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Version: legacy

Dropdown Behavior

caution

The following references to Autocomplete.js are outdated. If you would like to try the latest version, please visit the Autocomplete documentation

Our JavaScript library DocSearch.js is a wrapper of the Algolia autocomplete.js library. This library listens to every keystrokes typed in the search input, queries Algolia, and displays the results in a dropdown. Everything is already configured for you to work with DocSearch. Our UI library also exposes configuration options you can use to go even further. You will discover Algolia out of the box for documentation. Let's start the learn as you type experience.

appId​

It defines your own application ID using the appId key.

docsearch({
  appId: '<YOUR_APP_ID>',
  […],
});

handleSelected​

This method is called when a suggestion is selected (either from a click or a keystroke). By default, DocSearch displays anchor links to the results page. You can override results (also called hits) to add your own behavior. Note that you can already open a new tab thanks to the CMD/CTRL + Click action.

The method is called with the following arguments:

  • input: a reference to the search input element. It comes with the .open(), .close(), .getVal() and .setVal() methods.

  • event: the actual event triggering the selection.

  • suggestion: the object representing the current selection. It contains a .url key representing the destination.

  • datasetNumber: this should always be equal to 1 as DocSearch is searching into one dataset at a time. You can ignore this attribute.

  • context: additional information about the selection. Contains a .selectionMethod key that can be either click, enterKey, tabKey or blur, depending how the suggestion was selected.

docsearch({
  // ...
  handleSelected: function (input, event, suggestion, datasetNumber, context) {
    // Prevents the default behavior on click and rather opens the suggestion
    // in a new tab.
    if (context.selectionMethod === 'click') {
      input.setVal('');

      const windowReference = window.open(suggestion.url, '_blank');
      windowReference.focus();
    }
  },
});

You can try it live on CodeSandbox.

queryHook​

This method is called on every keystroke to transform the typed keywords before querying Algolia. By default, it does not do anything, but we provide this hook for you to add your own logic if needed.

docsearch({
  […],
  queryHook: function(query) {
    // Transform query, and then return the updated version
  }
});

transformData​

This method will be called on every hit before displaying them. It doesn't do anything by default, but we provide this hook for you to add your own logic and pre-process the hits returned by Algolia.

docsearch({
  […],
  transformData: function(hits) {
    // Transform the list of hits
  }
});

autocompleteOptions​

You can pass any options to the underlying Autocomplete.js library by using the autocompleteOptions parameter. You can find the list of all available values in the official documentation.

You can also listen to autocomplete events through the .autocomplete property of the docsearch instance.

const search = docsearch({
  […],
  autocompleteOptions: {
    // See https://github.com/algolia/autocomplete/tree/master#global-options
  }
});

// See https://github.com/algolia/autocomplete/tree/master#custom-events
search.autocomplete.on('autocomplete:opened', event => {
});

algoliaOptions​

You can forward search parameters to the Algolia API by using the algoliaOptions key. You can find all Algolia API options in their own documentation.

For example, you might want to increase the number of results displayed in the dropdown. hitsPerPage set the number of shown hits.

docsearch({
  algoliaOptions: {
    hitsPerPage: 10,
    // See https://www.algolia.com/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/
  },
});