`<SelectArrayInput>`

To let users choose several values in a list using a dropdown, use <SelectArrayInput>. It renders using Material UI’s <Select>.

This input allows editing values that are arrays of scalar values, e.g. [123, 456].

Tip: React-admin includes other components allowing the edition of such values:

<AutocompleteArrayInput> renders an Autocomplete
<CheckboxGroupInput> renders a list of checkbox options
<DualListInput> renders a list of choices that can be moved from one list to another

Usage

In addition to the source, <SelectArrayInput> requires one prop: the choices listing the possible values.

import { SelectArrayInput } from 'react-admin';

const UserCreate = () => (
    <Create>
        <SimpleForm>
            <SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={[
                { id: 'admin', name: 'Admin' },
                { id: 'u001', name: 'Editor' },
                { id: 'u002', name: 'Moderator' },
                { id: 'u003', name: 'Reviewer' },
            ]} />
        </SimpleForm>
    </Create>
);

By default, the possible choices are built from the choices prop, using:

the id field as the option value,
the name field as the option text

The form value for the source must be an array of the selected values, e.g.

{
    id: 123,
    name: 'John Doe',
    roles: ['u001', 'u003'],
}

Props

Prop	Required	Type	Default	Description
`choices`	Optional	`Object[]`	-	List of items to show as options. Required unless inside a ReferenceArray Input.
`create`	Optional	`Element`	-	A React Element to render when users want to create a new choice
`createLabel`	Optional	`string`	`ra.action. create`	The label for the menu item allowing users to create a new choice. Used when the filter is empty
`disableValue`	Optional	`string`	‘disabled’	The custom field name used in `choices` to disable some choices
`onCreate`	Optional	`Function`	-	A function called with the current filter value when users choose to create a new choice.
`options`	Optional	`Object`	-	Props to pass to the underlying `<SelectInput>` element
`optionText`	Optional	`string` \| `Function`	`name`	Field name of record to display in the suggestion item or function which accepts the current record as argument (`record => {string}`)
`optionValue`	Optional	`string`	`id`	Field name of record containing the value to use as input value
`translateChoice`	Optional	`boolean`	`true`	Whether the choices should be translated

<SelectArrayInput> also accepts the common input props.

`choices`

The list of choices must be an array of objects - one object for each possible choice. In each object, id is the value, and the name is the label displayed to the user.

<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={[
    { id: 'admin', name: 'Admin' },
    { id: 'u001', name: 'Editor' },
    { id: 'u002', name: 'Moderator' },
    { id: 'u003', name: 'Reviewer' },
]} />

You can render some options as disabled by setting the disabled field in some choices:

<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={[
    { _id: 'admin', label: 'Admin', disabled: true },
    { _id: 'u001', label: 'Editor' },
    { _id: 'u002', label: 'Moderator' },
    { _id: 'u003', label: 'Reviewer' },
]}  />

You can also use an array of objects with different properties for the label and value, given you specify the optionText and optionValue props:

<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={[
    { _id: 'admin', label: 'Admin' },
    { _id: 'u001', label: 'Editor' },
    { _id: 'u002', label: 'Moderator' },
    { _id: 'u003', label: 'Reviewer' },
]} optionValue="_id" optionText="label" />

The choices are translated by default, so you can use translation identifiers as choices:

const choices = [
    { id: 'admin', name: 'myroot.roles.admin' },
    { id: 'u001', name: 'myroot.roles.u001' },
    { id: 'u002', name: 'myroot.roles.u002' },
    { id: 'u003', name: 'myroot.roles.u003' },
];

You can opt-out of this translation by setting the translateChoice prop to false.

If you need to fetch the options from another resource, you’re actually editing a one-to-many or a many-to-many relationship. In this case, wrap the <SelectArrayInput> in a <ReferenceArrayInput> or a <ReferenceManyToManyInput> component. You don’t need to specify the choices prop - the parent component injects it based on the possible values of the related resource.

<ReferenceArrayInput source="tag_ids" reference="tags">
    <SelectArrayInput />
</ReferenceArrayInput>

If you have an array of values for the options, turn it into an array of objects with the id and name properties:

const possibleValues = ['programming', 'lifestyle', 'photography'];
const ucfirst = name => name.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + name.slice(1);
const choices = possibleValues.map(value => ({ id: value, name: ucfirst(value) }));

<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} />

`create`

To allow users to add new options, pass a React element as the create prop. <SelectArrayInput> will then render a “Create” option at the bottom of the choices list. When clicked, it will render the create element.

