Primitives to build simple, flexible, WAI-ARIA compliant React autocomplete, combobox or select dropdown components.

Read the docs | See the intro blog post | Listen to the Episode 79 of the Full Stack Radio podcast

The problem

You need an autocomplete, a combobox or a select experience in your application and you want it to be accessible. You also want it to be simple and flexible to account for your use cases. Finally, it should follow the ARIA design pattern for a combobox or a select, depending on your use case.

This solution

The library offers a couple of solutions. The first solution, which is the one we recommend you to try first, is a set of React hooks. Each hook provides the stateful logic needed to make the corresponding component functional and accessible. Navigate to the documentation for each by using the links in the list below.

useSelect for a custom select component.
useCombobox for a combobox or autocomplete input.
useTagGroup for a tag group component. Also useful to build a multiple selection combobox or select component with tags.

The second solution is the Downshift component, which can also be used to create accessible combobox and select components, providing the logic in the form of a render prop. It served as inspiration for developing the hooks and it has been around for a while. It established a successful pattern for making components accessible and functional while giving developers complete freedom when building the UI.

Both useSelect and useCombobox support the latest ARIA combobox patterns for W3C, which Downshift does not. Consequently, we strongly recommend the you use the hooks. The hooks have been migrated to the ARIA 1.2 combobox pattern in the version 7 of downshift. There is a Migration Guide that documents the changes introduced in version 7.

The README on this page covers only the component while each hook has its own README page. You can navigate to the hooks page or go directly to the hook you need by using the links in the list above.

For examples on how to use the hooks or the Downshift component, check out our docsite!

🚨 Use the Downshift hooks 🚨

If you are new to the library, consider the useSelect and useCombobox hooks as the first option. As mentioned above, the hooks benefit from the updated ARIA patterns and are actively maintained and improved. If there are use cases that are supported by the Downshift component and not by the hooks, please create an issue in our repo. The Downshift component is going to be removed completely once the hooks become mature.

Downshift

This is a component that controls user interactions and state for you so you can create autocomplete, combobox or select dropdown components. It uses a render prop which gives you maximum flexibility with a minimal API because you are responsible for the rendering of everything and you simply apply props to what you're rendering.

This differs from other solutions which render things for their use case and then expose many options to allow for extensibility resulting in a bigger API that is less flexible as well as making the implementation more complicated and harder to contribute to.

NOTE: The original use case of this component is autocomplete, however the API is powerful and flexible enough to build things like dropdowns as well.

Installation

This module is distributed via npm which is bundled with node and should be installed as one of your project's dependencies:

npm install --save downshift

This package also depends on react. Please make sure you have it installed as well.

Note also this library supports preact out of the box. If you are using preact then use the corresponding module in the preact/dist folder. You can even import Downshift from 'downshift/preact' 👍

Usage

Try it out in the browser

import * as React from 'react'
import {render} from 'react-dom'
import Downshift from 'downshift'
const items = [
  {value: 'apple'},
  {value: 'pear'},
  {value: 'orange'},
  {value: 'grape'},
  {value: 'banana'},
]
render(
  <Downshift
    onChange={selection =>
      alert(selection ? `You selected ${selection.value}` : 'Selection Cleared')
    }
    itemToString={item => (item ? item.value : '')}
  >
    {({
      getInputProps,
      getItemProps,
      getLabelProps,
      getMenuProps,
      isOpen,
      inputValue,
      highlightedIndex,
      selectedItem,
      getRootProps,
    }) => (
      <div>
        <label {...getLabelProps()}>Enter a fruit</label>
        <div
          style={{display: 'inline-block'}}
          {...getRootProps({}, {suppressRefError: true})}
        >
          <input {...getInputProps()} />
        </div>
        <ul {...getMenuProps()}>
          {isOpen
            ? items
                .filter(item => !inputValue || item.value.includes(inputValue))
                .map((item, index) => (
                  <li
                    {...getItemProps({
                      key: item.value,
                      index,
                      item,
                      style: {
                        backgroundColor:
                          highlightedIndex === index ? 'lightgray' : 'white',
                        fontWeight: selectedItem === item ? 'bold' : 'normal',
                      },
                    })}
                  >
                    {item.value}
                  </li>
                ))
            : null}
        </ul>
      </div>
    )}
  </Downshift>,
  document.getElementById('root'),
)

There is also an example without getRootProps.

