React Select: The complete guide

This article was originally published on the Metered blog: React Select: The complete guide

In this article we are going to learn about the react select library and how you can use it in your project. Here is what we are going to learn in this article

Setting up the environment and installing the React Select
Basic Implementation of React Select with code examples
Styling the React Select with the styles prop
Customizing the theme Object
Handling Complex data structures like Grouped, Nested and Custom Select options
Asynchronous Options: Fetching options from an API
Accessibility and Performance Enhancements

Setting up the environment

Open the root folder of your react application, For this article I am going to use the code sandbox to show you how the react select library works

then in the root folder install the react select library like this

npm install react-select

You can also use yarn to install the react select library like

yarn add react-select

then open the project in your code editor.

Now you have installed the react select library in your project. Next, let us create a simple dropdown

Basic implementation of react select library

In this section we are going to implement a basic functionality for the react select library

Open the App.js and import the react from react and import the Select from the react-select library

then in the App(){} function create an Array of Objects with value and label and name it options like so

 const options = [
    { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate' },
    { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry' },
    { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla' }
  ];

than in the return section create a html <Select> tag and give the options = {options} like so

<Select options={options} />

the complete code looks like

import "./styles.css";
import React from "react";
import Select from "react-select";

export default function App() {
  const options = [
    { value: "chocolate", label: "Chocolate" },
    { value: "strawberry", label: "Strawberry" },
    { value: "vanilla", label: "Vanilla" },
  ];

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello Metered and DeadSimpleChat</h1>
      <Select options={options} />
    </div>
  );
}

Styling React Select with the Styles prop

The styles prop accepts an object in which the key are style names of different style components and the values are functions that return style Objects

the parts of the select component might include control, menu option, dropdown and other different parts

Let us consider an example of customizing control and options with the styles prop

import React from 'react';
import Select from 'react-select';

const customStyles = {
  control: (provided) => ({
    ...provided,
    backgroundColor: 'lightgray',
    padding: '5px 10px',
    border: '1px solid black',
    boxShadow: '0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,.2)',
  }),
  option: (provided, state) => ({
    ...provided,
    borderBottom: '1px dotted pink',
    color: state.isSelected ? 'white' : 'black',
    backgroundColor: state.isSelected ? 'hotpink' : 'white',
  }),
};

function App() {
  const options = [
    { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate' },
    { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry' },
    { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla' }
  ];

  return (
    <Select options={options} styles={customStyles} />
  );
}

export default App;

What are we doing here?

Here we have the control style function. This function changes the look of the select control

We have set the backgroundColor to lightgray, we have provided some padding and border and have given a boxShadow as well.

We have to also customize the options, here we have the option function in which we also have the state.

here we have border that is pink and we have the color and the backgroundColor changed depending on the state of being selected or not selected

Customizing the theme

Using React select you can also customize the theme, You can merge the custom theme object with the default theme

This can be used to ensure that the colors font size and other details are consistant across the selects

import React from 'react';
import Select from 'react-select';

function App() {
  const options = [
    { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate' },
    { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry' },
    { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla' }
  ];

  const customTheme = (theme) => ({
    ...theme,
    borderRadius: 0,
    colors: {
      ...theme.colors,
      primary25: 'lightblue', // change Background color of options on hover
      primary: 'darkblue', // change the Background color of the selected option
    },
  });

  return (
    <Select options={options} theme={customTheme} />
  );
}

export default App;

import "./styles.css";
import React from "react";
import Select from "react-select";

const customStyles = {
  control: (provided) => ({
    ...provided,
    backgroundColor: "lightgray",
    padding: "5px 10px",
    border: "1px solid black",
    boxShadow: "0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,.2)",
  }),
  option: (provided, state) => ({
    ...provided,
    borderBottom: "1px dotted pink",
    color: state.isSelected ? "white" : "black",
    backgroundColor: state.isSelected ? "hotpink" : "white",
  }),
};

export default function App() {
  const options = [
    { value: "chocolate", label: "Chocolate" },
    { value: "strawberry", label: "Strawberry" },
    { value: "vanilla", label: "Vanilla" },
  ];

  const customTheme = (theme) => ({
    ...theme,
    borderRadius: 0,
    colors: {
      ...theme.colors,
      primary25: "lightblue", // Background color of options on hover
      primary: "darkblue", // Background color of the selected option
    },
  });

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello Metered and DeadSimpleChat</h1>
      <Select options={options} theme={customTheme} />
    </div>
  );
}

The theme function which here is the customTheme() function. This function gets the default theme Object

This function returns a new theme object with the custom values overridden. For example here we are changing the colors Object to change on hove and we are also changing the selected backgroudColor value.