In the create component, use the useCreateSuggestionContext hook to add a new choice to the list of options.

import { CreateRole } from './CreateRole';

const choices = [
    { id: 'admin', name: 'Admin' },
    { id: 'u001', name: 'Editor' },
    { id: 'u002', name: 'Moderator' },
    { id: 'u003', name: 'Reviewer' },
];

const UserCreate = () => (
    <Create>
        <SimpleForm>
            <SelectArrayInput
                source="roles"
                choices={choices}
                create={<CreateRole />}
            />
        </SimpleForm>
    </Create>
);

// in ./CreateRole.js
import { useCreateSuggestionContext } from 'react-admin';
import {
    Button,
    Dialog,
    DialogActions,
    DialogContent,
    TextField,
} from '@mui/material';

const CreateRole = () => {
    const { onCancel, onCreate } = useCreateSuggestionContext();
    const [value, setValue] = React.useState('');

    const handleSubmit = event => {
        event.preventDefault();
        const newOption = { id: value, name: value };
        choices.push(newOption);
        setValue('');
        onCreate(newOption);
    };

    return (
        <Dialog open onClose={onCancel}>
            <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
                <DialogContent>
                    <TextField
                        label="Role name"
                        value={value}
                        onChange={event => setValue(event.target.value)}
                        autoFocus
                    />
                </DialogContent>
                <DialogActions>
                    <Button type="submit">Save</Button>
                    <Button onClick={onCancel}>Cancel</Button>
                </DialogActions>
            </form>
        </Dialog>
    );
};

If you just need to ask users for a single string to create the new option, you can use the onCreate prop instead.

If you’re in a <ReferenceArrayInput> or <ReferenceManyToManyInput>, the handleSubmit will need to create a new record in the related resource. Check the Creating New Choices for an example.

`disableValue`

By default, <SelectArrayInput> renders the choices with the field disabled: true as disabled.

const choices = [
    { _id: 'admin', label: 'Admin', disabled: true },
    { _id: 'u001', label: 'Editor' },
    { _id: 'u002', label: 'Moderator' },
    { _id: 'u003', label: 'Reviewer' },
];
<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} />

If you want to use another field to denote disabled options, set the disableValue prop.

const choices = [
    { _id: 'admin', label: 'Admin', not_available: true },
    { _id: 'u001', label: 'Editor' },
    { _id: 'u002', label: 'Moderator' },
    { _id: 'u003', label: 'Reviewer' },
];
<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} disableValue="not_available" />

`onCreate`

Use the onCreate prop to allow users to create new options on-the-fly. Its value must be a function. This lets you render a prompt to ask users about the new value. You can return either the new choice directly or a Promise resolving to the new choice.

import { SelectArrayInput, Create, SimpleForm, TextInput } from 'react-admin';

const UserCreate = () => {
    const choices = [
        { id: 'admin', name: 'Admin' },
        { id: 'u001', name: 'Editor' },
        { id: 'u002', name: 'Moderator' },
        { id: 'u003', name: 'Reviewer' },
    ];
    return (
        <Create>
            <SimpleForm>
                <SelectArrayInput
                    source="roles"
                    choices={choices}
                    onCreate={() => {
                        const newRoleName = prompt('Role name');
                        const newRole = { id: newRoleName.toLowerCase(), name: newRoleName };
                        choices.push(newRole);
                        return newRole;
                    }}
                />
            </SimpleForm>
        </Create>
    );
}

If a prompt is not enough, you can use the create prop to render a custom component instead.

`options`

Use the options attribute if you want to override any of Material UI’s <Select> attributes:

<SelectArrayInput source="category_ids" choices={choices} options={{ defaultOpen: true }} />

Refer to Material UI Select documentation for more details.

`optionText`

You can customize the properties to use for the option name (instead of the default name) thanks to the optionText prop:

const choices = [
    { id: 'admin', label: 'Admin' },
    { id: 'u001', label: 'Editor' },
    { id: 'u002', label: 'Moderator' },
    { id: 'u003', label: 'Reviewer' },
];
<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} optionText="label" />

optionText is especially useful when the choices are records coming from a <ReferenceArrayInput> or a <ReferenceManyToManyInput>. By default, react-admin uses the recordRepresentation function to display the record label. But if you set the optionText prop, react-admin will use it instead.

<ReferenceArrayInput source="tag_ids" reference="tags">
    <SelectArrayInput optionText="tag" />
</ReferenceArrayInput>

optionText also accepts a function, so you can shape the option text based on the entire choice object:

const choices = [
   { id: 123, first_name: 'Leo', last_name: 'Tolstoi' },
   { id: 456, first_name: 'Jane', last_name: 'Austen' },
];
const optionRenderer = choice => `${choice.first_name} ${choice.last_name}`;

<SelectArrayInput source="authors" choices={choices} optionText={optionRenderer} />

optionText also accepts a React Element, that will be rendered inside a <RecordContext> using the related choice as the record prop. You can use Field components there.

const choices = [
   { id: 123, first_name: 'Leo', last_name: 'Tolstoi' },
   { id: 456, first_name: 'Jane', last_name: 'Austen' },
];

const FullNameField = () => {
    const record = useRecordContext();
    return <span>{record.first_name} {record.last_name}</span>;
}

<SelectArrayInput source="authors" choices={choices} optionText={<FullNameField />}/>