Warning: The example without getRootProps is not fully accessible with screen readers as it's not possible to achieve the HTML structure suggested by ARIA. We recommend following the example with getRootProps. Examples on how to use Downshift component with and without getRootProps are on the docsite.

Downshift is the only component exposed by this package. It doesn't render anything itself, it just calls the render function and renders that. "Use a render prop!"! <Downshift>{downshift => <div>/* your JSX here! */</div>}</Downshift>.

Basic Props

This is the list of props that you should probably know about. There are some advanced props below as well.

children

function({}) | required

This is called with an object. Read more about the properties of this object in the section "Children Function".

itemToString

function(item: any) | defaults to: item => (item ? String(item) : '')

If your items are stored as, say, objects instead of strings, downshift still needs a string representation for each one (e.g., to set inputValue).

Note: This callback must include a null check: it is invoked with null whenever the user abandons input via <Esc>.

onChange

function(selectedItem: any, stateAndHelpers: object) | optional, no useful default

Called when the selected item changes, either by the user selecting an item or the user clearing the selection. Called with the item that was selected or null and the new state of downshift. (see onStateChange for more info on stateAndHelpers).

selectedItem: The item that was just selected. null if the selection was cleared.
stateAndHelpers: This is the same thing your children function is called with (see Children Function)

stateReducer

function(state: object, changes: object) | optional

🚨 This is a really handy power feature 🚨

This function will be called each time downshift sets its internal state (or calls your onStateChange handler for control props). It allows you to modify the state change that will take place which can give you fine grain control over how the component interacts with user updates without having to use Control Props. It gives you the current state and the state that will be set, and you return the state that you want to set.

state: The full current state of downshift.
changes: These are the properties that are about to change. This also has a type property which you can learn more about in the stateChangeTypes section.

const ui = (
  <Downshift stateReducer={stateReducer}>{/* your callback */}</Downshift>
)
function stateReducer(state, changes) {
  // this prevents the menu from being closed when the user
  // selects an item with a keyboard or mouse
  switch (changes.type) {
    case Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownEnter:
    case Downshift.stateChangeTypes.clickItem:
      return {
        ...changes,
        isOpen: state.isOpen,
        highlightedIndex: state.highlightedIndex,
      }
    default:
      return changes
  }
}

NOTE: This is only called when state actually changes. You should not attempt to 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: <input onBlur={handleBlur} /> should be <input {...getInputProps({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.

Advanced Props

initialSelectedItem

any | defaults to null

Pass an item or an array of items that should be selected when downshift is initialized.

initialInputValue

string | defaults to ''

This is the initial input value when downshift is initialized.

initialHighlightedIndex

number/null | defaults to defaultHighlightedIndex

This is the initial value to set the highlighted index to when downshift is initialized.

initialIsOpen

boolean | defaults to defaultIsOpen

This is the initial isOpen value when downshift is initialized.

defaultHighlightedIndex

number/null | defaults to null

This is the value to set the highlightedIndex to anytime downshift is reset, when the selection is cleared, when an item is selected or when the inputValue is changed.

defaultIsOpen

boolean | defaults to false

This is the value to set the isOpen to anytime downshift is reset, when the the selection is cleared, or when an item is selected.

selectedItemChanged

function(prevItem: any, item: any) | defaults to: (prevItem, item) => (prevItem !== item)

Used to determine if the new selectedItem has changed compared to the previous selectedItem and properly update Downshift's internal state.

getA11yStatusMessage

function({/* see below */}) | default messages provided in English

This function is passed as props to a Status component nested within and allows you to create your own assertive ARIA statuses.

A default getA11yStatusMessage function is provided that will check resultCount and return "No results are available." or if there are results , "resultCount results are available, use up and down arrow keys to navigate. Press Enter key to select."

