Getting started with Angular Multi select component

5 Jan 20249 minutes to read

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

Dependencies

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

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

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-multiselect

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-multiselect --style=scss

Navigate to the created project folder.

cd syncfusion-angular-multiselect

Installing Syncfusion MultiSelect 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 MultiSelect module

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

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

@NgModule({
  //declaration of ej2-angular-dropdowns module into NgModule
  imports:      [ BrowserModule, MultiSelectModule ],
  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 MultiSelect component

Modify the template in [src/app/app.component.ts] file to render the Angular MultiSelect component. Add the Angular MultiSelect by using <ejs-multiselect> 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 MultiSelect component
  template: `<ejs-multiselect id='multiselectelement'></ejs-multiselect>`
})
export class AppComponent  { }

Binding data source

After initialization, populate the MultiSelect with data using the dataSource property. Here, an array of string values passed to MultiSelect component.

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

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

Running the application

After completing the configuration required to render a basic MultiSelect, 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 MultiSelect component with dataSource
    template: `<ejs-multiselect id='multiselectelement' [dataSource]='data' [placeholder]='placeholder'></ejs-multiselect>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of data
    public data: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Tennis'];
    // set placeholder to MultiSelect input element
    public placeholder: string = 'Select games';
}
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { MultiSelectModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { ButtonModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-buttons';
/**
 * Module
 */
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, MultiSelectModule, 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 MultiSelect input element’s width, and the height auto adjust’s according to the height of the popup list items.

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 MultiSelect component with dataSource
    template: `<ejs-multiselect id='multiselectelement' [dataSource]='data' [placeholder]='placeholder' [popupHeight]='popupHeight' [popupWidth]='popupWidth'></ejs-multiselect>`
})
export class AppComponent {
    constructor() {
    }
    // defined the array of data
    public data: string[] = ['Badminton', 'Cricket', 'Football', 'Golf', 'Hockey', 'Rugby'];
    // set placeholder to MultiSelect input element
    public placeholder: string = 'Select games';
    //set height to popup list
    public popupHeight:string = '200px';
    //set width to popup list
    public popupWidth:string = '250px';
}
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { MultiSelectModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-dropdowns';
import { ButtonModule } from '@syncfusion/ej2-angular-buttons';
/**
 * Module
 */
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule, MultiSelectModule, 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);

You can refer to our Angular MultiSelect feature tour page for its groundbreaking feature representations. You can also explore our Angular MultiSelect example that shows how to render the MultiSelect Dropdown in Angular.