use-places-autocomplete

What is use-places-autocomplete?

The use-places-autocomplete npm package is a React hook for integrating Google Places Autocomplete functionality into your React applications. It simplifies the process of adding location-based search and suggestions to your app.

What are use-places-autocomplete's main functionalities?

Basic Autocomplete

This feature allows you to implement a basic autocomplete input field that provides location suggestions as the user types. It also includes functionality to handle the selection of a suggestion and retrieve its geocode and coordinates.

import React from 'react';
import usePlacesAutocomplete, { getGeocode, getLatLng } from 'use-places-autocomplete';

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    ready,
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
    clearSuggestions
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  const handleSelect = async (address) => {
    setValue(address, false);
    clearSuggestions();

    try {
      const results = await getGeocode({ address });
      const { lat, lng } = await getLatLng(results[0]);
      console.log("Coordinates: ", { lat, lng });
    } catch (error) {
      console.log("Error: ", error);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        value={value}
        onChange={(e) => setValue(e.target.value)}
        disabled={!ready}
        placeholder="Type an address"
      />
      {status === 'OK' && (
        <ul>
          {data.map(({ place_id, description }) => (
            <li key={place_id} onClick={() => handleSelect(description)}>
              {description}
            </li>
          ))}
        </ul>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

export default PlacesAutocomplete;

Debounced Input

This feature demonstrates how to implement a debounced input field to reduce the number of API calls made as the user types. It uses lodash's debounce function to delay the input handling.

import React from 'react';
import usePlacesAutocomplete, { getGeocode, getLatLng } from 'use-places-autocomplete';
import { debounce } from 'lodash';

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    ready,
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
    clearSuggestions
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  const handleInput = debounce((e) => {
    setValue(e.target.value);
  }, 300);

  const handleSelect = async (address) => {
    setValue(address, false);
    clearSuggestions();

    try {
      const results = await getGeocode({ address });
      const { lat, lng } = await getLatLng(results[0]);
      console.log("Coordinates: ", { lat, lng });
    } catch (error) {
      console.log("Error: ", error);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        onChange={handleInput}
        disabled={!ready}
        placeholder="Type an address"
      />
      {status === 'OK' && (
        <ul>
          {data.map(({ place_id, description }) => (
            <li key={place_id} onClick={() => handleSelect(description)}>
              {description}
            </li>
          ))}
        </ul>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

export default PlacesAutocomplete;

Other packages similar to use-places-autocomplete

react-places-autocomplete

react-places-autocomplete is another popular package for integrating Google Places Autocomplete into React applications. It provides a higher-level component-based API compared to use-places-autocomplete, which is a hook-based solution. This package is suitable for developers who prefer working with components rather than hooks.

react-google-autocomplete

react-google-autocomplete is a lightweight package that provides a simple component for Google Places Autocomplete. It is less feature-rich compared to use-places-autocomplete but is easier to set up and use for basic autocomplete functionality.

README

USE-PLACES-AUTOCOMPLETE

This is a React hook for Google Maps Places Autocomplete, which helps you build a UI component with the feature of place autocomplete easily! By leveraging the power of Google Maps Places API, you can provide a great UX (user experience) for user interacts with your search bar or form, etc. Hope you guys 👍🏻 it.

❤️ it? ⭐️ it on GitHub or Tweet about it.

Live Demo

⚡️ Try yourself: https://use-places-autocomplete.netlify.app

Features

• 🧠 Provides intelligent places suggestions powered by Google Maps Places API.
• 🎣 Builds your own customized autocomplete UI by React hook.
• 🔧 Utility functions to do geocoding and get geographic coordinates using Google Maps Geocoding API.
• 🤑 Built-in cache mechanism for you to save the cost of Google APIs.
• 💰 Built-in debounce mechanism for you to lower the cost of Google APIs.
• 🚀 Supports asynchronous Google script loading.
• 📜 Supports TypeScript type definition.
• ⌨️ Builds a UX-rich component (e.g. WAI-ARIA compliant and keyword support) via comprehensive demo code.
• 🦔 Tiny size (~ 1.7KB gzipped). No external dependencies, aside from the react.

Requirement

To use use-places-autocomplete, you must use react@16.8.0 or greater which includes hooks.

Installation

This package is distributed via npm.

$ yarn add use-places-autocomplete
# or
$ npm install --save use-places-autocomplete

When working with TypeScript you need to install the @types/google.maps as a devDependencies.

