PlaceKit Autocomplete React Library

All-in-one autocomplete experience for your React web apps

Quick start • Component properties • Custom hook • Troubleshoot • License • Examples

PlaceKit Autocomplete React Library is a React wrapper of PlaceKit Autocomplete JS. It features a component ready to use, and a custom hook for custom implementations. It also is TypeScript compatible.

🎯 Quick start

First, install PlaceKit Autocomplete React using npm package manager:

npm install --save @placekit/autocomplete-react

Then import the package and perform your first address search:

import { PlaceKit } from '@placekit/autocomplete-react';
import '@placekit/autocomplete-js/dist/placekit-autocomplete.css';

const MyComponent = (props) => {
  return (
    <PlaceKit apiKey="<your-api-key>" />
  );
};

export default MyComponent;

Importing default style from @placekit/autocomplete-js/dist/placekit-autocomplete.css (@placekit/autocomplete-js is set as a dependency of this package and will automatically be installed) will style the suggestions list and the input. If you have trouble importing CSS from node_modules, copy/paste its content into your own CSS.

👉 Check out our examples for different use cases!

⚙️ Component properties

<PlaceKit
  // component options
  geolocation={false} // hide "ask geolocation" button
  className="your-custom-classes" // <div> wrapper custom classes

  // PlaceKit Autocomplete JS options
  apiKey="<your-api-key>"
  options={{
    panel: {
      className: 'panel-custom-class',
      offset: 4,
      strategy: 'absolute',
      flip: false,
    },
    format: {
      flag: (countrycode) => {},
      icon: (name, label) => {},
      sub: (item) => {},
      noResults: (query) => {},
      value: (item) => {},
      applySuggestion: 'Apply suggestion',
      cancel: 'Cancel',
    },
    countryAutoFill: false,
    countrySelect: false,
    timeout: 5000,
    maxResults: 5,
    types: ['city'],
    language: 'fr',
    countries: ['fr'],
    coordinates: '48.86,2.29',
  }}

  // event handlers (⚠️ use useCallback, see notes)
  onClient={(client) => {}}
  onOpen={() => {}}
  onClose={() => {}}
  onResults={(query, results) => {}}
  onPick={(value, item, index) => {}}
  onError={(error) => {}}
  onCountryChange={(item) => {}}
  onDirty={(bool) => {}}
  onEmpty={(bool) => {}}
  onFreeForm={(bool) => {}}
  onGeolocation={(bool, position) => {}}
  onCountryMode={(bool) => {}}
  onState={(state) => {}}

  // other HTML input props get forwarded
  id="my-input"
  name="address"
  placeholder="Search places..."
  disabled={true}
  defaultValue="France"
  // ...
/>

Please refer to PlaceKit Autocomplete JS documentation for more details about the options.

Some additional notes:

• If you want to customize the input style, create your own component using our custom hook. You can reuse our component as a base.
• If you want to customize the suggestions panel style, don't import our stylesheet and create your own following PlaceKit Autocomplete JS documentation.
• Handlers are exposed directly as properties for ease of access.
• It's recommended to memoize handler functions with useCallback, see Avoid re-renders.
• ⚠️ The <input> it is an uncontrolled component. See dynamic default value.

🪝 Custom hook

If our component doesn't suit your needs, you can build your own using the provided custom hook usePlaceKit():

import { usePlaceKit } from '@placekit/autocomplete-react';

const MyComponent = (props) => {
  const { target, client, state } = usePlaceKit('<your-api-key>', {
    // options
  });

  return (
    <input ref={target} />
  );
};

Please refer to PlaceKit Autocomplete JS documentation for more details about the options.

Some additional notes:

• target is a React ref object.
• The handlers can be passed through options.handlers, but also be set with client.on() (better use a useState() in that case) except for onClient which is specific to Autocomplete React.
• state exposes stateless client properties (dirty, empty, freeForm, geolocation, countryMode) as stateful ones.

⚠️ NOTE: you are not allowed to hide the PlaceKit logo unless we've delivered a special authorization. To request one, please contact us using our contact form.

🚒 Troubleshoot

Access Autocomplete JS client from parent component

Use the extra onClient handler to access the client from the parent component:

import { PlaceKit } from '@placekit/autocomplete-react';
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

const MyComponent = (props) => {
  const [client, setClient] = useState();

  useEffect(
    () => {
      if (client) {
        // do something
      }
    },
    [client]
  );

  return (
    <PlaceKit
      apiKey="<your-api-key>"
      onClient={setClient}
    />
  );
};

onClient is an exception for handlers: it's specific to Autocomplete React and isn't passed in options.handlers to Autocomplete JS, so updating it doesn't trigger pka.configure().

Please refer to PlaceKit Autocomplete JS documentation for more details about the client methods.

Avoid re-renders

Because of the way React works, object/array/function literals are always considered fresh values and may cause unnecessary re-renders.

<PlaceKit> is mostly just a wrapper around PlaceKit Autocomplete JS: it uses useEffect to mount it and update options. We've made it quite resilient to updates, but each time options updates, pka.configure() is called and makes some computations.

To avoid unnecessary re-renders, memoize or hoist those literals:

import { PlaceKit } from '@placekit/autocomplete-react';
import { useCallback } from 'react';

// hoisting option functions (declaring outside of the component)
const formatValue = (item) => item.name;

const MyComponent = (props) => {

  // memoizing event handlers with useCallback
  const handlePick = useCallback(
    (value, item) => {
      console.log(item);
    },
    []
  );

  return (
    <PlaceKit
      apiKey="<your-api-key>"
      options={{
        countries: ['fr'],
        formatValue,
      }}
      onPick={handlePick}
    />
  );
};

⚠️ If you need apiKey to be set dynamically, use useMemo to memoize it, otherwise the whole autocomplete will reset at each component update, flushing the suggestions list.

Dynamic default value

The <input> is an uncontrolled component and should be treated as such. Making it controlled may cause typing glitches because React state in controlled components can conflict with Autocomplete JS internal state management.

You can dyamically set a defaultValue and it'll update the input value as long as it has not been touched by the user (state.dirty === false).

⚠️ Passing a non-empty value to defaultValue will automatically trigger a first search request when the user focuses the input.

⚖️ License

PlaceKit Autocomplete React Library is an open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.