Mat Select with Search Option: Creating an Intuitive UI Component

Building an Angular Material Select with a Search Feature is one of the most popular approaches for enhancing user experience. But why is it so crucial? Let's dig deeper. User interfaces that reduce friction directly impact user retention and satisfaction. By enabling users to search within a dropdown select menu, you give them control, saving valuable time, especially when dealing with large datasets or options. Here's how you can implement an Angular Material Select that integrates a search option and maximizes functionality.

What Is Mat-Select and Why Do You Need a Search Option?

Mat-select is an Angular Material component that provides a sleek, modern dropdown select menu, ideal for applications where a user needs to select one item from a list. But, when the list is extensive, simply scrolling through the options can become cumbersome. This is where the search functionality comes in handy. Imagine offering a dropdown with hundreds or thousands of options without the ability to search—users would become frustrated quickly.

Adding a search option significantly enhances the UX by allowing users to filter through the options based on what they type, reducing the need for endless scrolling. This is particularly helpful in e-commerce websites, business applications, and any scenario where options are dynamic and vast.

How to Implement Mat Select with Search in Stackblitz

Let's walk through a quick guide to building this powerful component in Stackblitz, a cloud-based development environment, step by step.

1. Setup Angular Material in Stackblitz

Start by opening Stackblitz and creating a new Angular project. You can do this by navigating to stackblitz.com and selecting "Angular" as your project type. The first step is installing Angular Material to make use of the mat-select component.

bash
ng add @angular/material

After installing Angular Material, add its CSS to your project by importing the prebuilt themes into the styles.css file:

css
@import "~@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/indigo-pink.css";

2. Create the Mat-Select with Search

Now, you'll want to create a form that includes the mat-select component. This will also require setting up a search input field inside the dropdown panel. Below is the basic setup of a mat-select component:

html
<mat-form-field>
  <mat-select placeholder="Select a state" [(value)]="selectedState">
    <mat-option>
      <ngx-mat-select-search placeholderLabel="Search states">ngx-mat-select-search>
    mat-option>
    <mat-option *ngFor="let state of filteredStates" [value]="state">{{ state }}mat-option>
  mat-select>
mat-form-field>

Here, we use a popular package called ngx-mat-select-search, which is designed specifically for integrating search features into the mat-select component. The search functionality enables users to filter through options as they type into the search input field.

3. Install ngx-mat-select-search

To enable the search functionality within your mat-select dropdown, you need to install the ngx-mat-select-search package. Run the following command:

bash
npm install ngx-mat-select-search

After installing, import the module into your app.module.ts:

typescript
import { NgxMatSelectSearchModule } from 'ngx-mat-select-search';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [AppComponent],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    FormsModule,
    ReactiveFormsModule,
    BrowserAnimationsModule,
    MatFormFieldModule,
    MatSelectModule,
    NgxMatSelectSearchModule
  ],
  providers: [],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

4. Configure the Search Logic

Now that you've added the search component, it's time to wire up the filtering functionality. In your component, you'll need to implement logic that updates the dropdown options as the user types. The following code demonstrates a simple filter mechanism:

typescript
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { FormControl } from '@angular/forms';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
})
export class AppComponent {
  states: string[] = ['Alabama', 'Alaska', 'Arizona', 'Arkansas', 'California'];
  filteredStates: string[] = [...this.states];

  searchControl = new FormControl('');

  constructor() {
    this.searchControl.valueChanges.subscribe(value => {
      this.filteredStates = this._filterStates(value);
    });
  }

  private _filterStates(value: string): string[] {
    const filterValue = value.toLowerCase();
    return this.states.filter(state => state.toLowerCase().includes(filterValue));
  }
}

5. Style the Component

Styling is an essential part of making the UI more intuitive. You can customize the appearance of the search input and the select dropdown using Angular Material’s theming capabilities. Here's an example of how to adjust the search input's appearance within the mat-select:

css
.mat-select-search {
  margin-bottom: 8px;
}

.mat-select-search input {
  width: 100%;
  padding: 8px;
}

6. Deploy and Test

Once you have configured everything, test your component by typing in the search box and verifying that the dropdown list updates based on your search term.

Example Use Case

Let’s say you're building an e-commerce admin dashboard where administrators can assign products to categories. There could be hundreds of categories, making scrolling through a dropdown inefficient. Implementing a search option within the mat-select allows admins to quickly locate the relevant category by typing just a few characters.

Advanced Features: Multi-select with Search

What if users need to select multiple items? Angular Material’s mat-select component also supports multi-select functionality, which can be paired with the search option. Here's an example:

html
<mat-form-field>
  <mat-select placeholder="Select states" [(value)]="selectedStates" multiple>
    <ngx-mat-select-search placeholderLabel="Search states">ngx-mat-select-search>
    <mat-option *ngFor="let state of filteredStates" [value]="state">{{ state }}mat-option>
  mat-select>
mat-form-field>

Final Thoughts: Is This the Best Solution?

While adding search functionality to a mat-select can significantly improve UX, it's important to weigh the benefits against the complexity. For instance, if your dataset is small, adding search might be overkill. But for large datasets, this approach can make a world of difference.

The flexibility of Angular Material combined with third-party libraries like ngx-mat-select-search provides a comprehensive solution for developers looking to improve UI efficiency without reinventing the wheel.