Import

import {AutoCompleteModule} from 'primeng/autocomplete';

Getting Started

AutoComplete uses ngModel for two-way binding, requires a list of suggestions and a completeMethod to query for the results. The completeMethod gets the query text as event.query property and should update the suggestions with the search results.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="text" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)"></p-autoComplete>

export class AutoCompleteDemo {

    text: string;

    results: string[];

    search(event) {
        this.mylookupservice.getResults(event.query).then(data => {
            this.results = data;
        });
    }

}

Change Detection

AutoComplete either uses setter based checking or ngDoCheck to realize if the suggestions has changed to update the UI. This is configured using the immutable property, when enabled (default) setter based detection is utilized so your changes such as adding or removing a record should always create a new array reference instead of manipulating an existing array as Angular does not trigger setters if the reference does not change. For example, use slice instead of splice when removing an item or use spread operator instead of push method when adding an item. On the other hand, setting immutable property to false removes this restriction by using ngDoCheck with IterableDiffers to listen changes without the need to create a new reference of data. Setter based method is faster however both methods can be used depending on your preference.

Model Driven Forms

AutoComplete can be used in a model driven form as well.

<p-autoComplete formControlName="city" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)"></p-autoComplete>

Dropdown

Enabling dropdown property displays a button next to the input field where click behavior of the button is defined using dropdownMode property that takes "blank" or "current" as possible values. "blank" is the default mode to send a query with an empty string whereas "current" setting sends a query with the current value of the input.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="text" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)"
            [dropdown]="true"></p-autoComplete>

export class AutoCompleteDemo {

    text: string;

    results: string[];

    search(event) {
        this.mylookupservice.getResults(event.query).then(data => {
            this.results = data;
        });
    }

    handleDropdown(event) {
        //event.query = current value in input field
    }

}

Multiple Selection

Multiple mode is used to select more than one value from the autocomplete. In this case, model reference should be an array.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="texts" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)" [multiple]="true"></p-autoComplete>

export class AutoCompleteDemo {

    texts: string[];

    results: string[];

    search(event) {
        this.mylookupservice.getResults(event.query).then(data => {
            this.results = data;
        });
    }

}

Objects

AutoComplete can also work with objects using the field property that defines the label to display as a suggestion. The value passed to the model would still be the object instance of a suggestion. Here is an example with a Country object that has name and code fields such as {name:"United States",code:"USA"}.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="val" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)" field="name"></p-autoComplete>

export class AutoCompleteDemo {

    val: country;

    results: country[];

    search(event) {
        this.countrylookupservice.getResults(event.query).then(data => {
            this.results = data;
        });
    }

}

Force Selection

ForceSelection mode validates the manual input to check whether it also exists in the suggestions list, if not the input value is cleared to make sure the value passed to the model is always one of the suggestions.

            
<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="val" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)" [forceSelection]="true"></p-autoComplete>
            
            

Templating

Item ng-template allows displaying custom content inside the suggestions panel. The local ng-template variable passed to the ng-template is an object in the suggestions array.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="brand" [suggestions]="filteredBrands" (completeMethod)="filterBrands($event)">
    <ng-template let-brand pTemplate="item">
        <div class="ui-helper-clearfix" style="border-bottom:1px solid #D5D5D5">
            <img src="assets/showcase/images/demo/car/{{brand}}.png" style="width:32px;display:inline-block;margin:5px 0 2px 5px"/>
            <div style="font-size:18px;float:right;margin:10px 10px 0 0">{{brand}}</div>
        </div>
    </ng-template>
</p-autoComplete>

In multiple mode, selected item can be customized using selectedItem ng-template. Note that this template is not supported in single mode.

<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="texts" [suggestions]="results" (completeMethod)="search($event)" [multiple]="true">
    <ng-template let-value pTemplate="selectedItem">
        <span style="font-size:18px">>{{value}}<</span>
    </ng-template>
</p-autoComplete>

Properties

Events

Styling

Following is the list of structural style classes, for theming classes visit theming page.

Dependencies

None.

<h3 class="first">Basic</h3>
<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="country" [suggestions]="filteredCountriesSingle" (completeMethod)="filterCountrySingle($event)" field="name" [size]="30"
    placeholder="Countries" [minLength]="1"></p-autoComplete>
<span style="margin-left:10px">Country: {{country ? country.name||country : 'none'}}</span>

<h3>Advanced</h3>
<p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="brand" [suggestions]="filteredBrands" (completeMethod)="filterBrands($event)" [size]="30"
    [minLength]="1" placeholder="Hint: type 'v' or 'f'" [dropdown]="true">
    <ng-template let-brand pTemplate="item">
        <div class="ui-helper-clearfix" style="border-bottom:1px solid #D5D5D5">
            <img src="assets/showcase/images/demo/car/{{brand}}.png" style="width:32px;display:inline-block;margin:5px 0 2px 5px"/>
            <div style="font-size:18px;float:right;margin:10px 10px 0 0">{{brand}}</div>
        </div>
    </ng-template>
</p-autoComplete>
<span style="margin-left:50px">Brand: {{brand||'none'}}</span>

<h3>Multiple</h3>
<span class="ui-fluid">
    <p-autoComplete [(ngModel)]="countries" [suggestions]="filteredCountriesMultiple" (completeMethod)="filterCountryMultiple($event)" styleClass="wid100"
        [minLength]="1" placeholder="Countries" field="name" [multiple]="true">
    </p-autoComplete>
</span>
<ul>
    <li *ngFor="let c of countries">{{c.name}}</li>
</ul>

export class AutoCompleteDemo {

    country: any;

    countries: any[];

    filteredCountriesSingle: any[];

    filteredCountriesMultiple: any[];

    brands: string[] = ['Audi','BMW','Fiat','Ford','Honda','Jaguar','Mercedes','Renault','Volvo','VW'];

    filteredBrands: any[];

    brand: string;

    constructor(private countryService: CountryService) { }

    filterCountrySingle(event) {
        let query = event.query;
        this.countryService.getCountries().then(countries => {
            this.filteredCountriesSingle = this.filterCountry(query, countries);
        });
    }

    filterCountryMultiple(event) {
        let query = event.query;
        this.countryService.getCountries().then(countries => {
            this.filteredCountriesMultiple = this.filterCountry(query, countries);
        });
    }

    filterCountry(query, countries: any[]):any[] {
        //in a real application, make a request to a remote url with the query and return filtered results, for demo we filter at client side
        let filtered : any[] = [];
        for(let i = 0; i < countries.length; i++) {
            let country = countries[i];
            if(country.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(query.toLowerCase()) == 0) {
                filtered.push(country);
            }
        }
        return filtered;
    }

    filterBrands(event) {
        this.filteredBrands = [];
        for(let i = 0; i < this.brands.length; i++) {
            let brand = this.brands[i];
            if(brand.toLowerCase().indexOf(event.query.toLowerCase()) == 0) {
                this.filteredBrands.push(brand);
            }
        }
    }
}

@Injectable()
export class CountryService {

    constructor(private http: Http) {}

    getCountries() {
        return this.http.get('showcase/resources/data/countries.json')
                    .toPromise()
                    .then(res => <any[]> res.json().data)
                    .then(data => { return data; });
    }
}