UI libraries / Autocomplete / API reference / autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches

createRecentSearchesPlugin

The createRecentSearchesPlugin plugin lets you implement your own storage. To connect with the user’s local storage, check createLocalStorageRecentSearchesPlugin.

Installation

First, you need to install the plugin.

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yarn add @algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches
# or
npm install @algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches

Then import it in your project:

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import { createRecentSearchesPlugin } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches';

If you don’t use a package manager, you can use the HTML script element:

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<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches@1.17.4/dist/umd/index.production.js" integrity="sha256-F/8902zLQMljfZdskooECqT8prdW1I4vhPaOTH7ePcU=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script>
  const { createRecentSearchesPlugin } = window[
    '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches'
  ];
</script>

Example

This example uses the plugin within autocomplete-js. You’re in charge of implementing the storage to fetch and save recent searches.

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import { autocomplete } from '@algolia/autocomplete-js';
import { createRecentSearchesPlugin } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches';

const recentSearchesPlugin = createRecentSearchesPlugin({
  // Implement your own storage
  storage: {
    getAll() {},
    onAdd() {},
    onRemove() {},
  },
});

autocomplete({
  container: '#autocomplete',
  openOnFocus: true,
  plugins: [recentSearchesPlugin],
});

For example, you can plug it to a MongoDB database using mongoose.

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import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import { createRecentSearchesPlugin } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches';
import { search } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches/usecases/localStorage';

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/myapp', { useNewUrlParser: true });

const schema = new mongoose.Schema({
  objectID: String,
  query: String,
  category: {
    type: String,
    default: undefined,
  },
});
const RecentSearchesItem = mongoose.model('RecentSearchesItem', schema);

const recentSearchesPlugin = createRecentSearchesPlugin({
  storage: {
    async getAll(query) {
      const items = await RecentSearchesItem.find({});

      return search({ query, items, limit: 5 });
    },
    onAdd(item) {
      RecentSearchesItem.create(item);
    },
    onRemove(objectID) {
      RecentSearchesItem.deleteOne({ objectID });
    },
  },
});

You can combine this plugin with the Query Suggestions plugin to populate the empty screen with recent and popular queries.

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import { liteClient as algoliasearch } from 'algoliasearch/lite';
import { autocomplete } from '@algolia/autocomplete-js';
import { createRecentSearchesPlugin } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-recent-searches';
import { createQuerySuggestionsPlugin } from '@algolia/autocomplete-plugin-query-suggestions';

const searchClient = algoliasearch(
  'latency',
  '6be0576ff61c053d5f9a3225e2a90f76'
);
const recentSearchesPlugin = createRecentSearchesPlugin({
  // Implement your own storage
  storage: {
    getAll() {},
    onAdd() {},
    onRemove() {},
  },
});
const querySuggestionsPlugin = createQuerySuggestionsPlugin({
  searchClient,
  indexName: 'instant_search_demo_query_suggestions',
  getSearchParams() {
    return recentSearches.data.getAlgoliaSearchParams();
  },
});

autocomplete({
  container: '#autocomplete',
  openOnFocus: true,
  plugins: [recentSearchesPlugin, querySuggestionsPlugin],
});

Parameters

storage
type: RecentSearchesStorage
Required

The storage to fetch from and save recent searches into.

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type RecentSearchesItem = {
  id: string;
  query: string;
};
type RecentSearchesStorage<TItem extends RecentSearchesItem> = {
  onAdd(item: TItem): void;
  onRemove(id: string): void;
  getAll(query?: string): MaybePromise<Array<Highlighted<TItem>>>;
};
transformSource
type: (params: { source: AutocompleteSource, state: AutocompleteState, onRemove: () => void, onTapAhead: () => void })

This function takes the original source as a parameter and returns a modified version of that source. For example:

Change Autocomplete state

Usually, when a link in the Autocomplete menu is selected, the menu closes. However, to keep the menu visible after a selection is made, use transformSource to set the isOpen state:

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  const recentSearchesPlugin = createRecentSearchesPlugin({
    storage,
    transformSource({ source, onRemove }) {
      return {
        ...source,
        onSelect({ setIsOpen }) {
          setIsOpen(true);
        },
      };
    },
  });

Create links

Turns Query Suggestions into clickable Google search links:

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const recentSearchesPlugin = createRecentSearchesPlugin({
  storage,
  transformSource({ source, onRemove }) {
    return {
      ...source,
      getItemUrl({ item }) {
        return `https://google.com?q=${item.query}`;
      },
      templates: {
        ...source.templates,
        item(params) {
          const { item, html } = params;

          return html`<a
            class="aa-ItemLink"
            href="https://google.com?q=${item.query}"
          >
            ${source.templates.item(params).props.children}
          </a>`;
        },
      },
    };
  },
});

Returns

data

getAlgoliaSearchParams
type: SearchParameters => SearchParameters

Optimized Algolia search parameters. This is useful when using the plugin along with the Query Suggestions plugin.

This function enhances the provided search parameters by:

  • Excluding Query Suggestions that are already displayed in recent searches.
  • Using a shared hitsPerPage value to get a group limit of Query Suggestions and recent searches.
addItem
type: (item: TItem) => void

A function that adds an item to the recent searches storage.

removeItem
type: (id: string) => void

A function that removes an item from the recent searches storage.

getAll
type: () => TItem[]

A function that returns the items from the recent searches storage.

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