ListBox

Single-selection list box
Acai
Akee
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Bilberry
Black sapote
Blackberry
Blackcurrant
Blood orange
Blueberry
Boysenberry
Cantaloupe
Cherimoya
Cherry
Chico fruit
Clementine
Cloudberry
Coconut
Crab apple
Cranberry
Cucumber
Currant
Damson
Date
Dragonfruit
Durian
Elderberry
Feijoa
Fig
Goji berry
Gooseberry
Grape
Grapefruit
Guava
Honeyberry
Honeydew
Horned melon
Huckleberry
Jabuticaba
Jackfruit
Jambul
Japanese plum
Jostaberry
Jujube
Juniper berry
Kiwifruit
Kumquat
Lemon
Lime
Longan
Loquat
Lychee
Mandarin
Mango
Mangosteen
Marionberry
Miracle fruit
Mulberry
Nance
Nectarine
Orange
Papaya
Passionfruit
Peach
Pear
Persimmon
Pineapple
Pineberry
Plantain
Plum
Pluot
Pomegranate
Pomelo
Purple mangosteen
Quince
Rambutan
Raspberry
Redcurrant
Salak
Salal berry
Salmonberry
Satsuma
Soursop
Star apple
Star fruit
Strawberry
Surinam cherry
Tamarillo
Tamarind
Tangerine
Ugli fruit
Watermelon
White currant
White sapote
Yuzu
Demo: Typical single-selection list box

Overview

This component presents its assigned children as items in a single-selection list box. This is modeled after the list box controls in macOS and Microsoft Windows, and the standard select element in HTML in its list box mode.

ListBox uses SingleSelectAPIMixin to expose a single selection. The user can click an item to select it, or navigate the selection with the keyboard (per KeyboardDirectionMixin, KeyboardPagedCursorMixin, and KeyboardPrefixCursorMixin).

By default, a ListBox shows a generic visual style. The selected item is shown with standard highlight colors (CSS highlight color for the background, highlighttext for the text). You can create custom styled subclasses of ListBox by patching the base class' template or extending the component's internal.render method.

The ListBox exposes an orientation property that can either by "vertical" (the default), or "horizontal". Internally, the orientation is tracked as [internal.state].orientation.

😀
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Demo: A horizontal list

The ListBox applies SelectedItemTextValueMixin (below) to expose a value property.

Lists typically obtain their items from their child elements using SlotContentMixin. However, it is easy to create variations of ListBox for lists with hard-coded content. The custom list box below uses the same mixins as ListBox, but omits SlotContentMixin. Instead, it draws its content from a hard-coded set of items in its template.

Demo: A list with hard-coded items

You could create such components in cases where you want to ensure a particular set of items is always provided.

ListBox is also incorporated into other components, such as ListExplorer or ListComboBox:

Pet:
Canary
Cat
Chicken
Chinchilla
Cockatiel
Cricket
Dog
Ferret
Finch
Fish
Frog
Gerbil
Guinea Pig
Hamster
Hermit Crab
Lizard
Mouse
Parakeet
Parrot
Pig
Rabbit
Rat
Snail
Snake
Spider
Turtle
Demo: AutoCompleteComboBox includes a ListBox in a popup

A subclass of ListBox, FilterListBox, is used in ListWithSearch and applies a text filter to show only items that contain the indicated text:

Acai
Akee
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Bilberry
Black sapote
Blackberry
Blackcurrant
Blood orange
Blueberry
Boysenberry
Cantaloupe
Cherimoya
Cherry
Chico fruit
Clementine
Cloudberry
Coconut
Crab apple
Cranberry
Cucumber
Currant
Damson
Date
Dragonfruit
Durian
Elderberry
Feijoa
Fig
Goji berry
Gooseberry
Grape
Grapefruit
Guava
Honeyberry
Honeydew
Horned melon
Huckleberry
Jabuticaba
Jackfruit
Jambul
Japanese plum
Jostaberry
Jujube
Juniper berry
Kiwifruit
Kumquat
Lemon
Lime
Longan
Loquat
Lychee
Mandarin
Mango
Mangosteen
Marionberry
Miracle fruit
Mulberry
Nance
Nectarine
Orange
Papaya
Passionfruit
Peach
Pear
Persimmon
Pineapple
Pineberry
Plantain
Plum
Pluot
Pomegranate
Pomelo
Purple mangosteen
Quince
Rambutan
Raspberry
Redcurrant
Salak
Salal berry
Salmonberry
Satsuma
Soursop
Star apple
Star fruit
Strawberry
Surinam cherry
Tamarillo
Tamarind
Tangerine
Ugli fruit
Watermelon
White currant
White sapote
Yuzu
Demo: ListWithSearch can filter the items in the list

Usage

import ListBox from "elix/define/ListBox.js";
const listBox = new ListBox(); // or
const listBox = document.createElement("elix-list-box");

In HTML:

<script type="module" src="node_modules/elix/define/ListBox.js"></script>
<elix-list-box>
  <!-- List items go here -->
</elix-list-box>

Single-selection list boxes are common in user interfaces. As written, the ListBox component supports the same use cases as a standard select element in list box mode (with the size attribute set to a value greater than 1). The standard select, however, has many constraints on what can be done with it, forcing developers to recreate much of its functionality. The advantage of providing ListBox as a web component is that developers are free to extend it to meet the needs of their interface. For example, one use case for ListBox is a horizontal list (instead of the fixed vertical orientation provided by select).