The above exaples show how we can use the styles prop with theme customization to style the react select components

React Select: Handling Complex Data Structures

Grouped Options

Grouped options lets you categorize related options under a common label. This is mostly used for user navigation and selection and for creating long lists of options

Let us consider and example of implementing grouped options

import "./styles.css";
import React from "react";
import Select from "react-select";

export default function App() {
  const groupedOptions = [
    {
      label: "Fruits",
      options: [
        { value: "apple", label: "Apple" },
        { value: "orange", label: "Orange" },
        { value: "banana", label: "Banana" },
      ],
    },
    {
      label: "Vegetables",
      options: [
        { value: "carrot", label: "Carrot" },
        { value: "broccoli", label: "Broccoli" },
        { value: "onion", label: "Onion" },
      ],
    },
  ];

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello Metered and DeadSimpleChat</h1>
      <Select options={groupedOptions} />
    </div>
  );
}

Grouped Options Structure: the options are arranged in an array of Objects, where each option is an Object with a label as key and an array of Objects as value like so

const groupedOptions = [
  {
    label: 'Fruits',
    options: [
      { value: 'apple', label: 'Apple' },
      { value: 'orange', label: 'Orange' },
      { value: 'banana', label: 'Banana' },
    ],
  },
  {
    label: 'Vegetables',
    options: [
      { value: 'carrot', label: 'Carrot' },
      { value: 'broccoli', label: 'Broccoli' },
      { value: 'onion', label: 'Onion' },
    ],
  },
];

Select component handles the grouped options natively. You just need to pass the groupedoptions array to the options prop and the library will render the options grouped under their respective labels.

Nested Dropdowns:

Nested dropdowns or submenus are not directly supported by the react select library but can be simulated by using custom components.

Custom Options components

Custom options component allow you to render options using custom JSX, this enables you to display complex data structures and the includion of additonal elements such as icons

let us consider an example of implementing custom options component

import React from 'react';
import Select, { components } from 'react-select';

const options = [
  { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate', icon: '🍫' },
  { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry', icon: '🍓' },
  { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla', icon: '🍦' }
];

const CustomOption = (props) => {
  return (
    <components.Option {...props}>
      <span>{props.data.icon}</span> {props.children}
    </components.Option>
  );
};

function App() {
  return <Select options={options} components={{ Option: CustomOption }} />;
}

export default App;

there is a components.Option built in component in the react select library. Here we have a CustomOption component that uses the components.option to customize how each option is rendered.

Here we are adding an emoji icon using the customization.option component

Usability: Custom component is passed to the Select Component through the components prop and we are specifying that the CustomOption component should override the default Option component

In the options array we have the icon property for each option (that contains an emoji for the option). This icon property is used by the CustomOption component to render the icon next to the label

Asynchronous Options: Fetching options from an API

Many times you need to fetch options using an API and render them in real time. React Select gives you the ability to do this.

The use-cases involved include instances where the data set is too large to be downloaded all at once and options depending on what user has choosen or selected somewhere else are rendered in real time

We will use a simple pre built API endpoint to explain the example for you. This API will give you an array of options that you can use to render in your select options bar

Let us consider an example of asynchronous select options

In this example we are going to use the jsonplaceholder.com for our rest api. We are going to get the users and show them in our select dropdown

import "./styles.css";
import React, { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import Select from "react-select";
import axios from "axios";

export default function App() {
  const [options, setOptions] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const fetchOptions = async () => {
      try {
        const response = await axios.get(
          "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users",
        );
        const userOptions = response.data.map((user) => ({
          value: user.id, // using user's ID as the value
          label: user.name, // using user's name as the label
        }));
        setOptions(userOptions);
      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Error fetching data: ", error);
      }
    };
    fetchOptions();
  }, []);
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <h1>Hello Metered and DeadSimpleChat</h1>
      <Select options={options} />
    </div>
  );
}

What are we doing here?

When our component mounts it fetches the user data from the jsonplaceholder.com and then we transform the data that we recieve in to the format that is required by the react select library

We are creating an array of option, in which each options value is the user's id and the label is the user's name

We are using the axios library to async fetch user's data from the jsonplaceholder api

the setOptions functions updates the components state when the data is received from the API and makes the data available for rendering the Select component, thus making the options appear on the screen

Some best practices and consideration when implementing async options

Handling loading states: Consider implementing loading states when bringing data from an api, the remote server might take some time to render or there might be network issues. So implement loading states indicating that the options are being loaded at this point in time
Error handling: Try to include error handling as well, when issues arise you should be able to show to the user that something has happened and the options are unavailable at the moment
Security and CORS: In this example we are using an external api that is designed for testing purposes by in production ensure that there is proper CORS configuration enabled and the endpoints are secure.

Accessibility and Performance Enhancements

The Aria specification enables you to make web content more accessible. The react select library already implements many ARIA attributes by default, but you can also enhance these features by a few minor tweaks

role="combobox" : This indicates that the element is a widget, that is made up of a dropdown and a single line textbox
aria-haspopup="listbox" : Indicates that when you interact with the combobox it shows up a listbox popup
aria-selected , aria-haspopup , aria-expanded and aria-selected are automatically managed by the react select based on user interaction

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