@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns

What is @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns?

@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns is a React component library that provides a set of accessible and customizable dropdown components. These components are designed to be used in building user interfaces that require dropdown functionality, such as select menus, autocomplete inputs, and more.

What are @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns's main functionalities?

Select Dropdown

The Select Dropdown feature allows users to choose from a list of options. The code sample demonstrates how to create a dropdown with three options using the Dropdown, Select, and Item components.

import { Dropdown, Select, Item } from '@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns';

const Example = () => (
  <Dropdown>
    <Select>
      Select an option
    </Select>
    <Item value="option-1">Option 1</Item>
    <Item value="option-2">Option 2</Item>
    <Item value="option-3">Option 3</Item>
  </Dropdown>
);

Autocomplete Input

The Autocomplete Input feature provides a text input that suggests options as the user types. The code sample shows how to implement an autocomplete input with three fruit options.

import { Dropdown, Autocomplete, Item } from '@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns';

const Example = () => (
  <Dropdown>
    <Autocomplete placeholder="Type to search...">
      <Item value="apple">Apple</Item>
      <Item value="banana">Banana</Item>
      <Item value="orange">Orange</Item>
    </Autocomplete>
  </Dropdown>
);

Multiselect Dropdown

The Multiselect Dropdown feature allows users to select multiple options from a list. The code sample illustrates how to create a multiselect dropdown with three options.

import { Dropdown, Multiselect, Item } from '@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns';

const Example = () => (
  <Dropdown>
    <Multiselect placeholder="Select options">
      <Item value="option-1">Option 1</Item>
      <Item value="option-2">Option 2</Item>
      <Item value="option-3">Option 3</Item>
    </Multiselect>
  </Dropdown>
);

Other packages similar to @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns

react-select

react-select is a flexible and customizable library for building dropdowns and select inputs in React. It offers a wide range of features including single and multi-select, async options, and customizable styles. Compared to @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns, react-select provides more advanced customization options and is widely used in the React community.

downshift

downshift is a library that provides primitives to build flexible and accessible dropdown components. It focuses on providing the necessary building blocks for creating custom dropdowns, rather than pre-styled components. Compared to @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns, downshift offers more control over the dropdown behavior and is ideal for developers who need to implement highly customized dropdowns.

react-autosuggest

react-autosuggest is a library for building autocomplete inputs in React. It provides a simple API for creating inputs that suggest options as the user types. Compared to @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns, react-autosuggest is specifically focused on autocomplete functionality and offers more features related to suggestion handling and customization.

README

@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns

This package includes components relating to dropdowns in the Garden Design System.

Installation

npm install @zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns

# Peer Dependencies - Also Required
npm install react react-dom styled-components @zendeskgarden/react-theming

Basic Example

import { ThemeProvider } from '@zendeskgarden/react-theming';
import { Dropdown, Menu, Item, Trigger } from '@zendeskgarden/react-dropdowns';

/**
 * Place a `ThemeProvider` at the root of your React application
 */
<ThemeProvider>
  <Dropdown onSelect={value => console.log(`Selected: ${value}`)}>
    <Trigger>
      <button>This triggers a menu</button>
    </Trigger>
    <Menu placement="end" hasArrow>
      <Item value="option-1">Option 1</Item>
      <Item value="option-2">Option 2</Item>
      <Item value="option-3">Option 3</Item>
    </Menu>
  </Dropdown>
</ThemeProvider>;

For all components within the react-dropdowns package, the menu layouts and implementations are interchangeable.

Whether you're making a Select, Autocomplete, or a traditional Menu the <Menu> implementation will adapted to its consumer.

Usage

Overview

The react-dropdowns package abstracts the common concepts of Menus, Selects, and Autocompletes into a common API. This includes consistent visuals, common keyboard interaction, and a fully accessible experience for sighted and non-sighted users.

The customizations available within this can be broken into two groups: placement / positioning and dropdown state

Placement / Positioning

Internally, the <Dropdown> component uses PopperJS for its positioning calculations.

The <Menu> component accepts all customizations regarding placement, boundaries, overflows, etc. via the popperModifiers prop.

/** Customize default overflow settings to position against the `viewport` */
<Menu popperModifiers={{ preventOverflow: { boundariesElement: 'viewport' } }}>
  <Item value="item-1">Item 1</Item>
  <Item value="item-2">Item 2</Item>
  <Item value="item-3">Item 3</Item>
</Menu>

Dropdown State

We use the Downshift render-prop library to handle our keyboard and accessibility logic.

The following states can be controlled directly from the <Dropdown> component:

• isOpen Whether the dropdown is currently open
• highlightedIndex Which index is currently highlighted
• inputValue The value of the input when it's used as an Autocomplete
• selectedItem The currently selected item
• selectedItems The currently selected items

All other customizations may be provided directly to the Downshift provider via the downshiftProps prop.

Downshift provides several advanced customization features that can be very helpful when customizing this component. The stateReducer pattern is a common customization strategy.

Server Side Rendering

If you are using server side rendering you may need to configure specific Downshift settings. This package re-exports the Downshift resetIdCounter utility. It allows resetting the internal id counter which is used to generate unique ids for Downshift.