For a list that can support multi-selection, see MultiSelectListBox.

See also

API

Class hierarchy:

This element is used as a shadow part in AutoCompleteComboBox, Carousel, CarouselSlideshow, CarouselWithThumbnails, Explorer, ListComboBox, ListExplorer, and PlainExplorer.

booleanAttributeValue(name, value) static method

Given a string value for a named boolean attribute, return true if the value is either: a) the empty string, or b) a case-insensitive match for the name.

This is native HTML behavior; see the MDN documentation on boolean attributes for the reasoning.

Given a null value, this return false. Given a boolean value, this return the value as is.

Parameters:

  • name: string
  • value: string|boolean|null

Defined by AttributeMarshallingMixin

closestAvailableItemIndex(state, options) method

Look for an item which is available in the given state..

The options parameter can accept options for:

  • direction: 1 to move forward, -1 to move backward
  • index: the index to start at, defaults to state.currentIndex
  • wrap: whether to wrap around the ends of the items array, defaults to state.cursorOperationsWrap.

If an available item was found, this returns its index. If no item was found, this returns -1.

Parameters:

  • state: PlainObject
  • options: PlainObject

Returns: number

Defined by ItemsCursorMixin

contentSlot property

See contentSlot.

Defined by SlotContentMixin

currentIndex property

The index of the current item, or -1 if no item is current.

Type: number

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

currentindexchange event

Raised when the currentIndex property changes.

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

currentItem property

The current item, or null if no item is current.

Type: Element

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

currentItemRequired property

True if the list should always have a current item (if it has items).

Type: boolean

Default: false

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

cursorOperationsWrap property

True if cursor operations wrap from last to first, and vice versa.

Type: boolean

Default: false

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

defaultState property

The default state for the component. This can be extended by mixins and classes to provide additional default state.

Type: PlainObject

Defined by ReactiveMixin

form property

The ID of the form element with which this element is associated, or null if the element is not associated with any form. This is provided for consistency with the native HTML form property.

Type: string

Defined by FormElementMixin

getItemText(item) method

Extract the text from the given item.

The default implementation returns an item's aria-label, alt attribute, innerText, or textContent, in that order. You can override this to return the text that should be used.

Parameters:

  • item: Element

Returns: string

Defined by ItemsTextMixin

goDown() method

Interprets goDown to mean "move to the next item".

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

goEnd() method

Interprets goEnd to mean "move to the last item".

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

goFirst() method

Moves to the first item in the list.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed, false if not.

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

goLast() method

Move to the last item in the list.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

goLeft() method

Interprets goLeft to mean "move to the previous item".

If the element has a rightToLeft property and it is true, then this moves to the next item.

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

goNext() method

Move to the next item in the list.

If the list has no current item, the first item will become current.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

goPrevious() method

Moves to the previous item in the list.

If the list has no current item, the last item will become current.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed

Defined by CursorAPIMixin

goRight() method

Interprets goRight to mean "move to the next item".

If the element has a rightToLeft property and it is true, then this moves to the previous item.

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

goStart() method

Interprets goStart to mean "move to the first item".

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

goToItemWithPrefix(prefix) method

Go to the first item whose text content begins with the given prefix.

Parameters:

  • prefix: stringThe prefix string to search for

Returns: boolean

Defined by KeyboardPrefixCursorMixin

goUp() method

Interprets goUp to mean "move to the previous item".

Defined by DirectionCursorMixin

ids property

A convenient shortcut for looking up an element by ID in the component's Shadow DOM subtree.

Example: if component's template contains a shadow element <button id="foo">, you can use the reference this[ids].foo to obtain the corresponding button in the component instance's shadow tree. The ids property is simply a shorthand for getElementById, so this[ids].foo is the same as this[shadowRoot].getElementById('foo').

Type: object

Defined by ShadowTemplateMixin

[internal.goFirst]() method

Move to the first item in the set.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed, false if not.

Defined by ItemsCursorMixin

[internal.goLast]() method

Move to the last item in the set.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed, false if not.

Defined by ItemsCursorMixin

[internal.goNext]() method

Move to the next item in the set.

If no item is current, move to the first item.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed, false if not.

Defined by ItemsCursorMixin

[internal.goPrevious]() method

Move to the previous item in the set.

If no item is current, move to the last item.

Returns: Boolean True if the current item changed, false if not.

Defined by ItemsCursorMixin

items property

The current set of items drawn from the element's current state.

Type: Array.

Defined by ItemsAPIMixin

itemschange event

Raised when the items property changes.

