you would like to completely override Downshift's behavior for a handler, in favor of your own, you can bypass prop getters:
const items = [...] // items here.
const {getDropdownProps} = useMultipleSelection()
const {getInputProps} = useCombobox({items})
const ui = (
/* label, selected items, ... */
<input
{...getInputProps(
getDropdownProps({
onKeyDown: event => {
// your custom keyDown handler here.
},
}),
)}
onKeyDown={event => {
// your custom keyDown handler here.
}}
/>
)
Usage examples are kept on the downshift docsite and also on the sandbox repo. Each example has a link to its own Codesandbox version, so check the docs.
It can be a great contributing opportunity to provide relevant use cases as docsite examples. If you have such an example, please create an issue with the suggestion and the Codesandbox for it, and we will take it from there.