`optionValue`

You can customize the properties to use for the option value (instead of the default id) thanks to the optionValue prop:

const choices = [
    { _id: 'admin', name: 'Admin' },
    { _id: 'u001', name: 'Editor' },
    { _id: 'u002', name: 'Moderator' },
    { _id: 'u003', name: 'Reviewer' },
];
<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} optionValue="_id" />

`sx`: CSS API

The <SelectArrayInput> component accepts the usual className prop. You can also override many styles of the inner components thanks to the sx property (as most Material UI components, see their documentation about it). This property accepts the following subclasses:

Rule name	Description
`& .RaSelectArrayInput-chip`	Applied to each Material UI’s `Chip` component used as selected item
`& .RaSelectArrayInput-chips`	Applied to the container of Material UI’s `Chip` components used as selected items

To override the style of all instances of <SelectArrayInput> using the Material UI style overrides, use the RaSelectArrayInput key.

`translateChoice`

The choices are translated by default, so you can use translation identifiers as choices:

const choices = [
    { id: 'admin', name: 'myroot.roles.admin' },
    { id: 'u001', name: 'myroot.roles.u001' },
    { id: 'u002', name: 'myroot.roles.u002' },
    { id: 'u003', name: 'myroot.roles.u003' },
];

However, in some cases (e.g. inside a <ReferenceArrayInput>), you may not want the choice to be translated. In that case, set the translateChoice prop to false.

<SelectArrayInput source="roles" choices={choices} translateChoice={false}/>

Fetching Choices

If you want to populate the choices attribute with a list of related records, you should decorate <SelectArrayInput> with <ReferenceArrayInput>, and leave the choices empty:

import * as React from "react";
import {
    ChipField,
    Create,
    DateInput,
    ReferenceArrayInput,
    SelectArrayInput,
    TextInput,
} from 'react-admin';

export const PostCreate = () => (
    <Create>
        <SimpleForm>
            <TextInput source="title" />
            <TextInput multiline source="body" />
            <DateInput source="published_at" />
            <ReferenceArrayInput reference="tags" source="tags">
                <SelectArrayInput optionText="name" />
            </ReferenceArrayInput>
        </SimpleForm>
    </Create>
);

Tip: As it does not provide autocompletion, <SelectArrayInput> might not be suited when the reference resource has a lot of items.

Check the <ReferenceArrayInput> documentation for more details.

Creating New Choices

The <SelectArrayInput> can allow users to create a new choice if either the create or onCreate prop is provided.

Use the onCreate prop when you only require users to provide a simple string and a prompt is enough. You can return either the new choice directly or a Promise resolving to the new choice.

import { SelectArrayInput, Create, SimpleForm, TextInput } from 'react-admin';

const PostCreate = () => {
    const tags = [
        { name: 'Tech', id: 'tech' },
        { name: 'Lifestyle', id: 'lifestyle' },
    ];
    return (
        <Create>
            <SimpleForm>
                <TextInput source="title" />
                <SelectArrayInput
                    onCreate={() => {
                        const newTagName = prompt('Enter a new tag');
                        const newTag = { id: newTagName.toLowerCase(), name: newTagName };
                        tags.push(newTag);
                        return newTag;
                    }}
                    source="tags"
                    choices={tags}
                />
            </SimpleForm>
        </Create>
    );
}

Use the create prop when you want a more polished or complex UI. For example a Material UI <Dialog> asking for multiple fields because the choices are from a referenced resource.

import {
    SelectArrayInput,
    Create,
    ReferenceArrayInput,
    SimpleForm,
    TextInput,
    useCreate,
    useCreateSuggestionContext
} from 'react-admin';

import {
    Box,
    BoxProps,
    Button,
    Dialog,
    DialogActions,
    DialogContent,
    TextField,
} from '@mui/material';

const PostCreate = () => {
    return (
        <Create>
            <SimpleForm>
                <TextInput source="title" />
                <ReferenceArrayInput source="tags" reference="tags">
                    <SelectArrayInput create={<CreateTag />} />
                </ReferenceArrayInput>
            </SimpleForm>
        </Create>
    );
}

const CreateTag = () => {
    const { filter, onCancel, onCreate } = useCreateSuggestionContext();
    const [value, setValue] = React.useState(filter || '');
    const [create] = useCreate();

    const handleSubmit = event => {
        event.preventDefault();
        create(
          'tags',
          {
              data: {
                  title: value,
              },
          },
          {
              onSuccess: (data) => {
                  setValue('');
                  onCreate(data);
              },
          }
        );
    };

    return (
        <Dialog open onClose={onCancel}>
            <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
                <DialogContent>
                    <TextField
                        label="New tag"
                        value={value}
                        onChange={event => setValue(event.target.value)}
                        autoFocus
                    />
                </DialogContent>
                <DialogActions>
                    <Button type="submit">Save</Button>
                    <Button onClick={onCancel}>Cancel</Button>
                </DialogActions>
            </form>
        </Dialog>
    );
};

<SelectArrayInput>

Usage

Props

choices

create

disableValue

onCreate

options

optionText

optionValue

sx: CSS API

translateChoice