jQuery TagBox API

The TagBox widget is an editor that allows an end user to select multiple items from a drop-down list.

import TagBox from "devextreme/ui/tag_box"

DevExtreme widgets are integrated with many popular libraries and frameworks. See the Installation section (for JavaScript libraries) or the Prerequisites and Installation section (for ASP.NET MVC framework) to find details on setting up DevExtreme with a particular library or framework.

The following code shows how to create the TagBox widget using every supported library and framework. For more details on working with widgets in these libraries and frameworks, see the Widget Basics topic for jQuery, Angular, AngularJS, Knockout or ASP.NET MVC.

jQuery
JavaScript
HTML
$(function() {
    $("#tagBox").dxTagBox({
        dataSource: [ "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" ],
        maxDisplayedTags: 2
    });
});
<div id="tagBox"></div>
Angular
HTML
TypeScript
<dx-tag-box
    [dataSource]="tagBoxDataSource"
    [maxDisplayedTags]="2">
</dx-tag-box>
import { DxTagBoxModule } from 'devextreme-angular'
// ...
export class AppComponent {
    tagBoxDataSource = [ "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" ];
}
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        // ...
        DxTagBoxModule
    ],
    // ...
})
AngularJS
HTML
JavaScript
<div ng-controller="DemoController">
    <div dx-tag-box="{
        dataSource: tagBoxDataSource,
        maxDisplayedTags: 2
    }"></div>
</div>
angular.module('DemoApp', ['dx'])
    .controller("DemoController", function ($scope) {
        $scope.tagBoxDataSource = [ "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" ];
    });
Knockout
HTML
JavaScript
<div data-bind="dxTagBox: {
    dataSource: tagBoxDataSource,
    maxDisplayedTags: 2
}"></div>
var viewModel = {
    tagBoxDataSource: [ "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" ]
};
ko.applyBindings(viewModel);
ASP.NET MVC Controls
Razor C#
Razor VB
@(Html.DevExtreme().TagBox()
    .ID("tagBox")
    .DataSource(new[] { "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" })
    .MaxDisplayedTags(2)
)
@(Html.DevExtreme().TagBox() _
    .ID("tagBox") _
    .DataSource({ "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3" }) _
    .MaxDisplayedTags(2)
)

View Demo Watch Video

See Also

Configuration

An object defining configuration options for the TagBox widget.

Name Description
acceptCustomValue

Specifies whether the widget allows a user to enter a custom value. Requires the onCustomItemCreating handler implementation.

accessKey

Specifies the shortcut key that sets focus on the widget.

activeStateEnabled

Specifies whether or not the widget changes its state when interacting with a user.

applyValueMode

Specifies how the widget applies values.

dataSource

A data source used to fetch data the widget should display.

deferRendering

Specifies whether to render the drop-down field's content when it is displayed. If false, the content is rendered immediately.

disabled

Specifies whether the widget responds to user interaction.

displayExpr

Specifies the name of the data source item field whose value is displayed by the widget.

dropDownButtonTemplate

Specifies a custom template for the drop-down button.

elementAttr

Specifies the attributes to be attached to the widget's root element.

fieldTemplate

Specifies a custom template for the text field. Must contain the TextBox widget.

focusStateEnabled

Specifies whether the widget can be focused using keyboard navigation.

grouped

Specifies whether data items should be grouped.

groupTemplate

Specifies a custom template for group captions.

height

Specifies the widget's height.

hideSelectedItems

A Boolean value specifying whether or not to hide selected items.

hint

Specifies text for a hint that appears when a user pauses on the widget.

hoverStateEnabled

Specifies whether the widget changes its state when a user pauses on it.

inputAttr

Specifies the attributes to be passed on to the underlying HTML element.

isValid

Specifies whether the editor's value is valid.

items

An array of items displayed by the widget.

itemTemplate

Specifies a custom template for items.

maxDisplayedTags

Specifies the limit on displayed tags. On exceeding it, the widget replaces all tags with a single multi-tag that displays the number of selected items.

minSearchLength

The minimum number of characters that must be entered into the text box to begin a search. Applies only if searchEnabled is true.

multiline

A Boolean value specifying whether or not the widget is multiline.

name

The value to be assigned to the name attribute of the underlying HTML element.

noDataText

The text or HTML markup displayed by the widget if the item collection is empty.

onChange

A handler for the change event.

onClosed

A handler for the closed event.

onContentReady

A handler for the contentReady event. Executed when the widget's content is ready. This handler may be executed multiple times during the widget's lifetime depending on the number of times its content changes.

onCustomItemCreating

A handler for the customItemCreating event. Executed when a user adds a custom item. Requires acceptCustomValue to be set to true.

onDisposing

A handler for the disposing event. Executed when the widget is removed from the DOM using the remove(), empty(), or html() jQuery methods only.

onEnterKey

A handler for the enterKey event.

onFocusIn

A handler for the focusIn event.

onFocusOut

A handler for the focusOut event.

onInitialized

A handler for the initialized event. Executed only once, after the widget is initialized.

onInput

A handler for the input event.

onItemClick

A handler for the itemClick event.

onKeyDown

A handler for the keyDown event.

