Templates in MultiSelect Control

7 Jun 202413 minutes to read

The MultiSelect has been provided with several options to customize each list item, group title, selected value, header, and footer elements. It uses the Essential JS 2 Template engine to compile and render the elements properly.

Item template

The content of each list item within the MultiSelect can be customized with the help of itemTemplate property.

In the following sample, each list item is split into two columns to display relevant data’s.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="customers" query="new ej.data.Query().from('Employees').select(['FirstName', 'City', 'EmployeeID']).take(6)" placeholder="Select a customer" popupHeight="200px"
                          itemTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span><span class='name'>${FirstName}</span><span class ='city'>${City}</span></span>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields value="FirstName"></e-multiselect-fields>
            <e-data-manager url="https://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc/" adaptor="ODataV4Adaptor" crossDomain="true"></e-data-manager>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

<style>
    .city {
        right: 15px;
        position: absolute;
    }
</style>

Itemtemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Itemtemplate()
        {
            return View();
        }       
    }
}

Value template

The currently selected value that is displayed by default on the MultiSelect input element can be customized using the valueTemplate property.

In the following sample, the selected value is displayed as a combined text of both FirstName and City in the MultiSelect input, which is separated by a hyphen.

CSHTML

<div class="control-wrapper">
    <div id="default" style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="customers" query="new ej.data.Query().from('Employees').select(['FirstName', 'City', 'EmployeeID']).take(6)" placeholder="Select a customer" itemTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span><span class='name'>${FirstName}</span><span class ='city'>${City}</span></span>")" valueTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span>${FirstName} - ${City}</span>")" popupHeight="200px">
            <e-multiselect-fields text="FirstName" value="EmployeeID"></e-multiselect-fields>
            <e-data-manager url="https://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc/" adaptor="ODataV4Adaptor" crossDomain="true"></e-data-manager>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

<style>
    .city {
        right: 15px;
        position: absolute;
    }
</style>

Valuetemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult valuetemplate()
        {
            return View();
        }       
    }
}

Group template

The group header title under which appropriate sub-items are categorized can also be customize with the help of groupTemplate property. This template is common for both inline and floating group header template.

In the following sample, employees are grouped according to their city.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="customers" query="new ej.data.Query().from('Employees').select(['FirstName', 'City', 'EmployeeID']).take(6).where(new ej.data.Predicate('City', 'equal','london').or('City','equal','seattle'))" placeholder="Select a customer" popupHeight="200px"
                          groupTemplate="@Html.Raw("<strong>${City}</strong>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields groupBy="City" value="FirstName"></e-multiselect-fields>
            <e-data-manager url="https://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc/" adaptor="ODataV4Adaptor" crossDomain="true"></e-data-manager>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

Grouptemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult grouptemplate()
        {
            return View();
        }       
    }
}

Header template

The header element is shown statically at the top of the popup list items within the MultiSelect, and any custom element can be placed as a header element using the headerTemplate property.

In the following sample, the list items and its headers are designed and displayed as two columns similar to multiple columns of the grid.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="customers" query="new ej.data.Query().from('Employees').select(['FirstName', 'City', 'EmployeeID']).take(6)" placeholder="Find an Employee" popupHeight="200px"
                          headerTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span class='head'><span class='name'>Name</span><span class='city'>City</span></span>")"
                          itemTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span class='item' ><span class='name'>${FirstName}</span><span class='city'>${City}</span></span>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields value="FirstName"></e-multiselect-fields>
            <e-data-manager url="https://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc/" adaptor="ODataV4Adaptor" crossDomain="true"></e-data-manager>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

<style>
    .head, .item {
        display: table;
        width: 100%;
        margin: auto;
    }

    .head {
        height: 40px;
        font-size: 15px;
        font-weight: 600;
    }

    .name, .city {
        display: table-cell;
        vertical-align: middle;
        width: 50%;
    }

    .head .name {
        text-indent: 16px;
    }

    .head .city {
        text-indent: 10px;
    }

Headertemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult headertemplate()
        {
            return View();
        }       
    }
}

Footer template

The MultiSelect has options to show a footer element at the bottom of the list items in the popup list. Here, you can place any custom element as a footer element using the footerTemplate property.

In the following sample, footer element displays the total number of list items present in the MultiSelect.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="employees" dataSource="@ViewBag.data" placeholder="Select a game" popupHeight="270px" mode="Box"
                          footerTemplate="@Html.Raw( "<span class='foot'> Total list items: " + 8 + "</span>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields value="Name"></e-multiselect-fields>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

<style>
    .foot {
        text-indent: 1.2em;
        display: block;
        font-size: 15px;
        line-height: 40px;
        border-top: 1px solid #e0e0e0;
    }
</style>

Footertemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult footertemplate()
        {
            ViewBag.data = new string[] { "Badminton", "Basketball", "Cricket", "Football", "Golf", "Gymnastics", "Hockey", "Tennis" };
            return View();
        }
    }
}

No records template

The MultiSelect is provided with support to custom design the popup list content when no data is found and no matches found on search with the help of noRecordsTemplate property.

In the following sample, popup list content displays the notification of no data available.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="employees" dataSource="@ViewBag.data" placeholder="Select an employee" popupHeight="270px"
                          noRecordsTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span class='norecord'> NO DATA AVAILABLE</span>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields value="Name"></e-multiselect-fields>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

Norecordstemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult norecords()
        {
            ViewBag.data = new string[] { };
            return View();
        }
    }
}

Action failure template

There is also an option to custom design the popup list content when the data fetch request fails at the remote server. This can be achieved using the actionFailureTemplate property.

In the following sample, when the data fetch request fails, the MultiSelect displays the notification.

CSHTML

<div class='control-wrapper'>
    <div style='padding-top:75px;'>
        <ejs-multiselect id="customers" query="new ej.data.Query().from('Employees').select(['FirstName']).take(6)" placeholder="Select a customer" popupHeight="200px"
                          actionFailureTemplate="@Html.Raw("<span class='action-failure'> Data fetch get fails</span>")">
            <e-multiselect-fields value="FirstName"></e-multiselect-fields>
            <e-data-manager url="https://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svcs/" adaptor="ODataV4Adaptor" crossDomain="true"></e-data-manager>
        </ejs-multiselect>
    </div>
</div>

Actionfailuretemplate.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using WebApplication1.Models;

namespace WebApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class MultiSelectController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult actionfailure()
        {
            return View();
        }
    }
}

See Also

• How to bind the data
• How to group the data using header
• How to customize the options in MultiSelect