The object you are passed to generate your status message has the following properties:

property	type	description
`highlightedIndex`	`number`/`null`	The currently highlighted index
`highlightedItem`	`any`	The value of the highlighted item
`inputValue`	`string`	The current input value
`isOpen`	`boolean`	The `isOpen` state
`itemToString`	`function(any)`	The `itemToString` function (see props) for getting the string value from one of the options
`previousResultCount`	`number`	The total items showing in the dropdown the last time the status was updated
`resultCount`	`number`	The total items showing in the dropdown
`selectedItem`	`any`	The value of the currently selected item

onSelect

function(selectedItem: any, stateAndHelpers: object) | optional, no useful default

Called when the user selects an item, regardless of the previous selected item. Called with the item that was selected and the new state of downshift. (see onStateChange for more info on stateAndHelpers).

selectedItem: The item that was just selected
stateAndHelpers: This is the same thing your children function is called with (see Children Function)

onStateChange

function(changes: object, stateAndHelpers: object) | optional, no useful default

This function is called anytime the internal state changes. This can be useful if you're using downshift as a "controlled" component, where you manage some or all of the state (e.g., isOpen, selectedItem, highlightedIndex, etc) and then pass it as props, rather than letting downshift control all its state itself. The parameters both take the shape of internal state ({highlightedIndex: number, inputValue: string, isOpen: boolean, selectedItem: any}) but differ slightly.

changes: These are the properties that actually have changed since the last state change. This also has a type property which you can learn more about in the stateChangeTypes section.
stateAndHelpers: This is the exact same thing your children function is called with (see Children Function)

Tip: This function will be called any time any state is changed. The best way to determine whether any particular state was changed, you can use changes.hasOwnProperty('propName').

NOTE: This is only called when state actually changes. You should not attempt to 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: <input onBlur={handleBlur} /> should be <input {...getInputProps({onBlur: handleBlur})} />).

onInputValueChange

function(inputValue: string, stateAndHelpers: object) | optional, no useful default

Called whenever the input value changes. Useful to use instead or in combination of onStateChange when inputValue is a controlled prop to avoid issues with cursor positions.

inputValue: The current value of the input
stateAndHelpers: This is the same thing your children function is called with (see Children Function)

itemCount

number | optional, defaults the number of times you call getItemProps

This is useful if you're using some kind of virtual listing component for "windowing" (like react-virtualized).

highlightedIndex

number | control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)

The index that should be highlighted

inputValue

string | control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)

The value the input should have

isOpen

boolean | control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)

Whether the menu should be considered open or closed. Some aspects of the downshift component respond differently based on this value (for example, if isOpen is true when the user hits "Enter" on the input field, then the item at the highlightedIndex item is selected).

selectedItem

any/Array(any) | control prop (read more about this in the Control Props section)

The currently selected item.

id

string | defaults to a generated ID

You should not normally need to set this prop. It's only useful if you're server rendering items (which each have an id prop generated based on the downshift id). For more information see the FAQ below.

inputId

string | defaults to a generated ID

Used for aria attributes and the id prop of the element (input) you use getInputProps with.

labelId

string | defaults to a generated ID

Used for aria attributes and the id prop of the element (label) you use getLabelProps with.

menuId

string | defaults to a generated ID

Used for aria attributes and the id prop of the element (ul) you use getMenuProps with.

getItemId

function(index) | defaults to a function that generates an ID based on the index

Used for aria attributes and the id prop of the element (li) you use getInputProps with.

environment

window | defaults to window

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.

onOuterClick

function(stateAndHelpers: object) | optional

A helper callback to help control internal state of downshift like isOpen as mentioned in this issue. The same behavior can be achieved using onStateChange, but this prop is provided as a helper because it's a fairly common use-case if you're controlling the isOpen state:

const ui = (
  <Downshift
    isOpen={this.state.menuIsOpen}
    onOuterClick={() => this.setState({menuIsOpen: false})}
  >
    {/* your callback */}
  </Downshift>
)

This callback will only be called if isOpen is true.

scrollIntoView

function(node: HTMLElement, menuNode: HTMLElement) | defaults to internal implementation

This allows you to customize how the scrolling works when the highlighted index changes. It receives the node to be scrolled to and the root node (the root node you render in downshift). Internally we use compute-scroll-into-view so if you use that package then you wont be adding any additional bytes to your bundle :)

stateChangeTypes

There are a few props that expose changes to state (onStateChange and stateReducer). For you to make the most of these APIs, it's important for you to understand why state is being changed. To accomplish this, there's a type property on the changes object you get. This type corresponds to a Downshift.stateChangeTypes property.