$ yarn add --dev @types/google.maps
# or
$ npm install --save-dev @types/google.maps

Getting Started

usePlacesAutocomplete is based on the Places Autocomplete (or more specific docs) of Google Maps Place API. If you are unfamiliar with these APIs, we recommend you review them before we start.

Setup APIs

To use this hook, there're two things we need to do:

• Enable Google Maps Places API.
• Get an API key.

Load the library

Use the script tag to load the library in your project and pass the value of the callback parameter to the callbackName option.

<script
  defer
  src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_API_KEY&libraries=places&callback=YOUR_CALLBACK_NAME"
></script>

⚠️ If you got a global function not found error. Make sure usePlaceAutocomplete is declared before the script was loaded. You can use the async or defer attribute of the <script> element to achieve that.

Create the component

Now we can start to build our component. Check the API out to learn more.

import usePlacesAutocomplete, {
  getGeocode,
  getLatLng,
} from "use-places-autocomplete";
import useOnclickOutside from "react-cool-onclickoutside";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    ready,
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
    clearSuggestions,
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete({
    callbackName: "YOUR_CALLBACK_NAME",
    requestOptions: {
      /* Define search scope here */
    },
    debounce: 300,
  });
  const ref = useOnclickOutside(() => {
    // When the user clicks outside of the component, we can dismiss
    // the searched suggestions by calling this method
    clearSuggestions();
  });

  const handleInput = (e) => {
    // Update the keyword of the input element
    setValue(e.target.value);
  };

  const handleSelect =
    ({ description }) =>
    () => {
      // When the user selects a place, we can replace the keyword without request data from API
      // by setting the second parameter to "false"
      setValue(description, false);
      clearSuggestions();

      // Get latitude and longitude via utility functions
      getGeocode({ address: description }).then((results) => {
        const { lat, lng } = getLatLng(results[0]);
        console.log("📍 Coordinates: ", { lat, lng });
      });
    };

  const renderSuggestions = () =>
    data.map((suggestion) => {
      const {
        place_id,
        structured_formatting: { main_text, secondary_text },
      } = suggestion;

      return (
        <li key={place_id} onClick={handleSelect(suggestion)}>
          <strong>{main_text}</strong> <small>{secondary_text}</small>
        </li>
      );
    });

  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
      <input
        value={value}
        onChange={handleInput}
        disabled={!ready}
        placeholder="Where are you going?"
      />
      {/* We can use the "status" to decide whether we should display the dropdown or not */}
      {status === "OK" && <ul>{renderSuggestions()}</ul>}
    </div>
  );
};

💡 react-cool-onclickoutside is my other hook library, which can help you handle the interaction of user clicks outside of the component(s).

Easy right? This is the magic of usePlacesAutocomplete ✨. I just showed you how it works via a minimal example. However, you can build a UX rich autocomplete component, like WAI-ARIA compliant and keyword interaction like my demo, by checking the code or integrating this hook with the combobox of Reach UI to achieve that.

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";
import {
  Combobox,
  ComboboxInput,
  ComboboxPopover,
  ComboboxList,
  ComboboxOption,
} from "@reach/combobox";

import "@reach/combobox/styles.css";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    ready,
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete({ callbackName: "YOUR_CALLBACK_NAME" });

  const handleInput = (e) => {
    setValue(e.target.value);
  };

  const handleSelect = (val) => {
    setValue(val, false);
  };

  return (
    <Combobox onSelect={handleSelect} aria-labelledby="demo">
      <ComboboxInput value={value} onChange={handleInput} disabled={!ready} />
      <ComboboxPopover>
        <ComboboxList>
          {status === "OK" &&
            data.map(({ place_id, description }) => (
              <ComboboxOption key={place_id} value={description} />
            ))}
        </ComboboxList>
      </ComboboxPopover>
    </Combobox>
  );
};

Lazily Initializing The Hook

When loading the Google Maps Places API via a 3rd-party library, you may need to wait for the script to be ready before using this hook. However, you can lazily initialize the hook in the following ways, depending on your use case.

