How to customize filters in Next.js ?

In this article, we will learn How we can add customized filters in the NextJS project using Algolia. NextJS is a React-based framework. It has the power to Develop beautiful Web applications for different platforms like Windows, Linux, and mac. The linking of dynamic paths helps in rendering your NextJS components conditionally.

Approach: To add our customized filters first we are going to create an account in algolia that enables us to search content in milliseconds. After that, we will get the API keys that we will use later in our app. Then we will create a new index to upload our data. On the homepage of our app, we will fetch the data from algolia using the API keys and algoliasearch module. Then we will create our customized filters.

Create NextJS Application:

Step 1: You can create a new NextJs project using the below command:

npx create-next-app gfg

Step 2: To add Algolia search in our project we are going to install two modules:

npm install algoliasearch react-instantsearch-dom

Project Structure: It will look like the following.

Step 3: Setting up Algolia. Algolia enables developers to build next-generation apps with APIs that deliver relevant content in milliseconds. So to use algolia first create a free account and get the API keys of that account.

1. To get the API keys Go to settings > API Keys

2. After that create an index and upload the data that you want to search. You can upload the data in json, csv format or by using their API.

For this example, I am uploading the below data.

Title, Tag, Day
GFG1, python, Monday
GFG2, java, Tuesday
GFG3, css, Wednesday
GFG4, html, Thursday
GFG5, react, Friday
GFG6, nextjs, Saturday

Step 4: Now we will create custom filters for our app.  For this, we will create a new file inside a new components folder with the below content. 

import { connectMenu } from 'react-instantsearch-dom';

const Filters = ({ items, currentRefinement, refine }) => (
  <select
    value={currentRefinement || ''}
    onChange={event => refine(event.currentTarget.value)}
    style={{padding:'10px 100px 10px 100px',borderRadius:'20px'}}
  >
    <option value="">See all options</option>
    {items.map(item => (
      <option
        key={item.label}
        value={item.isRefined ? currentRefinement : item.value}
      >
        {item.label}
      </option>
    ))}
  </select>
);

export default connectMenu(Filters);

Step 5: Now we can use the API to add the customized filter in NextJs Project.  After that to use our customized filter we are going to add the below code in the index.js file.

// Importing modules
import algoliasearch from "algoliasearch/lite";
import { InstantSearch, Hits } from "react-instantsearch-dom";
import Filter from "../components/CustomFilter";

const searchClient = algoliasearch(
  APPLICATION_API_KEY,
  SEARCH_ONLY_API_KEY,
);

export default function CustomizedFilter() {
  return (
    <>
      <InstantSearch 
        searchClient={searchClient} 
        indexName="gfg_dev">

        {/* Adding Filter */}
        <Filter attribute="Title"/>

        {/* Adding Data */}
        <Hits />
      </InstantSearch>
    </>
  );
}

You can also add styling using CSS in our customized filter.

Steps to run the application: Run the app using the below command in the terminal.

npm run dev

Output: