<ReferenceArrayField>

Use <ReferenceArrayField> to display a list of related records, via a one-to-many relationship materialized by an array of foreign keys.

ReferenceArrayField

For instance, let’s consider a model where a post has many tags, materialized to a tags_ids field containing an array of ids:

┌──────────────┐       ┌────────┐
│ posts        │       │ tags   │
│--------------│       │--------│
│ id           │   ┌───│ id     │
│ title        │   │   │ name   │
│ body         │   │   └────────┘
│ is_published │   │
│ tag_ids      │╾──┘   
└──────────────┘       

A typical post record therefore looks like this:

{
  "id": 1,
  "title": "Hello world",
  "body": "...",
  "is_published": true,
  "tags_ids": [1, 2, 3]
}

In that case, use <ReferenceArrayField> to display the post tags names as follows:

<ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids" />

<ReferenceArrayField> fetches a list of referenced records (using the dataProvider.getMany() method), and puts them in a ListContext. It then renders each related record, using its recordRepresentation, in a <ChipField>.

Tip: If the relationship is materialized by a foreign key on the referenced resource, use the <ReferenceManyField> component instead.

Usage

<ReferenceArrayField> expects a reference attribute, which specifies the resource to fetch for the related records. It also expects a source attribute, which defines the field containing the list of ids to look for in the referenced resource.

For instance, if each post contains a list of tag ids (e.g. { id: 1234, title: 'Lorem Ipsum', tag_ids: [1, 23, 4] }), here is how to fetch the list of tags for each post in a list, and display the name for each tag in a <ChipField>:

import * as React from "react";
import { List, Datagrid, ReferenceArrayField, TextField } from 'react-admin';

export const PostList = () => (
    <List>
        <Datagrid>
            <TextField source="id" />
            <TextField source="title" />
            <ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids" />
            <EditButton />
        </Datagrid>
    </List>
);

<ReferenceArrayField> fetches the tag resources related to each post resource by matching post.tag_ids to tag.id. By default, it renders one string by related record, via a <SingleFieldList> with a <ChipField> child using the resource recordRepresentation as source

Configure the <Resource recordRepresentation> to render related records in a meaningul way. For instance, for the tags resource, if you want the <ReferenceArrayField> to display the tag name:

<Resource name="tags" list={TagList} recordRepresentation="name" />

You can change how the list of related records is rendered by passing a custom child reading the ListContext (e.g. a <Datagrid>). See the children section for details.

Props

Prop Required Type Default Description
source Required string - Name of the property to display
reference Required string - The name of the resource for the referenced records, e.g. ‘tags’
children Optional Element <SingleFieldList> One or several elements that render a list of records based on a ListContext
sortBy Optional string | Function source When used in a List, name of the field to use for sorting when the user clicks on the column header.
filter Optional Object - Filters to use when fetching the related records (the filtering is done client-side)
pagination Optional Element - Pagination element to display pagination controls. empty by default (no pagination)
perPage Optional number 1000 Maximum number of results to display
sort Optional { field, order } { field: 'id', order: 'DESC' } Sort order to use when displaying the related records (the sort is done client-side)

<ReferenceArrayField> also accepts the common field props, except emptyText (use the child empty prop instead).

children

By default, <ReferenceArrayField> renders one string by related record, via a <SingleFieldList> with a <ChipField> using the resource recordRepresentation.

ReferenceArrayField with default children

You can pass any component of your own as child, to render the list of related records in another way.

That means that using the field without child:

<ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids" />

Is equivalent to:

<ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids">
    <SingleFieldList>
        <ChipField source="name" />
    </SingleFieldList>
</ReferenceArrayField>

<ReferenceArrayField> creates a ListContext, so you can use any child that uses a ListContext:

For instance, use a <Datagrid> to render the related records in a table:

import { Show, SimpleShowLayout, TextField, ReferenceArrayField, Datagrid, ShowButton } from 'react-admin';

export const PostShow = () => (
    <Show>
        <SimpleShowLayout>
            <TextField source="id" />
            <TextField source="title" />
            <ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids">
                <Datagrid>
                    <TextField source="id" />
                    <TextField source="name" />
                    <ShowButton />
                </Datagrid>
            </ReferenceArrayField>
            <EditButton />
        </SimpleShowLayout>
    </Show>
);