Option 1, manually initialize the hook:

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";

const App = () => {
  const { init } = usePlacesAutocomplete({
    initOnMount: false, // Disable initializing when the component mounts, default is true
  });

  const [loading] = useGoogleMapsApi({
    library: "places",
    onLoad: () => init(), // Lazily initializing the hook when the script is ready
  });

  return <div>{/* Some components... */}</div>;
};

Option 2, wrap the hook into a conditional component:

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const { ready, value, suggestions, setValue } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  return <div>{/* Some components... */}</div>;
};

const App = () => {
  const [loading] = useGoogleMapsApi({ library: "places" });

  return (
    <div>
      {!loading ? <PlacesAutocomplete /> : null}
      {/* Other components... */}
    </div>
  );
};

Cache Data For You

By default, this library caches the response data to help you save the cost of Google Maps Places API and optimize search performance.

const methods = usePlacesAutocomplete({
  // Provide the cache time in seconds, the default is 24 hours
  cache: 24 * 60 * 60,
});

By the way, the cached data is stored via the Window.sessionStorage API.

Custom cache key

You may need to have multiple caches. For example, if you use different place type restrictions for different pickers in your app.

const methods = usePlacesAutocomplete({
  // Provide a custom cache key
  cacheKey: "region-restricted",
});

Note that usePlacesAutocomplete will prefix this with upa-, so the above would become upa-region-restricted in sessionStorage.

API

const returnObj = usePlacesAutocomplete(parameterObj);

Parameter object (optional)

When using usePlacesAutocomplete, you can configure the following options via the parameter.

Key	Type	Default	Description
requestOptions	object		The request options of Google Maps Places API except for input (e.g. bounds, radius, etc.).
googleMaps	object	window.google.maps	In case you want to provide your own Google Maps object, pass the google.maps to it.
callbackName	string		The value of the callback parameter when loading the Google Maps JavaScript library.
debounce	number	200	Number of milliseconds to delay before making a request to Google Maps Places API.
cache	number | false	86400 (24 hours)	Number of seconds to cache the response data of Google Maps Places API.
cacheKey	string	"upa"	Optional cache key so one can use multiple caches if needed.
defaultValue	string	""	Default value for the input element.
initOnMount	boolean	true	Initialize the hook with Google Maps Places API when the component mounts.

Return object

It's returned with the following properties.

Key	Type	Default	Description
ready	boolean	false	The ready status of usePlacesAutocomplete.
value	string	""	value for the input element.
suggestions	object	{ loading: false, status: "", data: [] }	See suggestions.
setValue	function	(value, shouldFetchData = true) => {}	See setValue.
clearSuggestions	function		See clearSuggestions.
clearCache	function	(key = cacheKey) => {}	Clears the cached data.
init	function		Useful when lazily initializing the hook.

suggestions

The search result of Google Maps Places API, which contains the following properties:

• loading: boolean - indicates the status of a request is pending or has been completed. It's useful for displaying a loading indicator for the user.
• status: string - indicates the status of the API response, which has these values. It's useful to decide whether we should display the dropdown or not.
• data: array - an array of suggestion objects each contains all the data.

setValue

Set the value of the input element. Use the case below.

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const { value, setValue } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  const handleInput = (e) => {
    // Place a "string" to update the value of the input element
    setValue(e.target.value);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input value={value} onChange={handleInput} />
      {/* Render dropdown */}
    </div>
  );
};

In addition, the setValue method has an extra parameter, which can be used to disable hitting Google Maps Places API.

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  const handleSelect =
    ({ description }) =>
    () => {
      // When the user selects a place, we can replace the keyword without requesting data from the API
      // by setting the second parameter to "false"
      setValue(description, false);
    };

  const renderSuggestions = () =>
    data.map((suggestion) => (
      <li key={suggestion.place_id} onClick={handleSelect(suggestion)}>
        {/* Render suggestion text */}
      </li>
    ));

  return (
    <div>
      <input value={value} onChange={handleInput} />
      {status === "OK" && <ul>{renderSuggestions()}</ul>}
    </div>
  );
};

clearSuggestions

Calling the method will clear and reset all the properties of the suggestions object to default. It's useful for dismissing the dropdown.

import usePlacesAutocomplete from "use-places-autocomplete";
import useOnclickOutside from "react-cool-onclickoutside";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const {
    value,
    suggestions: { status, data },
    setValue,
    clearSuggestions,
  } = usePlacesAutocomplete();
  const ref = useOnclickOutside(() => {
    // When the user clicks outside of the component, call it to clear and reset the suggestions data
    clearSuggestions();
  });

  const renderSuggestions = () =>
    data.map((suggestion) => (
      <li key={suggestion.place_id} onClick={handleSelect(suggestion)}>
        {/* Render suggestion text */}
      </li>
    ));

  return (
    <div ref={ref}>
      <input value={value} onChange={handleInput} />
      {/* After calling the clearSuggestions(), the "status" is reset so the dropdown is hidden */}
      {status === "OK" && <ul>{renderSuggestions()}</ul>}
    </div>
  );
};

Utility Functions

We provide getGeocode, getLatLng, getZipCode, and getDetails utils for you to do geocoding and get geographic coordinates when needed.

getGeocode

It helps you convert address (e.g. "Section 5, Xinyi Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan") into geographic coordinates (e.g. latitude 25.033976 and longitude 121.5645389), or restrict the results to a specific area by Google Maps Geocoding API.

