/emberx-select

Select component for Ember based on the native html select element.

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

emberx-select

npm version Ember Observer Score Build Status

A Select component based on the native html select.

Why a select component? Because Ember.Select is hard to use, and really, all you want to do is just use a <select> tag dammit. The only difference is that you want value of the options to be any object and not just a string.

By allowing arbitrary html to appear in the template of the select element, you can use it just like you would normally. This means things like having <optgroup> tags inside your select, or even plain old <option> elements to represent things like empty values.

XSelect thinly wraps a native <select> element so that it can be object and binding aware. It is used in conjuction with the x-option component to construct select boxes. E.g.

{{#x-select value=bob action="selectPerson"}}
  {{#x-option value=fred}}Fred Flintstone{{/x-option}}
  {{#x-option value=bob}}Bob Newhart{{/x-option}}
{{/x-select}}

the options are always up to date, so that when the object bound to value changes, the corresponding option becomes selected.

Whenever the select tag receives a change event, it will fire action

Multiselect

As of version 1.1.0, emberx-select supports the multiple option. This means you can pass an array as its value, and it will set its selections directly on that array.

{{#x-select value=selections multiple=true action="selectionsChanged"}}
 {{#x-option value=fred}}Fred Flintstone{{/x-option}}
 {{#x-option value=bob}}Bob Newhart{{/x-option}}
 {{#x-option value=andrew}}Andrew WK{{/x-option}}
{{/x-select}}

The selections array will be initialized to an empty array if not present.

Heads Up! This will mutate the contents of your value array as the user changes their selections. This can lead to strange behavior and inconsistencies if you are using computed arrays and/or ember-data hasMany relationships. Just remember, you can't go wrong if you use just a simple array.

Test Helpers

Since emberx-select uses internal identifiers as the value attribute, it doesn't integrate with the fillIn test helper.

Instead, select options based on their text values. To do so, import and invoke the registerSelectHelper in your tests/test-helper.js:

// tests/test-helper.js
import registerSelectHelper from 'emberx-select/helpers/register-select-helper';

registerSelectHelper();

Then in your test:

andThen(function() {
  select('.my-drop-down', 'My Option');
  });

Blockless Form

As of version 1.1.2, x-select can be invoked in a blockless form which is API compatible with Ember.SelectView. While most of the time you want to use it in block-form, there are some cases where it makes more sense to specify your select on a single line. Also, it makes a more incremental approach to migrating from SelectView possible.

{{x-select action="tagYouAreIt" disabled=isDisabled
  multiple=true
  content=folks
  selection=it
  optionValuePath="content.id"
  optionLabelPath="content.name"}}

Action and Action Arguments

The action that is dispatched by x-select whenever the selected value or values change has a function signature of:

/**
* @param value {Object} the value selected by the user.
* @param component {Ember.Component} the x-select component itself
*/
function (value, component) {
  // action body...
}

Most of the time all you need is the value that has been selected, but sometimes your action requires more context than just that. In those cases, you can associate arbitrary attributes with the component itself and use them later inside your action handler. For example:

{{#x-select action="didMakeSelection" default=anything}}
  <option>Nothing</option>
  {{#x-option value=something}}Something{{/x-option}}
{{/x-select}}

then, inside your action handler:

export default Ember.Route.extend({
  actions: {
    didMakeSelection: function(selection, component) {
      if (selection) {
        this.set('selection', selection)
      } else {
        this.set('selection', component.get('default'))
      }
    }
  }
});

EmberX

emberx-select is part of the "missing components of ember" collectively known as emberx. See also:

Installation

ember install emberx-select

Running Tests

  • ember test
  • ember test --server