API Reference / React InstantSearch Widgets / Autocomplete
Apr. 24, 2019

Autocomplete

About this widget

The connectAutoComplete connector provides the logic to create a connected component that renders results from Algolia.

To configure the number of hits retrieved, use the HitsPerPage widget or pass the hitsPerPage prop to a Configure widget.

Customize the UI - connectAutoComplete

If you want to create your own UI of the Autocomplete widget or use another UI library, you can use connectors.

Connectors are higher-order components. They encapsulate the logic for a specific kind of widget and they provide a way to interact with the InstantSearch context.

They have an outer component API that we call exposed props, and they provide some other props to the wrapped components which are called the provided props.

It’s a 3-step process:

// 1. Create a React component
const Autocomplete = () => {
  // return the DOM output
};

// 2. Connect the component using the connector
const CustomAutocomplete = connectAutoComplete(Autocomplete);

// 3. Use your connected widget
<CustomAutocomplete />

See code examples

Create a React component

const Autocomplete = ({
  object[] hits,
  string currentRefinement,
  function refine,
}) => {
  // return the DOM output
}

Provided Props

hits
type: object[]

The records that matched the search. The shape of the array changes between a single index search and a multi-index search (see the examples below):

  • Single index: hit[]
  • Multi index: { index: string, hits: hit[] }[]
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// Single index
const Autocomplete = ({ hits }) => (
  <ul>
    {hits.map(hit => (
      <li key={hit.objectID}>{hit.name}</li>
    ))}
  </ul>
);

// Multi index
const Autocomplete = ({ hits }) => (
  <ul>
    {hits.map(index => (
      <li key={index.index}>
        <h2>{index.index}</h2>
        <ul>
          {index.hits.map(hit => (
            <li key={hit.objectID}>{hit.name}</li>
          ))}
        </ul>
      </li>
    ))}
  </ul>
);
currentRefinement
type: string

The current query.
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const Autocomplete = ({ currentRefinement, refine }) => (
  <input
    type="search"
    value={currentRefinement}
    onChange={event => refine(event.currentTarget.value)}
  />
);
refine
type: function

Changes the query.
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const Autocomplete = ({ currentRefinement, refine }) => (
  <input
    type="search"
    value={currentRefinement}
    onChange={event => refine(event.currentTarget.value)}
  />
);

Create and instantiate your connected widget

const CustomAutocomplete = connectAutoComplete(Autocomplete);

<CustomAutocomplete
  // Optional parameters
  defaultRefinement={string}
/>

Exposed Props

defaultRefinement
type: string
Optional

Provides a default value for the query.
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<CustomAutocomplete defaultRefinement="iphone" />

Full example

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import { connectAutoComplete } from 'react-instantsearch-dom';

const Autocomplete = ({ hits, currentRefinement, refine }) => (
  <ul>
    <li>
      <input
        type="search"
        value={currentRefinement}
        onChange={event => refine(event.currentTarget.value)}
      />
    </li>
    {hits.map(hit => (
      <li key={hit.objectID}>{hit.name}</li>
    ))}
  </ul>
);

const CustomAutocomplete = connectAutoComplete(Autocomplete);

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React InstantSearch v5