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Implement Autocomplete using Nosto JavaScript library

Nosto Autocomplete library is designed to simplify the implementation of Search Autocomplete functionality by providing: 🌟 Autocomplete products, keywords and history visualization. 🔄 Automatic bindings to Nosto Search API. 🧩 Autocomplete component state management. 📊 Nosto Analytics out of the box, Google Analytics support. 🏗️ Default Autocomplete components and templates. 🎮 Keyboard navigation.

Installation

You can install the Nosto Autocomplete library via npm:

npm install @nosto/autocomplete

The Nosto Autocomplete library can be imported and used in various ways, depending on your preferred framework or template language. Some of the supported import methods include:

Framework

Import Statement

Base

import { autocomplete } from "@nosto/autocomplete"

Mustache

import { autocomplete, fromMustacheTemplate, defaultMustacheTemplate } from "@nosto/autocomplete/mustache"

Liquid

import { autocomplete, fromLiquidTemplate, defaultLiquidTemplate } from "@nosto/autocomplete/liquid"

Preact

import { autocomplete, Autocomplete } from "@nosto/autocomplete/preact"

React

import { autocomplete, Autocomplete } from "@nosto/autocomplete/react"

Choose the import method that aligns with your project's requirements and technology stack.

❗Do not combine multiple imports as it will fetch multiple bundles.❗

Initialization

After installation, you can import and use the library in your JavaScript or TypeScript files. Library attaches to existing search input element. Once a search input is loaded, autocomplete function can initialize event listeners for the Search Autocomplete.

❗autocomplete should be called once.❗

import { useEffect } from "react"
import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    priceDecorator,
    Autocomplete,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/react"
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

let reactRoot = null

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            fetch: {
                products: {
                    fields: [
                        "name",
                        "url",
                        "imageUrl",
                        "price",
                        "listPrice",
                        "brand",
                    ],
                    size: 5,
                },
                keywords: {
                    size: 5,
                    fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
                    highlight: {
                        preTag: `<strong>`,
                        postTag: "</strong>",
                    },
                },
            },
            inputSelector: "#search",
            dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
            hitDecorators: [
                // adds priceText & listPrice fields based on Nosto currency formatting rules
                priceDecorator({ defaultCurrency: "USD" })
            ],
            render: function (container, state) {
                if (!reactRoot) {
                    reactRoot = createRoot(container)
                }

                reactRoot.render(<Autocomplete {...state} />)
            },
            submit: async (query, config, options) => {
                if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
                    const response = await search(
                        {
                            query,
                        },
                        {
                            redirect: true,
                            track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                            ...options
                        }
                    )
                    // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
                }
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return (
        <form id="search-form">
            <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
            <button type="submit" id="search-button">
                Search
            </button>
            <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
        </form>
    )
}

Property

Required

Default Value

Description

inputSelector

Yes

N/A

Input element to attach the autocomplete to

dropdownSelector

Yes

N/A

Dropdown element to attach the autocomplete to (empty container's selector should be provided)

render

Yes

N/A

Function to render the dropdown

fetch

Yes

N/A

Function to fetch the search state

submit

Search API request

Function to submit the search

minQueryLength

2

Minimum length of the query before searching (applied on typing in autocomplete and used in default submit implementation)

historyEnabled

true

Enables search history component

historySize

5

Max number of history items to show

nostoAnalytics

true

Enable Nosto Analytics

googleAnalytics

{ serpPath: "search", queryParamName: "query", enabled: true }

Google Analytics configuration. Set to false to disable

hitDecorators

N/A

Decorate each search hit before rendering

Render results

Once the autocomplete component binds to input via inputSelector and dropdownSelector, it then renders autocomplete provided in a render function. It is called on input focus and change events, and renders a dropdown element with the current search result state:

if input is empty and history entries exist, it renders dropdown with history list,
if input is not empty and it passes minQueryLength rule, it render dropdown with keywords and products.

Render can be adjusted to the desired framework. Moreover, the library provides helpers for Mustache/Liquid template languages.