In case you want to restrict the results to a specific area, you will have to pass the address and the componentRestrictions matching the GeocoderComponentRestrictions interface.

import { getGeocode } from "use-places-autocomplete";

const parameter = {
  address: "Section 5, Xinyi Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan",
  // or
  placeId: "ChIJraeA2rarQjQRPBBjyR3RxKw",
};

getGeocode(parameter)
  .then((results) => {
    console.log("Geocoding results: ", results);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.log("Error: ", error);
  });

getGeocode is an asynchronous function with the following API:

• parameter: object - you must supply one, only one of address or location or placeId and optionally bounds, componentRestrictions, region. It'll be passed as Geocoding Requests.
• results: array - an array of objects each contains all the data.
• error: string - the error status of API response, which has these values (except for "OK").

getLatLng

It helps you get the lat and lng from the result object of getGeocode.

import { getGeocode, getLatLng } from "use-places-autocomplete";

const parameter = {
  address: "Section 5, Xinyi Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan",
};

getGeocode(parameter).then((results) => {
  const { lat, lng } = getLatLng(results[0]);
  console.log("Coordinates: ", { lat, lng });
});

getLatLng is a function with the following API:

• parameter: object - the result object of getGeocode.
• latLng: object - contains the latitude and longitude properties.
• error: any - an exception.

getZipCode

It helps you get the postal_code from the result object of getGeocode.

import { getGeocode, getZipCode } from "use-places-autocomplete";

const parameter = {
  address: "Section 5, Xinyi Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan",
};

getGeocode(parameter)
  // By default we use the "long_name" value from API response, you can tell the utility to use "short_name"
  // by setting the second parameter to "true"
  .then((results) => {
    const zipCode = getZipCode(results[0], false);
    console.log("ZIP Code: ", zipCode);
  });

getZipCode is a function with the following API:

• parameters - there're two parameters:
  • 1st: object - the result object of getGeocode.
  • 2nd: boolean - should use the short_name or not from API response, default is false.
• zipCode: string | null - the zip code. If the address doesn't have a zip code it will be null.
• error: any - an exception.

getDetails

Retrieves a great deal of information about a particular place ID (suggestion).

import usePlacesAutocomplete, { getDetails } from "use-places-autocomplete";

const PlacesAutocomplete = () => {
  const { suggestions, value, setValue } = usePlacesAutocomplete();

  const handleInput = (e) => {
    // Place a "string" to update the value of the input element
    setValue(e.target.value);
  };

  const submit = () => {
    const parameter = {
      // Use the "place_id" of suggestion from the dropdown (object), here just taking the first suggestion for brevity
      placeId: suggestions[0].place_id,
      // Specify the return data that you want (optional)
      fields: ["name", "rating"],
    };

    getDetails(parameter)
      .then((details) => {
        console.log("Details: ", details);
      })
      .catch((error) => {
        console.log("Error: ", error);
      });
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <input value={value} onChange={handleInput} />
      {/* Render dropdown */}
      <button onClick={submit}>Submit Suggestion</button>
    </div>
  );
};

getDetails is an asynchronous function with the following API:

• parameter: object - the request of the PlacesService's getDetails() method. You must supply the placeId that you would like details about. If you do not specify any fields or omit the fields parameter you will get every field available.
• placeResult: object | null - the details about the specific place your queried.
• error: any - an exception.

⚠️ warning, you are billed based on how much information you retrieve, So it is advised that you retrieve just what you need.

Articles / Blog Posts

💡 If you have written any blog post or article about use-places-autocomplete, please open a PR to add it here.

• Featured on React Status #175.
• Featured on React Newsletter #199.

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

Welly 💻 📖 🚧	Kyle 🌍	Lazar Karić 💻 📖	Raif Harik 💻 📖 🤔	Xerxes Jarquin 🐛	Lucas O'Connell 📖	Keven Jesus 🐛
Vinicius Uehara 📖	Damon 💻	Matthew Marcus 💻	Chris Sandvik 💻	Thomas Yee 📖

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!