The list of all possible values this type property can take is defined in this file and is as follows:

Downshift.stateChangeTypes.unknown
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.mouseUp
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.itemMouseEnter
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownArrowUp
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownArrowDown
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownEscape
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownEnter
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownHome
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownEnd
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.clickItem
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.blurInput
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.changeInput
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.keyDownSpaceButton
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.clickButton
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.blurButton
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.controlledPropUpdatedSelectedItem
Downshift.stateChangeTypes.touchEnd

See stateReducer for a concrete example on how to use the type property.

Control Props

downshift manages its own state internally and calls your onChange and onStateChange handlers with any relevant changes. The state that downshift manages includes: isOpen, selectedItem, inputValue, and highlightedIndex. Your Children 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

Children Function

This is where you render whatever you want to based on the state of downshift. You use it like so:

const ui = (
  <Downshift>
    {downshift => (
      // use downshift utilities and state here, like downshift.isOpen,
      // downshift.getInputProps, etc.
      <div>{/* more jsx here */}</div>
    )}
  </Downshift>
)

The properties of this downshift object can be split into three categories as indicated below:

prop getters

See the blog post about prop getters

NOTE: These prop-getters provide important 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: <input {...getInputProps()})). It's advisable to pass all your props to that function rather than applying them on the element yourself to avoid your props being overridden (or overriding the props returned). For example: getInputProps({onKeyUp(event) {console.log(event)}}).

property	type	description
`getToggleButtonProps`	`function({})`	returns the props you should apply to any menu toggle button element you render.
`getInputProps`	`function({})`	returns the props you should apply to the `input` element that you render.
`getItemProps`	`function({})`	returns the props you should apply to any menu item elements you render.
`getLabelProps`	`function({})`	returns the props you should apply to the `label` element that you render.
`getMenuProps`	`function({},{})`	returns the props you should apply to the `ul` element (or root of your menu) that you render.
`getRootProps`	`function({},{})`	returns the props you should apply to the root element that you render. It can be optional.

`getRootProps`

If you cannot render a div as the root element, then read this

Most of the time, you can just render a div yourself and Downshift will apply the props it needs to do its job (and you don't need to call this function). However, if you're rendering a composite component (custom component) as the root element, then you'll need to call getRootProps and apply that to your root element (downshift will throw an error otherwise).

There are no required properties for this method.

Optional properties:

refKey: if you're rendering a composite component, that component will need to accept a prop which it forwards to the root DOM element. Commonly, folks call this innerRef. So you'd call: getRootProps({refKey: 'innerRef'}) and your composite component would forward like: <div ref={props.innerRef} />. It defaults to ref.

If you're rendering a composite component, Downshift checks that getRootProps is called and that refKey is a prop of the returned composite component. This is done to catch common causes of errors but, in some cases, the check could fail even if the ref is correctly forwarded to the root DOM component. In these cases, you can provide the object {suppressRefError : true} as the second argument to getRootProps to completely bypass the check.
Please use it with extreme care and only if you are absolutely sure that the ref is correctly forwarded otherwise Downshift will unexpectedly fail.
See #235 for the discussion that lead to this.

`getInputProps`

This method should be applied to the input you render. It is recommended that you pass all props as an object to this method which will compose together any of the event handlers you need to apply to the input while preserving the ones that downshift needs to apply to make the input behave.

There are no required properties for this method.

Optional properties:

disabled: If this is set to true, then no event handlers will be returned from getInputProps and a disabled prop will be returned (effectively disabling the input).
aria-label: By default the menu will add an aria-labelledby that refers to the <label> rendered with getLabelProps. However, if you provide aria-label to give a more specific label that describes the options available, then aria-labelledby will not be provided and screen readers can use your aria-label instead.