Examples

Suppose index.html is

<form id="search-form">
    <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
    <button type="submit" id="search-button">Search</button>
    <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
</form>

List of autocomplete initialization examples:

Liquid Example below uses fromLiquidTemplate helper which renders string template. Library provides default autocomplete template via defaultLiquidTemplate and default css for default template:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromLiquidTemplate,
    defaultLiquidTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/liquid"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    fetch: {
        products: {
            fields: ["name", "url", "imageUrl", "price", "listPrice", "brand"],
            size: 5,
        },
        keywords: {
            size: 5,
            fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
            highlight: {
                preTag: `<strong>`,
                postTag: "</strong>",
            },
        },
    },
    inputSelector: "#search",
    dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
    render: fromLiquidTemplate(defaultLiquidTemplate),
    submit: async (query, config, options) => {
        if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
            const response = await search(
                {
                    query,
                },
                {
                    redirect: true,
                    track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                    ...options
                }
            )
            // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
        }
    },
})

The template also can be loaded from a file. The library includes a default template, equivalent to string template in above example:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromRemoteLiquidTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/liquid"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromRemoteLiquidTemplate(
        `./node_modules/@nosto/autocomplete/dist/liquid/autocomplete.liquid`
    ),
})

Mustache Mustache template is rendered similarly as Liquid template in the above example:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromMustacheTemplate,
    defaultMustacheTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/mustache"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromMustacheTemplate(defaultMustacheTemplate),
})

Or from a file:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromRemoteMustacheTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/mustache"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromRemoteMustacheTemplate(
        `./node_modules/@nosto/autocomplete/dist/mustache/autocomplete.mustache`
    ),
})

React/Preact One way to initialize autocomplete in a React app, is to call autocomplete from the useEffect on component mount, using default <Autocomplete /> component and styles:

import { useEffect } from "react"
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client"
import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    Autocomplete,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/react"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles"

let reactRoot = null

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            fetch: {
                products: {
                    fields: [
                        "name",
                        "url",
                        "imageUrl",
                        "price",
                        "listPrice",
                        "brand",
                    ],
                    size: 5,
                },
                keywords: {
                    size: 5,
                    fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
                    highlight: {
                        preTag: `<strong>`,
                        postTag: "</strong>",
                    },
                },
            },
            inputSelector: "#search",
            dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
            render: function (container, state) {
                if (!reactRoot) {
                    reactRoot = createRoot(container)
                }

                reactRoot.render(<Autocomplete {...state} />)
            },
            submit: async (query, config, options) => {
                if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
                    const response = await search(
                        {
                            query,
                        },
                        {
                            redirect: true,
                            track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                            ...options
                        }
                    )
                    // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
                }
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return (
        <form id="search-form">
            <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
            <button type="submit" id="search-button">
                Search
            </button>
            <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
        </form>
    )
}

The Preact solution does not differ from React a lot:

import { render } from "preact/compat"
import { useEffect } from "preact/hooks"
import {
    Autocomplete,
    autocomplete,
    search,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/preact"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            // ...
            render: function (container, state) {
                render(<Autocomplete {...state} />, container)
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return <form id="search-form">{/* ... */}</form>
}

Submit search

When submitting Search results through Autocomplete, submit callback is called on these events:

Enter key press.
Submit button click.
Keyword click.

By default submit checks if query/keyword length satisfies minQueryLength, sends Search Submit event to Nosto Analytics, and sends Search request to the Nosto Search API.

In the usual scenario, you want to render Search Results on submit, so you should override submit function:

submit: async (query, config, options) => {
    if (
        query.length >= config.minQueryLength
    ) {
        const response = await search(
            {
                query,
            },
            {
                redirect: true,
                track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                ...options
            }
        )
        // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
    }
},

To disable submit pass undefined value. \

📊 Nosto Analytics (enabled by default)

Setting nostoAnalytics: true will enable Nosto Analytics tracking. Tracking results can be seen in the Nosto Dashboard under Search & Categories -> Analytics page.