Defined by ItemsAPIMixin

keydown() method

See the symbols documentation for details.

Defined by KeyboardMixin

name property

The name of the form field that will be filled with this element's value. This is an analogue of the standard HTML name property.

Type: string

Defined by FormElementMixin

pageDown() method

Scroll down one page.

Defined by KeyboardPagedCursorMixin

pageUp() method

Scroll up one page.

Defined by KeyboardPagedCursorMixin

render(changed) method

Render the indicated changes in state to the DOM.

The default implementation of this method does nothing. Override this method in your component to update your component's host element and any shadow elements to reflect the component's new state. See the rendering example.

Be sure to call super in your method implementation so that your component's base classes and mixins have a chance to perform their own render work.

Parameters:

  • changed: ChangedFlagsdictionary of flags indicating which state members have changed since the last render

Defined by ReactiveMixin

renderChanges() method

Render any pending component changes to the DOM.

This method does nothing if the state has not changed since the last render call.

ReactiveMixin will invoke this method following a setState call; you should not need to invoke this method yourself.

This method invokes the internal render method, then invokes the rendered method.

Defined by ReactiveMixin

rendered(changed) method

Perform any work that must happen after state changes have been rendered to the DOM.

The default implementation of this method does nothing. Override this method in your component to perform work that requires the component to be fully rendered, such as setting focus on a shadow element or inspecting the computed style of an element. If such work should result in a change in component state, you can safely call setState during the rendered method.

Be sure to call super in your method implementation so that your component's base classes and mixins have a chance to perform their own post-render work.

Parameters:

  • changed: ChangedFlags

Defined by ReactiveMixin

scrollCurrentItemIntoView() method

Scroll the current item completely into view, minimizing the degree of scrolling performed.

Blink has a scrollIntoViewIfNeeded() function that does something similar, but unfortunately it's non-standard, and in any event often ends up scrolling more than is absolutely necessary.

This scrolls the containing element defined by the scrollTarget property. By default, it will scroll the element itself.

Defined by CursorInViewMixin

scrollTarget property

The element that should be scrolled to get the selected item into view.

By default, this uses the defaultScrollTarget helper to find the most likely candidate for scrolling. You can override this property to directly identify which element should be scrolled.

See also scrollTarget.

Defined by CursorInViewMixin

selectedIndex property

The index of the selected item, or -1 if no item is selected.

Type: number

Defined by SingleSelectAPIMixin

selectedindexchange event

Raised when the selectedIndex property changes.

Defined by SingleSelectAPIMixin

selectedItem property

The selected item, or null if no item is selected.

Type: Element

Defined by SingleSelectAPIMixin

selectedText property

The text content of the selected item.

Setting this value to a string will attempt to select the first list item whose text matches that string. Setting this to a string not matching any list item will result in no selection.

Type: string

Defined by SelectedTextAPIMixin

setState(changes) method

Update the component's state by merging the specified changes on top of the existing state. If the component is connected to the document, and the new state has changed, this returns a promise to asynchronously render the component. Otherwise, this returns a resolved promise.

Parameters:

  • changes: PlainObjectthe changes to apply to the element's state

Returns: Promise - resolves when the new state has been rendered

Defined by ReactiveMixin

state property

The component's current state.

The returned state object is immutable. To update it, invoke internal.setState.

It's extremely useful to be able to inspect component state while debugging. If you append ?elixdebug=true to a page's URL, then ReactiveMixin will conditionally expose a public state property that returns the component's state. You can then access the state in your browser's debug console.

Type: PlainObject

Defined by ReactiveMixin

stateEffects(state, changed) method

Ask the component whether a state with a set of recently-changed fields implies that additional second-order changes should be applied to that state to make it consistent.

This method is invoked during a call to internal.setState to give all of a component's mixins and classes a chance to respond to changes in state. If one mixin/class updates state that it controls, another mixin/class may want to respond by updating some other state member that it controls.

This method should return a dictionary of changes that should be applied to the state. If the dictionary object is not empty, the internal.setState method will apply the changes to the state, and invoke this stateEffects method again to determine whether there are any third-order effects that should be applied. This process repeats until all mixins/classes report that they have no additional changes to make.

See an example of how ReactiveMixin invokes the stateEffects to ensure state consistency.

Parameters:

  • state: PlainObjecta proposal for a new state
  • changed: ChangedFlagsthe set of fields changed in this latest proposal for the new state

Returns: PlainObject

Defined by ReactiveMixin

type property

The "type" of the form field, provided for consistency with the native HTML type property.

If a base class provides a type property, that will be returned. (If this mixin is applied to a class defined by WrappedStandardElement, this will return the type of the inner standard element.) Otherwise, the default value of this property will be the same as the HTML tag name registered for the custom element.

Type: string

Defined by FormElementMixin

value property

The value attribute of the selected item.

Setting this to a string will attempt to select the first list item whose value attribute matches that string. Setting this to a string not matching any value attribute will result in no selection.

Type: string

Defined by SelectedValueAPIMixin