ActiveAdmin Searchable Select

Searchable select boxes (via Select2) for ActiveAdmin forms and filters. Extends the ActiveAdmin resource DSL to allow defining JSON endpoints to fetch options from asynchronously.

Installation

Add activeadmin-searchable_select to your Gemfile:

   gem 'activeadmin-searchable_select

Import stylesheets and require javascripts:

// active_admin.css.scss
@import "active_admin/searchable_select";

# active_admin.js.coffee
#= require active_admin/searchable_select

Usage

Making Select Boxes Searchable

To add search functionality to a select box, use the :searchable_select input type:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     form do |f|
       f.input(:category, as: :searchable_select)
     end
   end

This also works for filters:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     filter(:category, as: :searchable_select)
   end

Fetching Options via Ajax

For large collections, rendering the whole set of options can be to expensive. Use the ajax option to fetch a set of matching options once the user begins to type:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     filter(:category,
            as: :searchable_select,
            ajax: true)
   end

If the input attribute corresponds to an ActiveAdmin resource, it is expected to provide the JSON endpoint that provides the options. Use the searchable_select_options method to define the required collection action:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(scope: Category.all,
                               text_attribute: :name)
   end

By default, scope needs to be a Ransack enabled ActiveRecord collection proxy determining which options are available. The attribute given by text_attribute will be used to get a display name for each record. Via Ransack, it is also used to filter by search term. Limiting result set size is handled automatically.

You can customize the display text:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(scope: Category.all,
                               text_attribute: :name,
                               display_text: ->(record) { "Category: #{record.name}" } )
   end

Note that text_attribute is still required to perform filtering via Ransack. You can pass the filter option, to specify your own filtering strategy:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(scope: Category.all,
                               text_attribute: :name,
                               filter: lambda |term, scope|
                                 scope.ransack(name_cont_all: term.split(' ')).result
                               end)
   end

scope can also be a lambda which is evaluated in the context of the collection action defined by the helper:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(scope: -> { Category.allowed_for(current_user) },
                               text_attribute: :name)
   end

If the input attribute is set on the form's object, ajax based searchable selects will automatically render a single option to ensure the selected item is displayed correctly even before options have been loaded asynchronously.

Specifying the Options Endpoint Resource

If the resource that provides the options endpoint cannot be guessed based on the input attribute name, you can pass an object with a resource key as ajax option:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     form do |f|
       f.input(:additional_category,
               as: :searchable_select,
               ajax: { resource: Category })
     end
   end

Mutlple Options Endpoints per Resource

A single ActiveAdmin resource can define multiple options endpoints:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(name: :favorites,
                               scope: Category.favorites,
                               text_attribute: :name)

     searchable_select_options(name: :recent,
                               scope: Category.recent,
                               text_attribute: :name)
   end

To specify which collection to use, pass an object with a collection_name key as ajax option:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     form do |f|
        f.input(:category,
                as: :searchable_select,
                ajax: { collection_name: :favorites })
     end
   end

Passing Parameters

You can pass additional parameters to the options endpoint:

   ActiveAdmin.register Product do
     form do |f|
        f.input(:category,
                as: :searchable_select,
                ajax: {
                  params: {
                    some: 'value'
                  }
                })
     end
   end

The lambda passed as scope can receive those parameters as first argument:

   ActiveAdmin.register Category do
     searchable_select_options(scope: lambda do |params|
                                 Category.find_all_by_some(params[:some])
                               end,
                               text_attribute: :name)
   end

Inlining Ajax Options in Feature Tests

When writing UI driven feature specs (i.e. with Capybara), asynchronous loading of select options can increase test complexity. activeadmin-searchable_select provides an option to render all available options just like a normal select input while still exercsing the same code paths including scope and text_attribute handling.

For example with RSpec/Capybara, simply set inline_ajax_options true for feature specs:

  RSpec.configure do |config|
    config.before(:each) do |example|
      ActiveAdmin::Select2.inline_ajax_options = (example.metadata[:type] == :feature)
    end
  end

Development

To run the tests install bundled gems and invoke RSpec:

$ bundle
$ bundle exec rspec

The test suite can be run against different versions of Rails and Active Admin (see Appraisals file):

$ appraisal install
$ appraisal rspec

Please make sure changes conform with the styleguide:

$ bundle exec rubocop

Acknowledgements

Based on mfairburn/activeadmin-select2.