Combobox
A Combobox combines a text input with an icon-only chevron button. When activated, a dropdown menu of selectable options displays.
Guidelines
When to use comboboxes
Through comboboxes, users can input text, numbers, symbols or mixed-format strings (unless specifically restricted) while being offered autocomplete options in a dropdown menu.
Use the Combobox component when it's difficult to predict the user's response to a prompt. It provides predefined input values as options, for example common responses, to ease filling out the input with relevant values.
Specifications
- Icon (optional)
Icons may be added to simplify the identification of specific combobox inputs. - Placeholder text (optional)
The placeholder text provides an example of what type of information is being requested in the input. The placeholder text should further illustrate and support the combobox input label. However, it should never be the only input description. - Chevron button
An icon-only chevron button opens the menu. - Menu
When the combobox is active, a menu with options is displayed.
Component limitations
The base min-width for the Combobox component is set at @size-1600
(equivalent to 256px
in the default Codex theme), but it can be customized to a smaller width if needed. There is no maximum width limit.
If the text in the Combobox component exceeds the available space, it will overflow horizontally.
By default, when the menu is expanded, all menu items are displayed. However, if the menu height is limited, the remaining menu items will be accessible via scrolling.
Refer to the Combobox component in Codex Figma.
Types
Depending on how the text input and menu are customized, the Combobox can offer different types:
Clearable, with start icon
An optional start icon and clear button could appear within the input field.
With custom menu item display
Custom content and formats can be applied to change the appearance of menu items according to your needs.
No results
If there are no results for the text typed within the input, a non-interactive "no results" message will be displayed within the menu.
Combobox within a form field
A Combobox can be wrapped within a Field to include features like label, description, help text, or validation messages.
Interaction states
Comboboxes have the following visually separate states:
- Default
- Hover on input
- Hover on button
- Active and hover on one of the menu items
- Typing in the input and having a menu item selected based on the matching text
- Combobox filled with one selected menu option
- Error
- Error hover
- Disabled
Best practices
Consider the following recommendations when using comboboxes.
Icon
- Use a start icon that complements the placeholder text.
- Use icons that are difficult to understand or do not clearly convey their purpose.
Keyboard navigation
Key | Function |
---|---|
Tab | It places the focus within the input of the Combobox and opens its menu. It also moves the focus to the next interactive element in tab order. |
Shift + Tab | When the focus is placed within the Combobox input, it moves the focus to the previous interactive element. |
Down arrow | When the Combobox is focused, it opens the menu. When the menu is open, it navigates through menu options. If pressed at the last visible option, it scrolls to the next "hidden" menu item. |
Up arrow | When the Combobox is focused, it opens the menu. When the menu is open, it navigates through menu options. |
Enter | It opens the menu when the focus is placed on the Combobox. If the menu is open, it closes the menu. If the focus is placed in any of the options within the menu, the focused option is selected. |
Esc | When the menu it’s open, it closes the menu. |
Home | Optionally, it moves the focus to the first option. Optionally, in a single-select listbox, selection may also move with focus. Supporting this key is strongly recommended for lists with more than five options. |
End | Optionally, it moves the focus to the last option. Optionally, in a single-select listbox, selection may also move with focus. Supporting this key is strongly recommended for lists with more than five options. |
Demos
Configurable
Name | Value |
---|---|
Props | |
status | |
disabled | |
View | |
Reading direction |
Basic Usage
The Combobox component combines a menu of selectable items with a text box that can accept arbitrary input from the user. The component should receive a v-model:selected
binding from its parent as well as an array of menu items (which can be empty).
Selected value:
Name | Value |
---|---|
View | |
Reading direction |
Clearable, with start icon
Valid TextInput props like startIcon
, endIcon
, and clearable
will be passed on to the embedded TextInput
.
Selected value:
With menu item icons and descriptions
Items are displayed via the MenuItem component—see the MenuItem docs for more options. In this example, a menuConfig
object is passed to the Combobox to bold the label text and hide the text overflow of the descriptions.
With custom menu item display
Like other menu-style components (Select
, Lookup
, etc.), a custom template can be provided via the #menu-item
slot. In this example, only the menu item's icon is displayed in the menu.
With "no results" content
A non-interactive "no results" message can be displayed via the no-results
slot. If populated, this slot will automatically display when there are zero menu items.
With configurable scroll
By default, all menu items are displayed when the menu is expanded. To limit the height of the menu and enable scrolling, use the visibleItemLimit
property of the menuConfig
prop.
Disabled
Form field
A Combobox can be wrapped in the Field component to add features like a semantic label, description and help text, validation messages, and more. See the Field page for more information.
Vue usage
TextInput props apply
This component contains a TextInput component. You can bind TextInput props to this component and they will be passed to the TextInput within.
Attributes passed to input
This component will pass any HTML attributes applied to it, except for CSS class, to the <input>
element within the component.
Props
Prop name | Description | Type | Default |
---|---|---|---|
menuItems (required) | Menu items. See the MenuItemData type. | MenuItemData[] | |
selected (required) | Value of the current selection. Must be bound with v-model:selected . | string|number | |
disabled | Whether the dropdown is disabled. | boolean | false |
menuConfig | Configuration for various menu features. All properties default to false. See the MenuConfig type. | MenuConfig | {} |
status | status property of the TextInput component | ValidationStatusType | 'default' |
Events
Event name | Properties | Description |
---|---|---|
input | event InputEvent | When the input value changes via direct use of the input |
change | event Event | When an input value change is committed by the user (e.g. on blur) |
load-more | When the user scrolls towards the bottom of the menu. If it is possible to add or load more menu items, then now would be a good moment so that the user can experience infinite scrolling. | |
update:selected | selected string|number - The new selected value | When the selected value changes. |
focus | event FocusEvent | When the input comes into focus |
blur | event FocusEvent | When the input loses focus |
Slots
Name | Description | Bindings |
---|---|---|
menu-item | Display of an individual item in the menu | menu-item MenuItemData - The current menu item |
no-results | Message to show if there are no menu items to display. |