`getLabelProps`

This method should be applied to the label you render. It is useful for ensuring that the for attribute on the <label> (htmlFor as a react prop) is the same as the id that appears on the input. If no htmlFor is provided (the normal case) then an ID will be generated and used for the input and the label for attribute.

There are no required properties for this method.

Note: For accessibility purposes, calling this method is highly recommended.

`getMenuProps`

This method should be applied to the element which contains your list of items. Typically, this will be a <div> or a <ul> that surrounds a map expression. This handles the proper ARIA roles and attributes.

Optional properties:

refKey: if you're rendering a composite component, that component will need to accept a prop which it forwards to the root DOM element. Commonly, folks call this innerRef. So you'd call: getMenuProps({refKey: 'innerRef'}) and your composite component would forward like: <ul ref={props.innerRef} />. However, if you are just rendering a primitive component like <div>, there is no need to specify this property. It defaults to ref.

Please keep in mind that menus, for accessibility purposes, should always be rendered, regardless of whether you hide it or not. Otherwise, getMenuProps may throw error if you unmount and remount the menu.
aria-label: By default the menu will add an aria-labelledby that refers to the <label> rendered with getLabelProps. However, if you provide aria-label to give a more specific label that describes the options available, then aria-labelledby will not be provided and screen readers can use your aria-label instead.

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 getMenuProps. Please use it with extreme care and only if you are absolutely sure that the ref is correctly forwarded otherwise Downshift will unexpectedly fail.

<ul {...getMenuProps()}>
  {!isOpen
    ? null
    : items.map((item, index) => (
        <li {...getItemProps({item, index, key: item.id})}>{item.name}</li>
      ))}
</ul>

Note that for accessibility reasons it's best if you always render this element whether or not downshift is in an isOpen state.

`getItemProps`

The props returned from calling this function should be applied to any menu items you render.

This is an impure function, so it should only be called when you will actually be applying the props to an item.

What do you mean by impure function?

Basically just don't do this:

items.map(item => {
  const props = getItemProps({item}) // we're calling it here
  if (!shouldRenderItem(item)) {
    return null // but we're not using props, and downshift thinks we are...
  }
  return <div {...props} />
})

Instead, you could do this:

items.filter(shouldRenderItem).map(item => <div {...getItemProps({item})} />)

Required properties:

item: this is the item data that will be selected when the user selects a particular item.

Optional properties:

index: This is how downshift keeps track of your item when updating the highlightedIndex as the user keys around. By default, downshift will assume the index is the order in which you're calling getItemProps. This is often good enough, but if you find odd behavior, try setting this explicitly. It's probably best to be explicit about index when using a windowing library like react-virtualized.
disabled: If this is set to true, then all of the downshift item event handlers will be omitted. Items will not be highlighted when hovered, and items will not be selected when clicked.

`getToggleButtonProps`

Call this and apply the returned props to a button. It allows you to toggle the Menu component. You can definitely build something like this yourself (all of the available APIs are exposed to you), but this is nice because it will also apply all of the proper ARIA attributes.

Optional properties:

disabled: If this is set to true, then all of the downshift button event handlers will be omitted (it wont toggle the menu when clicked).
aria-label: The aria-label prop is in English. You should probably override this yourself so you can provide translations:

"const myButton = (

The problem

This solution

Downshift

Table of Contents

Installation

Usage

Basic Props

children

itemToString

onChange

stateReducer

Advanced Props

initialSelectedItem

initialInputValue

initialHighlightedIndex

initialIsOpen

defaultHighlightedIndex

defaultIsOpen

selectedItemChanged

getA11yStatusMessage

onSelect

onStateChange

onInputValueChange

itemCount

highlightedIndex

inputValue

isOpen

selectedItem

id

inputId

labelId

menuId

getItemId

environment

onOuterClick

scrollIntoView

stateChangeTypes

Control Props

Children Function

prop getters

getRootProps

getInputProps

getLabelProps

getMenuProps

getItemProps

getToggleButtonProps

`getRootProps`

`getInputProps`

`getLabelProps`

`getMenuProps`

`getItemProps`

`getToggleButtonProps`