❗Note: you should additionally add click events on your search results page according to Nosto Tech Docs with type: serp || category according to the results page type.❗ \

📈 Google Analytics (enabled by default)

By default we send pageview events to existing GA tag, found in shop site. To send pageview events with correct search information, a minimal configuration is needed in googleAnalytics property.

serpPath - Search query url parameter name
queryParamName - Search query url parameter name
enabled - Enable Google Analytics

For example, if search results URL is https://examplenostoshop.com/search-results?query=shoes, then configuration should be:

googleAnalytics: {
    serpPath: "search-results",
    queryParamName: "query",
    enabled: true
}

To disable Google Analytics, set googleAnalytics: false.

Create Autocomplete template

The library handles events through dataset properties to avoid handling logic in a template. These data-* attributes are used:

data-ns-hit - this attribute should be used on clickable keyword, product, history list elements. Stringified unmodified JSON object (product, keyword or history hit) from the search response should be provided as a value. You will need to escape it in Liquid and Mustache templates. This attribute handles submit keyword/history as search, redirect to product, analytics (if enabled) request.
data-ns-remove-history - should be used to delete history entries in the autocomplete.

To make an element delete a single history entry when clicked, add data-ns-remove-history={hit.item} to an element.
To delete all history entries, add data-ns-remove-history="all" to clear button.

Template examples: Mustache, Liquid, React/Preact

Mustache is based on logic-less templates which can be enhanced with helpers, e.g toJson, imagePlaceholder, showListPrice in example template.

import { fromMustacheTemplate } from '@nosto/autocomplete/mustache'

fromMustacheTemplate(template, {
    helpers: {
        toJson: function () {
            return JSON.stringify(this)
        },
    },
})

Render results

if input is empty and history entries exist, it renders dropdown with history list,
if input is not empty and it passes minQueryLength rule, it render dropdown with keywords and products.

Render can be adjusted to the desired framework. Moreover, the library provides helpers for Mustache/Liquid template languages.

Examples

Suppose index.html is

<form id="search-form">
    <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
    <button type="submit" id="search-button">Search</button>
    <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
</form>

List of autocomplete initialization examples:

Liquid Example below uses fromLiquidTemplate helper which renders string template. Library provides default autocomplete template via defaultLiquidTemplate and default css for default template:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromLiquidTemplate,
    defaultLiquidTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/liquid"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    fetch: {
        products: {
            fields: ["name", "url", "imageUrl", "price", "listPrice", "brand"],
            size: 5,
        },
        keywords: {
            size: 5,
            fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
            highlight: {
                preTag: `<strong>`,
                postTag: "</strong>",
            },
        },
    },
    inputSelector: "#search",
    dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
    render: fromLiquidTemplate(defaultLiquidTemplate),
    submit: async (query, config, options) => {
        if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
            const response = await search(
                {
                    query,
                },
                {
                    redirect: true,
                    track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                    ...options
                }
            )
            // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
        }
    },
})

The template also can be loaded from a file. The library includes a default template, equivalent to string template in above example:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromRemoteLiquidTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/liquid"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromRemoteLiquidTemplate(
        `./node_modules/@nosto/autocomplete/dist/liquid/autocomplete.liquid`
    ),
})

Mustache Mustache template is rendered similarly as Liquid template in the above example:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromMustacheTemplate,
    defaultMustacheTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/mustache"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromMustacheTemplate(defaultMustacheTemplate),
})

Or from a file:

import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    fromRemoteMustacheTemplate,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/mustache"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

autocomplete({
    // ...
    render: fromRemoteMustacheTemplate(
        `./node_modules/@nosto/autocomplete/dist/mustache/autocomplete.mustache`
    ),
})

