“Building a Seamless Autocomplete Search Box with React and Turnstone”

Building an Autocomplete Search Box with React and Turnstone

Most modern frontend applications require a search box that not only works but also provides a seamless user experience. In this article, we’ll explore how to create an autocomplete search box using React and Turnstone, a lightweight library that ships with features like autocomplete, automated caching, and WAI-ARIA accessibility.

Prerequisites

• Basic understanding of the React framework
• An API key from the Marvel Comics API
• Familiarity with Tailwind CSS is appreciated but not required

Getting Started

To begin, register for a new account on the Marvel Developers site and obtain your public and private API keys. Add the domain name of your app to the referrer sites section, or use an asterisk (*) to accept requests from all domains.

Turnstone Features

The Turnstone component accepts various properties that control different parts of the search box. Some important props include:

• typeahead: Enables or disables autocomplete (default: true)
• maxItems: Sets the maximum number of search results displayed (default: 10)
• listbox: Specifies how results are rendered in response to a user’s query
• styles: An object whose keys represent elements rendered by Turnstone, and values are strings representing the class attribute for each element

Creating the Application

Create a new React application using the command npx create-react-app my-app. Install Turnstone and Tailwind CSS using npm or yarn.

Configuring Turnstone

Import the Turnstone component and add the following properties:

• clearButton: Renders a clear button when the user enters a character
• autoFocus: Automatically focuses the search box when the page loads
• maxItems: Sets the maximum number of search results to display
• listboxIsImmutable: Ensures that the contents of the listbox don’t change between queries

Styling Turnstone Elements with Tailwind

Use the styles prop to style Turnstone elements with Tailwind. For example, you can style the listbox, highlighted items, and autocomplete text.

Adding an Avatar to Search Results

Use the component prop to customize the formatting of Turnstone elements. For example, you can add an avatar beside the character’s name in a search result.

Recent Searches Plugin

Install the turnstone-recent-searches package to automatically record the user’s recent searches.

Conclusion

Autocomplete search boxes are a crucial part of modern UI design. With Turnstone, you can easily implement them in your React application. Turnstone’s documentation provides a gradual learning curve, making it easy to get started.