Getting started with Angular Auto complete component

27 Sep 202311 minutes to read

This section explains how to create a simple AutoComplete component and configure its available functionalities in Angular.

Dependencies

The following list of dependencies are required to use the AutoComplete component in your application.

|-- @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-base
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-data
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-lists
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-inputs
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-navigations
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-popups
        |-- @syncfusion/ej2-buttons
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-angular-base

Setup angular environment

Angular provides the easiest way to set angular CLI projects using Angular CLI tool.

Install the CLI application globally to your machine.

npm install -g @angular/cli

Create a new application

ng new syncfusion-angular-autocomplete

By default, it install the CSS style base application. To setup with SCSS, pass –style=scss argument on create project.

Example code snippet.

ng new syncfusion-angular-autocomplete --style=scss

Navigate to the created project folder.

cd syncfusion-angular-autocomplete

Installing Syncfusion AutoComplete package

Syncfusion packages are distributed in npm as @syncfusion scoped packages. You can get all the Angular Syncfusion package from npm link.

Currently, Syncfusion provides two types of package structures for Angular components,

  1. Ivy library distribution package format
  2. Angular compatibility compiler(Angular’s legacy compilation and rendering pipeline) package.

Ivy library distribution package

Syncfusion Angular packages(>=20.2.36) has been moved to the Ivy distribution to support the Angular Ivy rendering engine and the package are compatible with Angular version 12 and above. To download the package use the below command.

Add @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns package to the application.

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns --save

Angular compatibility compiled package(ngcc)

For Angular version below 12, you can use the legacy (ngcc) package of the Syncfusion Angular components. To download the ngcc package use the below.

Add @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns@ngcc package to the application.

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns@ngcc --save

To mention the ngcc package in the package.json file, add the suffix -ngcc with the package version as below.

@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns:"20.2.38-ngcc"

Note: If the ngcc tag is not specified while installing the package, the Ivy Library Package will be installed and this package will throw a warning.

Registering AutoComplete module

Import AutoComplete module into Angular application(app.module.ts) from the package @syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns [src/app/app.module.ts].

import { NgModule }      from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
// import the AutoCompleteModule for the AutoComplete component
import { AutoCompleteModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { AppComponent }  from './app.component';

@NgModule({
  //declaration of ej2-angular-dropdowns module into NgModule
  imports:      [ BrowserModule, AutoCompleteModule ],
  declarations: [ AppComponent ],
  bootstrap:    [ AppComponent ]
})
export class AppModule { }

Adding CSS reference

The following CSS files are available in ../node_modules/@syncfusion package folder. This can be referenced in [src/styles.css] using following code.

@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-base/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-popups/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-lists/styles/material.css';
@import '../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns/styles/material.css';

Adding AutoComplete component

Modify the template in [src/app/app.component.ts] file to render the AutoComplete component.
Add the Angular Autocomplete by using <ejs-autocomplete> selector in template section of the app.component.ts file.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  // specifies the template string for the AutoComplete component
  template: `<ejs-autocomplete id='atcelement'></ejs-autocomplete>`
})
export class AppComponent  { }

Binding data source

After initializing, populate the data in AutoComplete using dataSource property. Here, an array of string values is passed to the AutoComplete component.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-root',
    // specifies the template string for the AutoComplete component
    template: `<ejs-autocomplete id='atcelement' [dataSource]='sportsData'></ejs-autocomplete>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of data
    public sportsData: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Basketball', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Gymnastics', 'Hockey', 'Rugby', 'Snooker', 'Tennis'];
}

Running the application

After completing the configuration required to render a basic AutoComplete, run the following command to display the output in your default browser.

ng serve

The following example illustrates the output in your browser.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-root',
    // specifies the template string for the AutoComplete component with dataSource
    template: `<ejs-autocomplete id='atcelement' [dataSource]='sportsData'></ejs-autocomplete>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of data
    public sportsData: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Basketball', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Gymnastics'];
}
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { AutoCompleteModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { ButtonModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-buttons';
/**
 * Module
 */
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, AutoCompleteModule, ButtonModule
    ],
    declarations: [AppComponent],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
import { platformBrowserDynamic } from '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic';
import { enableProdMode } from '@angular/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

import 'zone.js';
enableProdMode();
platformBrowserDynamic().bootstrapModule(AppModule);

Configure the popup list

By default, the width of the popup list automatically adjusts according to the DropDownList input element’s width, and the height of the popup list has ‘300px’.

The height and width of the popup list can also be customized using the
popupHeight  and popupWidth properties respectively.

In the following sample, popup list’s width and height are configured.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-root',
    // specifies the template string for the AutoComplete component with dataSource
    template: `<ejs-autocomplete id='atcelement' [dataSource]='sportsData' [popupHeight]='height' [popupWidth]='width' [placeholder]='text'></ejs-autocomplete>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of data
    public sportsData: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Hockey', 'Rugby', 'Snooker', 'Tennis'];
    // set width of the popup list
    public width: string = '250px';
    // set height of the popup list
    public height: string = '200px';
    // set placeholder to autocomplete element
    public text: string = "Find a game"
}
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { AutoCompleteModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { ButtonModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-buttons';
/**
 * Module
 */
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, AutoCompleteModule, ButtonModule
    ],
    declarations: [AppComponent],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
import { platformBrowserDynamic } from '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic';
import { enableProdMode } from '@angular/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

import 'zone.js';
enableProdMode();
platformBrowserDynamic().bootstrapModule(AppModule);

Two-way binding

In AutoComplete, the value property supports two-way binding functionality.

The following example demonstrates how to work with the two-way binding functionality in AutoComplete.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
    selector: 'app-root',
    // specifies the template string for the AutoComplete component and
    // input element for checking the two-way binding support using value property
    template: `<ejs-autocomplete id='atcelement' [dataSource]='sportsData' [(value)]='value'></ejs-autocomplete>
    <div style='margin-top: 50px'>
        <input type="text" [(ngModel)]="value" style="width:245px;height:25px" />
     </div>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of complex data
    public sportsData: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Basketball', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Gymnastics'];
    // set a value to pre-select
    public value: string = 'Badminton';
}
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { AutoCompleteModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { ButtonModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-buttons';
/**
 * Module
 */
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, AutoCompleteModule, ButtonModule
    ],
    declarations: [AppComponent],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
import { platformBrowserDynamic } from '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic';
import { enableProdMode } from '@angular/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

import 'zone.js';
enableProdMode();
platformBrowserDynamic().bootstrapModule(AppModule);

See Also