onKeyPress

A handler for the keyPress event.

onKeyUp

A handler for the keyUp event.

onMultiTagPreparing

A handler for the multiTagPreparing event. Executed before the multi-tag is rendered.

onOpened

A handler for the opened event.

onOptionChanged

A handler for the optionChanged event. Executed after an option of the widget is changed.

onSelectAllValueChanged

A handler for the selectAllValueChanged event.

onSelectionChanged

A handler for the selectionChanged event.

onValueChanged

A handler for the valueChanged event.

opened

Specifies whether or not the drop-down editor is displayed.

placeholder

The text that is provided as a hint in the select box editor.

readOnly

A Boolean value specifying whether or not the widget is read-only.

rtlEnabled

Switches the widget to a right-to-left representation.

searchEnabled

Specifies whether to allow searching.

searchExpr

Specifies the name of a data source item field or an expression whose value is compared to the search criterion.

searchMode

Specifies the binary operation used to filter data.

searchTimeout

Specifies the time delay, in milliseconds, after the last character has been typed in, before a search is executed.

selectAllMode

Specifies the mode in which all items are selected.

selectedItems

Gets the currently selected items.

showClearButton

Specifies whether to display the Clear button in the widget.

showDataBeforeSearch

Specifies whether or not the widget displays unfiltered values until a user types a number of characters exceeding the minSearchLength option value.

showMultiTagOnly

Specifies whether the multi-tag is shown without ordinary tags.

showSelectionControls

Specifies whether or not to display selection controls.

tabIndex

Specifies the number of the element when the Tab key is used for navigating.

tagTemplate

Specifies a custom template for tags.

text

The read-only option that holds the text displayed by the widget input element.

validationError

Specifies information on the validation error when using a custom validation engine. Should be changed at runtime along with the isValid option.

validationMessageMode

Specifies how the message about the validation rules that are not satisfied by this editor's value is displayed.

value

Specifies the selected items.

valueExpr

Specifies which data field provides the widget's value. When this option is not set, the value is the entire data object.

visible

Specifies whether the widget is visible.

width

Specifies the widget's width.

Methods

This section describes members used to manipulate data.

Name Description
beginUpdate()

Prevents the widget from refreshing until the endUpdate() method is called.

blur()

Removes focus from the input element.

close()

Closes the drop-down editor.

content()

Gets the popup window's content.

defaultOptions(rule)

Specifies the device-dependent default configuration options for this component.

dispose()

Disposes of all the resources allocated to the TagBox instance.

element()

Gets the root widget element.

endUpdate()

Refreshes the widget after a call of the beginUpdate() method.

field()

Gets the widget's <input> element.

focus()

Sets focus to the input element representing the widget.

getDataSource()

Gets the DataSource instance.

getInstance(element)

Gets the instance of a widget found using its DOM node.

instance()

Gets the widget's instance. Use it to access other methods of the widget.

off(eventName)

Detaches all event handlers from a single event.

off(eventName, eventHandler)

Detaches a particular event handler from a single event.

on(eventName, eventHandler)

Subscribes to an event.

on(events)

Subscribes to events.

open()

Opens the drop-down editor.

option()

Gets all widget options.

option(optionName)

Gets the value of a single option.

option(optionName, optionValue)

Updates the value of a single option.

option(options)

Updates the values of several options.

registerKeyHandler(key, handler)

Registers a handler to be executed when a user presses a specific key.

repaint()

Repaints the widget. Call it if you made modifications that changed the widget's state to invalid.

reset()

Resets the value option to the default value.

Events

This section describes events fired by this widget.

Name Description
change

Fires when a change within the widget's input element is committed by an end user.

closed

Fires after a drop-down list has been hidden.

contentReady

Raised when the widget's content is ready.

copy

Fires after the widget's input has been copied.

customItemCreating

Raised when a user adds a custom item.

cut

Fires after the Cut DOM event has fired.

disposing

Raised when the widget is removed from the DOM using the remove(), empty(), or html() jQuery methods only.

enterKey

Fires after the Enter key has been pressed within the widget's input element.

focusIn

Fires after the widget's input has been focused.

focusOut

Fires after the widget's input element has lost focus.

initialized

Raised only once, after the widget is initialized.

input

Fires when a value within the widget's input element is changed by an end user.

itemClick

Fires when a widget item is clicked.

keyDown

Fires when a key is pressed down within the widget's input element.

keyPress

Fires when the keypress DOM event has been raised for the current input element.

keyUp

Fires when a key is released within the widget's input element.

multiTagPreparing

Raised before the multi-tag is rendered.

opened

Fires when the drop-down editor is shown.

optionChanged

Raised after a widget option is changed.

paste

Fires after the widget's input has been pasted.

selectAllValueChanged

Fires when the select all check box value changes.

selectionChanged

Fires when the selection changes.

valueChanged

Fires when the editor value changes.

See Also

Default Item Template

This section lists the data source fields that are used in a default item template.

Type:

Object

By default, a predefined item template is applied to display the items of this widget. This template is based on certain fields of the data source provided for this widget. Below is the list of these fields. If the default item template is not appropriate for your task, implement a custom item template based on these or other fields of your data source.

See Also