Create a React Tag Input Field Component

Crafting a Dynamic Tag Input Field Component in React

Are you struggling to create a seamless tag input field component for your React application? Look no further! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building a fully functional tag input field that enhances user experience.

Visualizing the Markup

Let’s start by envisioning the markup structure of our tag input field component. We need a container that wraps both tags and an input field. As we add more tags, the input field should shift to the right, giving the impression of adding tags directly into the input field.

Pseudo Markup Structure

Our pseudo markup structure should resemble the following:
“`

{/* tags will be rendered here */}

“`
State Variables and Event Listeners

To make our component interactive, we need two state variables: one to store the entered tags and another to control the input field. We’ll initialize these variables as an empty array and an empty string, respectively.

Next, we’ll add event listeners to track changes in the input field and create logic to populate the tags state when a specific key is pressed. Let’s assume we want to separate tags using the comma key.

Handling Input Events

We’ll use the onChange event to listen to changes in the input field and update the input state variable. The onKeyDown event will help us detect when the comma key is pressed.

Implementing Tag Deletion

To delete tags, we’ll use the onKeyDown event again, this time checking for the backspace key press. We’ll also need to ensure the input field is empty and the tags array is not empty. When these conditions are met, we’ll remove the last item from the tags array and populate the input field with the deleted tag value.

Enhancing User Experience

To prevent rapid deletion of tags when holding down the backspace key, we’ll introduce a boolean state variable isKeyReleased to track key press and release events.

Deleting Specific Tags

To enable deletion of specific tags, we’ll modify the tag markup by adding an HTML button tag. The onClick event handler will call a deleteTag function, which filters out tags by their index values.

Final Touches

With our fully functional tag input field component in place, we can now focus on styling to enhance its appearance. Here’s an example CSS file to get you started:


/* Add your styles here */

Get Started with LogRocket

Ready to take your React application to the next level? Sign up for LogRocket’s modern React error tracking and get set up in minutes. Visit https://logrocket.com/signup/ to get an app ID.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *