Getting started with JavaScript ListBox control

17 Mar 2023 / 4 minutes to read

This section explains how to create a simple ListBox component and configure its available functionalities in TypeScript using the Essential JS 2 quickstart seed repository.

Dependencies

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

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

Set up of the development environment

To get started with the ListBox component, you have to clone the Essential JS 2 quickstart project and install the npm packages by using the following commands.

git clone https://github.com/syncfusion/ej2-quickstart.git quickstart
cd quickstart
npm install

The project is preconfigured with common settings (src/styles/styles.css, system.config.js ) to start all the Essential JS 2 components.

Refer to the Button component dependencies in system.config.js configuration file.

[src/system.config.js]

System.config({
paths: {
    'npm:': './node_modules/',
    'syncfusion:': 'npm:@syncfusion/'
},
map: {
    app: 'app',

    //Syncfusion packages mapping
    "@syncfusion/ej2-base": "syncfusion:ej2-base/dist/ej2-base.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-data": "syncfusion:ej2-data/dist/ej2-data.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-inputs": "syncfusion:ej2-inputs/dist/ej2-inputs.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-buttons": "syncfusion:ej2-buttons/dist/ej2-buttons.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-lists": "syncfusion:ej2-lists/dist/ej2-lists.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-popups": "syncfusion:ej2-popups/dist/ej2-popups.umd.min.js",
    "@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns": "syncfusion:ej2-dropdowns/dist/ej2-dropdowns.umd.min.js",
},
packages: {
    'app': { main: 'app', defaultExtension: 'js' }
}
});

System.import('app.ts').catch(console.error.bind(console)).then(function () {
document.getElementById('loader').style.display = "none";
document.getElementById('container').style.visibility = "visible";
});

Initialize the ListBox

Add the HTML input element that needs to be initialized as a ListBox in index.html.

[src/index.html]

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
<title>Essential JS 2 ListBox component</title>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no" />
<meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2" />
<meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<!--style reference from app-->
<link href="/styles/styles.css" rel="stylesheet" />

<!--system js reference and configuration-->
<script src="node_modules/systemjs/dist/system.src.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="system.config.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
<div id='container' style="margin:0 auto; width:300px;">
    <!--element which is going to render the ListBox-->
    <input id='listbox' />
</div>

</body>

</html>

Now, import the ListBox component to your app.ts and initialize it to the element #listbox as shown below.

[src/app/app.ts]

import { ListBox } from '@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns';

// initialize ListBox component
let listObj: ListBox = new ListBox();

// render initialized ListBox
listObj.appendTo('#listbox');

Binding data source

After initialization, populate the ListBox with data using the dataSource property. Here, an array of object is passed to the ListBox component.

import { ListBox } from '@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns';

// define the array of object
let data: { [key: string]: Object }[] = [
{ text: 'Hennessey Venom' },
{ text: 'Bugatti Chiron' },
{ text: 'Bugatti Veyron Super Sport' },
{ text: 'SSC Ultimate Aero' },
{ text: 'Koenigsegg CCR' },
{ text: 'McLaren F1' },
{ text: 'Aston Martin One- 77' },
{ text: 'Jaguar XJ220' },
{ text: 'McLaren P1' },
{ text: 'Ferrari LaFerrari' },
];

// initialize ListBox component
let listObj: ListBox = new ListBox({
//set the data to dataSource property
dataSource: data
});
listObj.appendTo('#listbox');

Adding Style sheet to the Application

To render Listbox component, need to import dropdowns and its dependent components styles as given below in styles.css.

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

Run the application

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

npm start

The following example illustrates the output in your browser.

Source

Preview

app.ts

index.html

import { ListBox } from '@syncfusion/ej2-dropdowns';

// define the array of object
let data: { [key: string]: Object }[] = [
{ text: 'Hennessey Venom' },
{ text: 'Bugatti Chiron' },
{ text: 'Bugatti Veyron Super Sport' },
{ text: 'SSC Ultimate Aero' },
{ text: 'Koenigsegg CCR' },
{ text: 'McLaren F1' },
{ text: 'Aston Martin One- 77' },
{ text: 'Jaguar XJ220' },
{ text: 'McLaren P1' },
{ text: 'Ferrari LaFerrari' },
];

// initialize ListBox component
let listObj: ListBox = new ListBox({
//set the data to dataSource property
dataSource: data
});
listObj.appendTo('#listbox');

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>Essential JS 2 ListBox</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-dropdowns/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/20.4.48/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>

<body>
    <div id='loader'>LOADING....</div>
    <div id='container' style="margin:0 auto; width:250px;">
        <h4>Select your favorite car:</h4>
        <input id='listbox' />
    </div>
</body>

</html>