Or <WithListContext> to render the related records in a custom way:

import { Show, SimpleShowLayout, TextField, ReferenceArrayField, WithListContext } from 'react-admin';

export const PostShow = () => (
    <Show>
        <SimpleShowLayout>
            <TextField source="id" />
            <TextField source="title" />
            <ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" reference="tags" source="tag_ids">
                <WithListContext render={({ data }) => (
                    <ul>
                        {data.map(tag => (
                            <li key={tag.id}>{tag.name}</li>
                        ))}
                    </ul>
                )} />
            </ReferenceArrayField>
            <EditButton />
        </SimpleShowLayout>
    </Show>
);

filter

<ReferenceArrayField> fetches all the related records, and displays them all, too. You can use the filter prop to filter the list of related records to display (this works by filtering the records client-side, after the fetch).

For instance, to render only tags that are ‘published’, you can use the following code:

<ReferenceArrayField 
    label="Tags"
    source="tag_ids"
    reference="tags"
    filter={{ is_published: true }}
/>

label

By default, <SimpleShowLayout>, <Datagrid> and other layout components infer the label of a field based on its source. For a <ReferenceArrayField>, this may not be what you expect:

{/* default label is 'Tag Ids', or the translation of 'resources.posts.fields.tag_ids' if it exists */}
<ReferenceArrayField source="tag_ids" reference="tags" />

That’s why you often need to set an explicit label on a <ReferenceField>:

<ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" source="tag_ids" reference="tags" />

React-admin uses the i18n system to translate the label, so you can use translation keys to have one label for each language supported by the interface:

<ReferenceArrayField label="resource.posts.fields.tags" source="tag_ids" reference="tags" />

pagination

<ReferenceArrayField> fetches all the related fields, and puts them all in a ListContext. If a record has a large number of related records, you can limit the number of displayed records with the perPage prop. Then, let users display remaining records by rendering pagination controls. For that purpose, pass a pagination element to the pagination prop.

For instance, to limit the display of related records to 10, you can use the following code:

import { Pagination, ReferenceArrayField } from 'react-admin';

<ReferenceArrayField
    label="Tags"
    source="tag_ids"
    reference="tags"
    perPage={10}
    pagination={<Pagination />}
/>

perPage

<ReferenceArrayField> fetches all the related fields, and puts them all in a ListContext. If a record has a large number of related records, it may be a good idea to limit the number of displayed records. The perPage prop allows to create a client-side pagination for the related records.

For instance, to limit the display of related records to 10, you can use the following code:

 <ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" source="tag_ids" reference="tags" perPage={10} />

If you want to let the user display the remaining records, you have to pass a pagination element.

reference

The resource to fetch for the relateds record.

For instance, if the posts resource has a tag_ids field, set the reference to tags to fetch the tags related to each post.

<ReferenceArrayField label="Tags" source="tag_ids" reference="tags" />

sort

By default, the related records are displayed in the order in which they appear in the source. For instance, if the current record is { id: 1234, title: 'Lorem Ipsum', tag_ids: [1, 23, 4] }, a <ReferenceArrayField> on the tag_ids field will display tags in the order 1, 23, 4.

<ReferenceArrayField> can force a different order (via a client-side sort after fetch) if you specify a sort prop.

For instance, to sort tags by title in ascending order, you can use the following code:

<ReferenceArrayField 
    label="Tags"
    source="tag_ids"
    reference="tags"
    sort={{ field: 'title', order: 'ASC' }}
/>

sx: CSS API

The <ReferenceArrayField> component accepts the usual className prop. You can also override many styles of the inner components thanks to the sx property (see the sx documentation for syntax and examples). This property accepts the following subclasses:

Rule name Description
& .RaReferenceArrayField-progress Applied to the Material UI’s LinearProgress component while isLoading prop is true

To override the style of all instances of <ReferenceArrayField> using the application-wide style overrides, use the RaReferenceArrayField key.