React/Preact One way to initialize autocomplete in a React app, is to call autocomplete from the useEffect on component mount, using default <Autocomplete /> component and styles:

import { useEffect } from "react"
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client"
import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    Autocomplete,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/react"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles"

let reactRoot = null

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            fetch: {
                products: {
                    fields: [
                        "name",
                        "url",
                        "imageUrl",
                        "price",
                        "listPrice",
                        "brand",
                    ],
                    size: 5,
                },
                keywords: {
                    size: 5,
                    fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
                    highlight: {
                        preTag: `<strong>`,
                        postTag: "</strong>",
                    },
                },
            },
            inputSelector: "#search",
            dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
            render: function (container, state) {
                if (!reactRoot) {
                    reactRoot = createRoot(container)
                }

                reactRoot.render(<Autocomplete {...state} />)
            },
            submit: async (query, config, options) => {
                if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
                    const response = await search(
                        {
                            query,
                        },
                        {
                            redirect: true,
                            track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                            ...options
                        }
                    )
                    // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
                }
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return (
        <form id="search-form">
            <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
            <button type="submit" id="search-button">
                Search
            </button>
            <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
        </form>
    )
}

The Preact solution does not differ from React a lot:

import { render } from "preact/compat"
import { useEffect } from "preact/hooks"
import {
    Autocomplete,
    autocomplete,
    search,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/preact"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            // ...
            render: function (container, state) {
                render(<Autocomplete {...state} />, container)
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return <form id="search-form">{/* ... */}</form>
}

Initialization

❗autocomplete should be called once.❗

import { useEffect } from "react"
import {
    autocomplete,
    search,
    priceDecorator,
    Autocomplete,
} from "@nosto/autocomplete/react"
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client"
import "@nosto/autocomplete/styles.css"

let reactRoot = null

export function Search() {
    useEffect(() => {
        autocomplete({
            fetch: {
                products: {
                    fields: [
                        "name",
                        "url",
                        "imageUrl",
                        "price",
                        "listPrice",
                        "brand",
                    ],
                    size: 5,
                },
                keywords: {
                    size: 5,
                    fields: ["keyword", "_highlight.keyword"],
                    highlight: {
                        preTag: `<strong>`,
                        postTag: "</strong>",
                    },
                },
            },
            inputSelector: "#search",
            dropdownSelector: "#search-results",
            hitDecorators: [
                // adds priceText & listPrice fields based on Nosto currency formatting rules
                priceDecorator({ defaultCurrency: "USD" })
            ],
            render: function (container, state) {
                if (!reactRoot) {
                    reactRoot = createRoot(container)
                }

                reactRoot.render(<Autocomplete {...state} />)
            },
            submit: async (query, config, options) => {
                if (query.length >= config.minQueryLength) {
                    const response = await search(
                        {
                            query,
                        },
                        {
                            redirect: true,
                            track: config.nostoAnalytics ? "serp" : undefined,
                            ...options
                        }
                    )
                    // Do something with response. For example, update Search Engine Results Page products state.
                }
            },
        })
    }, [])

    return (
        <form id="search-form">
            <input type="text" id="search" placeholder="search" />
            <button type="submit" id="search-button">
                Search
            </button>
            <div id="search-results" className="ns-autocomplete"></div>
        </form>
    )
}

Property

Required

Default Value

Description

inputSelector

Yes

N/A

Input element to attach the autocomplete to

dropdownSelector

Yes

N/A

Dropdown element to attach the autocomplete to (empty container's selector should be provided)

render

Yes

N/A

Function to render the dropdown

fetch

Yes

N/A

Function to fetch the search state

submit

Search API request

Function to submit the search

minQueryLength

2

Minimum length of the query before searching (applied on typing in autocomplete and used in default submit implementation)

historyEnabled

true

Enables search history component

historySize

5

Max number of history items to show

nostoAnalytics

true

Enable Nosto Analytics

googleAnalytics

{ serpPath: "search", queryParamName: "query", enabled: true }

Google Analytics configuration. Set to false to disable

hitDecorators

N/A

Decorate each search hit before rendering

Implement Autocomplete using Nosto JavaScript library

Installation

Initialization

Render results

Submit search

📊 Nosto Analytics (enabled by default)

📈 Google Analytics (enabled by default)

Create Autocomplete template

Further reading

Submit search

📊 Nosto Analytics (enabled by default)

📈 Google Analytics (enabled by default)

Implement Autocomplete using Nosto JavaScript library

Installation

Create Autocomplete template

Render results

Initialization

Further reading