11 March 2018 / Select

A jQuery-based replacement for select boxes

Selectator

Selectator is a jQuery-based replacement for select boxes. It supports searching, custom renderers, remote data (ajax), search delay, minimum search length, selection remove/clear and placeholders. It affects the original select box directly, which is used as the data container.

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Usage

include in head:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="fm.selectator.jquery.css"/>
<script src="jquery-1.11.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="fm.selectator.jquery.js"></script>

to activate replacement:

$('#selectBox').selectator();

If you don't wan't to meddle with scripting, there is an alternative to activate replacement, by using inline markup.

<select multiple class="selectator" data-selectator-keep-open="true">

if you want to change settings:

$('#selectBox').selectator({
    prefix: 'selectator_',             // CSS class prefix
    height: 'auto',                    // Auto or element
    useDimmer: false,                  // Dims the screen when option list is visible
    useSearch: true,                   // If false, the search boxes are removed and 
                                       //   `showAllOptionsOnFocus` is forced to true
    showAllOptionsOnFocus: false,      // Show the dropdown immediately when the control receives focus
    selectFirstOptionOnSearch: true,   // Selects the topmost option on every search
    keepOpen: false,                   // If true, then the dropdown will not close when 
                                       //   selecting options, but stay open until losing focus
    submitCallback: function(value){}, // Callback function when enter is pressed and 
                                       //   no option is active in multi select box
    placeholder: '',                   // Placeholder text for the select, can also be 
                                       //   set on select element
    load: function(search, callback){  // Callback function when using remote data
        callback(results);
    },
    delay: 0,                          // The amount of milleseconds to wait for doing a search
    minSearchLength: 0,                // Mininum length of search string required for searching
    valueField: 'value',               // The name of the property to use as the "value"
                                       //   (not needed when custom rendering functions are defined)
    textField: 'text',                 // The name of the property to use as the "text"
                                       //   (not needed when custom rendering functions are defined)
    searchFields: ['value', 'test'],   // The fields to search in
    render: {
        selected_item: function (_item, escape) {
            var html = '';
            if (typeof _item.left !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_left"><img src="' + escape(_item.left) + '"></div>';
            if (typeof _item.right !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_right">' + escape(_item.right) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_title">' + ((typeof _item.text !== 'undefined') ? escape(_item.text) : '') + '</div>';
            if (typeof _item.subtitle !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_subtitle">' + escape(_item.subtitle) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_remove">X</div>';
            return html;
        },
        option: function (_item, escape) {
            var html = '';
            if (typeof _item.left !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_left"><img src="' + escape(_item.left) + '"></div>';
            if (typeof _item.right !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_right">' + escape(_item.right) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_title">' + ((typeof _item.text !== 'undefined') ? escape(_item.text) : '') + '</div>';
            if (typeof _item.subtitle !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_subtitle">' + escape(_item.subtitle) + '</div>';
            return html;
        }
    },
    labels: {
        search: 'Search...'            // Placeholder text in search box in single select box
    }
});

Extra attributes for option tags

By using data-left, data-right, data-subtitle or any other attributes you can extend the information made available to the renderers.
The default ones left, right and subtitle can be styled through css, and are named prefix_title, prefix_left, prefix_right and prefix_subtitle.
The class attributes from the original option and optgroup elements are also added to the genererated elements

<select id="selectBox">
    <!-- Normal option tag -->
    <option value="1">This is the title</option>
    <!-- Extended option tag -->
    <option value="2" data-left="This is the left section" data-right="This is the right section" data-subtitle="This is the section under the title">This is the title</option>
</select>

It will be displayed something like this this:

Left	Title	Right
	Subtitle

CSS classes

Here is a list of all the css classes

Class	Description
`prefix_`element	This is the new select box. It has some extra classes called `single` and `multiple`, which tell if it is a multiple selection or single selection select box. And also `options-visible` and `options-hidden` which tell if the options list is visible or not.
`prefix_`selected_items	The holder for the selected items.
`prefix_`selected_item	The holder for the selected item.
`prefix_`selected_item_title	The title of the selected item.
`prefix_`selected_item_left	The left section of the selected item.
`prefix_`selected_item_right	The right section of the selected item.
`prefix_`selected_item_subtitle	The bottom section of the selected item.
`prefix_`selected_item_remove	The remove button for the selected item.
`prefix_`input	This is the input box for the selectator. This is used together with `options-visible` or `options-hidden` to show and style it differently if it is a multiple selection box or a single selection box.
`prefix_`textlength	This is used to calculate the size of the input box for the multiple selection box.
`prefix_`options	The options list holder. This is used together with `options-visible` or `options-hidden` to show or hide the options.
`prefix_`group_header	This is the group title option.
`prefix_`group	This is the group options holder.
`prefix_`option	This is a result option. It has an extra class called `active` which tells if the option is the active one.
`prefix_`option_title	The title of the result option.
`prefix_`option_left	The left section of the result option.
`prefix_`option_right	The right section of the result option.
`prefix_`option_subtitle	The bottom section of the result option.
`prefix_`dimmer	This is the dimmer

DOM Structure

dimmer
element: containing the single|multiple class and the options-visible|options-hidden class
- textlength
- selected_items
  - selected_item
    - selected_item_left
    - selected_item_right
    - selected_item_title
    - selected_item_subtitle
    - selected_item_remove
  - selected_item...
- input
- options
  - group_header
  - group
    - option: containing the active class
      - option_left
      - option_right
      - option_title
      - option_subtitle
    - option...
  - option: containing the active class
    - option_left
    - option_right
    - option_title
    - option_subtitle
  - option...

jQuery methods

Method	Description
refresh	This method is used to refresh the plugin. A scenario where this would be useful is if the data in the original select box is changed by some other script.
destroy	This method is used to remove the instance of the plugin from the select box and restore it to its original state.