Autocomplete

Help users find and select from a number of options.

Contents

{{ xGovukAutocomplete({
  id: "country",
  name: "country",
  allowEmpty: false,
  label: {
    classes: "govuk-label--l",
    isPageHeading: true,
    text: "Pick a country"
  },
  items: [
    { text: "Austria" },
    { text: "Belgium" },
    { text: "Bulgaria" },
    { text: "Croatia" },
    { text: "Republic of Cyprus" },
    { text: "Czech Republic" },
    { text: "Denmark" },
    { text: "Estonia" },
    { text: "Finland" },
    { text: "France" },
    { text: "Germany" },
    { text: "Greece" },
    { text: "Hungary" },
    { text: "Ireland" },
    { text: "Italy" },
    { text: "Latvia" },
    { text: "Lithuania" },
    { text: "Luxembourg" },
    { text: "Malta" },
    { text: "Netherlands" },
    { text: "Poland" },
    { text: "Portugal" },
    { text: "Romania" },
    { text: "Slovakia" },
    { text: "Slovenia" },
    { text: "Spain" },
    { text: "Sweden" }
  ]
}) }}

This component implements the Accessible autocomplete pattern to enhance a fixed list of options provided by a <select> element.

Unlike an autosuggest component, this component will only allow users to choose from a predetermined list of options.

Component options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as “Required” in the option description.

If you’re using Nunjucks macros in production with html options, or ones ending with html, you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Name Type Description
id string Required. ID for each autocomplete.
name string Required. Name property for the autocomplete.
items array Required. Array of option items for the autocomplete. See items.
value string Value for the option which should be selected. Use this as an alternative to setting the selected option on each individual item.
allowEmpty boolean Whether to allow no answer to be given. Default is false.
autoselect boolean Whether to highlight the first option when the user types in something and receives results. Pressing enter will select it. Default is false.
displayMenu string Specify the way the menu should appear, whether inline or as an overlay. Default is inline.
minLength number The minimum number of characters that should be entered before the autocomplete will attempt to suggest options. When the query length is under this, the aria status region will also provide helpful text to the user informing them they should type in more. Default is 0.
showAllValues boolean Whether all values are shown when the user clicks the input. This is similar to a default select menu, so the autocomplete is rendered with a dropdown arrow to convey this behaviour. Default is false.
showNoOptionsFound boolean Whether to display a ‘No results found’ message when there are no results. Default is true.
describedBy string One or more element IDs to add to the aria-describedby attribute, used to provide additional descriptive information for screenreader users.
label object Label text or HTML by specifying value for either text or html keys. See label.
hint object Options for the hint component. See hint.
errorMessage object Options for the error message component. The error message component will not display if you use a falsy value for errorMessage, for example false or null. See errorMessage.
formGroup object Options for the form-group wrapper. See formGroup.
classes string Classes to add to the autocomplete.
attributes object HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the select.

Options for items

Name Type Description
value string Value for the option item. Defaults to an empty string.
text string Required. Text for the option item.
selected boolean Sets the option as the selected.
disabled boolean Sets the option item as disabled.
attributes object HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the option.

Options for formGroup

Name Type Description
classes string Classes to add to the form group (for example to show error state for the whole group).

Options for label

Name Type Description
text string Required. If html is set, this is not required. Text to use within the label. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
html string Required. If text is set, this is not required. HTML to use within the label. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
for string The value of the for attribute, the ID of the input the label is associated with.
isPageHeading boolean Whether the label also acts as the heading for the page.
classes string Classes to add to the label tag.
attributes object HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the label tag.

Options for hint

Name Type Description
text string Required. If html is set, this is not required. Text to use within the hint. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
html string Required. If text is set, this is not required. HTML to use within the hint. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
id string Optional ID attribute to add to the hint span tag.
classes string Classes to add to the hint span tag.
attributes object HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the hint span tag.