Example of Searchable Dropdown / Picker in React Native

React Native Searchable Dropdown / Picker

This is an example of a Searchable Dropdown / Picker in React Native. To make a Searchable Dropdown in React Native we have a SearchableDropdown component provided by react-native-searchable-dropdown.

React Native Picker is the component that can be used as a drop-down but in case of huge data we have to give the facility to search for the option for that we can use Searchable Dropdown.

How to use the SearchableDropdown component?

<SearchableDropdown
  onTextChange={text => console.log(text)}
  //On text change listner on the searchable input
  onItemSelect={item => alert(JSON.stringify(item))}
  //onItemSelect called after the selection from the dropdown
  containerStyle={{ padding: 5 }}
  //suggestion container style
  textInputStyle={{
    //inserted text style
    padding: 12,
    borderWidth: 1,
    borderColor: '#ccc',
    backgroundColor: '#FAF7F6',
  }}
  itemStyle={{
    //single dropdown item style
    padding: 10,
    marginTop: 2,
    backgroundColor: '#FAF9F8',
    borderColor: '#bbb',
    borderWidth: 1,
  }}
  itemTextStyle={{
    //text style of a single dropdown item
    color: '#222',
  }}
  itemsContainerStyle={{
    //items container style you can pass maxHeight
    //to restrict the items dropdown hieght
    maxHeight: '60%',
  }}
  items={items}
  //mapping of item array
  defaultIndex={2}
  //default selected item index
  placeholder="placeholder"
  //place holder for the search input
  resetValue={false}
  //reset textInput Value with true and false state
  underlineColorAndroid="transparent"
  //To remove the underline from the android input
/>

In this example of the Searchable Dropdown, we will make 2 searchable drop-downs. One of them will have the data from the static array and the other one have the data from calling the rest API. So Let’s get started.

To Make a React Native App

Getting started with React Native will help you to know more about the way you can make a React Native project. We are going to use react native command line interface to make our React Native App.

If you have previously installed a global react-native-cli package, please remove it as it may cause unexpected issues:

npm uninstall -g react-native-cli @react-native-community/cli

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project

npx react-native init ProjectName

If you want to start a new project with a specific React Native version, you can use the --version argument:

npx react-native init ProjectName --version X.XX.X

Note If the above command is failing, you may have old version of react-native or react-native-cli installed globally on your pc. Try uninstalling the cli and run the cli using npx.

This will make a project structure with an index file named App.js in your project directory.

Installation of Dependency

To use SearchableDropdown component you need to install react-native-searchable-dropdown dependency.

To install this open the terminal and jump into your project

cd ProjectName

Run the following command

npm install react-native-searchable-dropdown --save

This command will copy all the dependencies into your node_module directory

Code

Now Open App.js in any code editor and replace the code with the following code

App.js

// Example of Searchable Dropdown / Picker in React Native
// https://aboutreact.com/example-of-searchable-dropdown-picker-in-react-native/

// import React in our code
import React, {useState, useEffect} from 'react';

// import all the components we are going to use
import {SafeAreaView, StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';

// import SearchableDropdown component
import SearchableDropdown from 'react-native-searchable-dropdown';

// Item array for the dropdown
const items = [
  // name key is must. It is to show the text in front
  {id: 1, name: 'angellist'},
  {id: 2, name: 'codepen'},
  {id: 3, name: 'envelope'},
  {id: 4, name: 'etsy'},
  {id: 5, name: 'facebook'},
  {id: 6, name: 'foursquare'},
  {id: 7, name: 'github-alt'},
  {id: 8, name: 'github'},
  {id: 9, name: 'gitlab'},
  {id: 10, name: 'instagram'},
];

const App = () => {
  // Data Source for the SearchableDropdown
  const [serverData, setServerData] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetch('https://abooutreactapis.000webhostapp.com/demosearchables.php')
      .then((response) => response.json())
      .then((responseJson) => {
        //Successful response from the API Call
        setServerData(responseJson.results);
      })
      .catch((error) => {
        console.error(error);
      });
  }, []);

  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={styles.titleText}>
          Example of Searchable Dropdown / Picker in React Native
        </Text>
        <Text style={styles.headingText}>
          Searchable Dropdown from Static Array
        </Text>
        <SearchableDropdown
          onTextChange={(text) => console.log(text)}
          // Listner on the searchable input
          onItemSelect={(item) => alert(JSON.stringify(item))}
          // Called after the selection
          containerStyle={{padding: 5}}
          // Suggestion container style
          textInputStyle={{
            // Inserted text style
            padding: 12,
            borderWidth: 1,
            borderColor: '#ccc',
            backgroundColor: '#FAF7F6',
          }}
          itemStyle={{
            // Single dropdown item style
            padding: 10,
            marginTop: 2,
            backgroundColor: '#FAF9F8',
            borderColor: '#bbb',
            borderWidth: 1,
          }}
          itemTextStyle={{
            // Text style of a single dropdown item
            color: '#222',
          }}
          itemsContainerStyle={{
            // Items container style you can pass maxHeight
            // To restrict the items dropdown hieght
            maxHeight: '60%',
          }}
          items={items}
          // Mapping of item array
          defaultIndex={2}
          // Default selected item index
          placeholder="placeholder"
          // place holder for the search input
          resPtValue={false}
          // Reset textInput Value with true and false state
          underlineColorAndroid="transparent"
          // To remove the underline from the android input
        />
        <Text style={styles.headingText}>
          Searchable Dropdown from Dynamic Array from Server
        </Text>
        <SearchableDropdown
          onTextChange={(text) => console.log(text)}
          // Change listner on the searchable input
          onItemSelect={(item) => alert(JSON.stringify(item))}
          // Called after the selection from the dropdown
          containerStyle={{padding: 5}}
          // Suggestion container style
          textInputStyle={{
            // Inserted text style
            padding: 12,
            borderWidth: 1,
            borderColor: '#ccc',
            backgroundColor: '#FAF7F6',
          }}
          itemStyle={{
            // Single dropdown item style
            padding: 10,
            marginTop: 2,
            backgroundColor: '#FAF9F8',
            borderColor: '#bbb',
            borderWidth: 1,
          }}
          itemTextStyle={{
            // Text style of a single dropdown item
            color: '#222',
          }}
          itemsContainerStyle={{
            // Items container style you can pass maxHeight
            // To restrict the items dropdown hieght
            maxHeight: '50%',
          }}
          items={serverData}
          // Mapping of item array
          defaultIndex={2}
          // Default selected item index
          placeholder="placeholder"
          // Place holder for the search input
          resetValue={false}
          // Reset textInput Value with true and false state
          underlineColorAndroid="transparent"
          // To remove the underline from the android input
        />
      </View>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

export default App;

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    padding: 10,
  },
  titleText: {
    padding: 8,
    fontSize: 16,
    textAlign: 'center',
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
  headingText: {
    padding: 8,
  },
});

To Run the React Native App

Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.

cd ProjectName

1. Start Metro Bundler

First, you will need to start Metro, the JavaScript bundler that ships with React Native. To start Metro bundler run following command:

npx react-native start

Once you start Metro Bundler it will run forever on your terminal until you close it. Let Metro Bundler run in its own terminal. Open a new terminal and run the application.

2. Start React Native Application

To run the project on an Android Virtual Device or on real debugging device:

npx react-native run-android

or on the iOS Simulator by running (macOS only)

npx react-native run-ios

Output Screenshots

Output in Online Emulator

That was the example of the searchable dropdown/picker in React Native. If you have any doubts or want to share something about the topic you can comment below or contact us here. There will be more posts coming soon. Stay tuned!

Hope you liked it. 🙂