react-select vs react-tag-autocomplete
React Component Libraries for Select Inputs Comparison
1 Year
react-selectreact-tag-autocompleteSimilar Packages:
What's React Component Libraries for Select Inputs?

Both 'react-select' and 'react-tag-autocomplete' are libraries designed to enhance user experience when selecting options in forms. They provide customizable and user-friendly interfaces for selecting single or multiple items from a list. 'react-select' is a versatile library that supports various features such as searching, grouping, and async options, making it suitable for complex selection scenarios. On the other hand, 'react-tag-autocomplete' focuses on tagging functionality, allowing users to create and manage tags easily. This library is ideal for scenarios where users need to input custom values or select from a predefined set of tags, enhancing the overall interactivity of forms.

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react-select3,316,84727,726724 kB438a month agoMIT
react-tag-autocomplete20,771192381 kB82 months agoISC
Feature Comparison: react-select vs react-tag-autocomplete

Customization

  • react-select:

    'react-select' offers extensive customization options, allowing developers to modify styles, components, and behaviors. You can easily customize the appearance of the dropdown, control how options are rendered, and even create custom components for selected items, enhancing the user experience significantly.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    'react-tag-autocomplete' provides a straightforward API for customizing the appearance of tags and the input field. While it may not have as many customization options as 'react-select', it allows for basic styling and behavior modifications to fit the application's design.

User Experience

  • react-select:

    With features like keyboard navigation, search functionality, and clear indicators for selected options, 'react-select' enhances the user experience significantly. It is designed to handle large datasets efficiently, providing a smooth and responsive interface even with many options.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    This library focuses on a user-friendly tagging experience, allowing users to easily add, remove, and manage tags. The autocomplete feature helps users find existing tags quickly, making it intuitive for users to create and manage their selections.

Performance

  • react-select:

    'react-select' is optimized for performance, especially with large datasets. It employs virtualization techniques to render only the visible options, reducing the rendering load and improving responsiveness in scenarios with many selectable items.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    While 'react-tag-autocomplete' is generally performant, it may not handle extremely large datasets as efficiently as 'react-select'. However, it is still suitable for most tagging scenarios and provides a responsive user interface.

Integration

  • react-select:

    'react-select' integrates well with various form libraries like Formik and React Hook Form, making it easy to manage form state and validation. Its flexibility allows for seamless integration into existing React applications.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    'react-tag-autocomplete' also integrates well with form libraries, but its primary focus is on tagging functionality. It is best suited for scenarios where tagging is a core feature, making it easy to implement in applications that require such functionality.

Community and Support

  • react-select:

    'react-select' has a large community and extensive documentation, providing ample resources for developers. Its popularity ensures that you can find solutions to common issues and access a wealth of examples and tutorials.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    While 'react-tag-autocomplete' has a smaller community compared to 'react-select', it still offers good documentation and support. However, you may find fewer resources and examples available for complex use cases.

How to Choose: react-select vs react-tag-autocomplete
  • react-select:

    Choose 'react-select' if you need a highly customizable and feature-rich dropdown component that supports searching, multi-select, and async loading of options. It is well-suited for applications requiring complex selection logic and a polished user interface.

  • react-tag-autocomplete:

    Choose 'react-tag-autocomplete' if your application requires a tagging system where users can input custom tags or select from existing ones. This library is ideal for scenarios where tagging is a primary feature, such as in social media applications or content management systems.

README for react-select

NPM CircleCI Coverage Status Supported by Thinkmill

React-Select

The Select control for React. Initially built for use in KeystoneJS.

See react-select.com for live demos and comprehensive docs.

React Select is funded by Thinkmill and Atlassian. It represents a whole new approach to developing powerful React.js components that just work out of the box, while being extremely customisable.

For the story behind this component, watch Jed's talk at React Conf 2019 - building React Select

Features include:

  • Flexible approach to data, with customisable functions
  • Extensible styling API with emotion
  • Component Injection API for complete control over the UI behaviour
  • Controllable state props and modular architecture
  • Long-requested features like option groups, portal support, animation, and more

Using an older version?

Installation and usage

The easiest way to use react-select is to install it from npm and build it into your app with Webpack.

yarn add react-select

Then use it in your app:

With React Component

import React from 'react';
import Select from 'react-select';

const options = [
  { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate' },
  { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry' },
  { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla' },
];

class App extends React.Component {
  state = {
    selectedOption: null,
  };
  handleChange = (selectedOption) => {
    this.setState({ selectedOption }, () =>
      console.log(`Option selected:`, this.state.selectedOption)
    );
  };
  render() {
    const { selectedOption } = this.state;

    return (
      <Select
        value={selectedOption}
        onChange={this.handleChange}
        options={options}
      />
    );
  }
}

With React Hooks

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import Select from 'react-select';

const options = [
  { value: 'chocolate', label: 'Chocolate' },
  { value: 'strawberry', label: 'Strawberry' },
  { value: 'vanilla', label: 'Vanilla' },
];

export default function App() {
  const [selectedOption, setSelectedOption] = useState(null);

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <Select
        defaultValue={selectedOption}
        onChange={setSelectedOption}
        options={options}
      />
    </div>
  );
}

Props

Common props you may want to specify include:

  • autoFocus - focus the control when it mounts
  • className - apply a className to the control
  • classNamePrefix - apply classNames to inner elements with the given prefix
  • isDisabled - disable the control
  • isMulti - allow the user to select multiple values
  • isSearchable - allow the user to search for matching options
  • name - generate an HTML input with this name, containing the current value
  • onChange - subscribe to change events
  • options - specify the options the user can select from
  • placeholder - change the text displayed when no option is selected
  • noOptionsMessage - ({ inputValue: string }) => string | null - Text to display when there are no options
  • value - control the current value

See the props documentation for complete documentation on the props react-select supports.

Controllable Props

You can control the following props by providing values for them. If you don't, react-select will manage them for you.

  • value / onChange - specify the current value of the control
  • menuIsOpen / onMenuOpen / onMenuClose - control whether the menu is open
  • inputValue / onInputChange - control the value of the search input (changing this will update the available options)

If you don't provide these props, you can set the initial value of the state they control:

  • defaultValue - set the initial value of the control
  • defaultMenuIsOpen - set the initial open value of the menu
  • defaultInputValue - set the initial value of the search input

Methods

React-select exposes two public methods:

  • focus() - focus the control programmatically
  • blur() - blur the control programmatically

Customisation

Check the docs for more information on:

TypeScript

The v5 release represents a rewrite from JavaScript to TypeScript. The types for v4 and earlier releases are available at @types. See the TypeScript guide for how to use the types starting with v5.

Thanks

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project. It's been a wild ride.

If you like React Select, you should follow me on twitter!

Shout out to Joss Mackison, Charles Lee, Ben Conolly, Tom Walker, Nathan Bierema, Eric Bonow, Emma Hamilton, Dave Brotherstone, Brian Vaughn, and the Atlassian Design System team who along with many other contributors have made this possible ❤️

License

MIT Licensed. Copyright (c) Jed Watson 2022.