Proper way to use react-hook-form Controller with Material-UI Autocomplete - reactjs

Question

I am trying to use a custom Material-UI Autocomplete component and connect it to react-hook-form.
TLDR: Need to use MUI Autocomplete with react-hook-form Controller without defaultValue
My custom Autocomplete component takes an object with the structure {_id:'', name: ''} it displays the name and returns the _id when an option is selected. The Autocomplete works just fine.
<Autocomplete
options={options}
getOptionLabel={option => option.name}
getOptionSelected={(option, value) => option._id === value._id}
onChange={(event, newValue, reason) => {
handler(name, reason === 'clear' ? null : newValue._id);
}}
renderInput={params => <TextField {...params} {...inputProps} />}
/>
In order to make it work with react-hook-form I've set the setValues to be the handler for onChange in the Autocomplete and manually register the component in an useEffect as follows
useEffect(() => {
register({ name: "country1" });
},[]);
This works fine but I would like to not have the useEffect hook and just make use of the register somehow directly.
Next I tried to use the Controller component from react-hook-form to proper register the field in the form and not to use the useEffect hook
<Controller
name="country2"
as={
<Autocomplete
options={options}
getOptionLabel={option => option.name}
getOptionSelected={(option, value) => option._id === value._id}
onChange={(event, newValue, reason) =>
reason === "clear" ? null : newValue._id
}
renderInput={params => (
<TextField {...params} label="Country" />
)}
/>
}
control={control}
/>
I've changed the onChange in the Autocomplete component to return the value directly but it doesn't seem to work.
Using inputRef={register} on the <TextField/> would not cut it for me because I want to save the _id and not the name
HERE is a working sandbox with the two cases. The first with useEffect and setValue in the Autocomplete that works. The second my attempt in using Controller component
Any help is appreciated.
LE
After the comment from Bill with the working sandbox of MUI Autocomplete, I Managed to get a functional result
<Controller
name="country"
as={
<Autocomplete
options={options}
getOptionLabel={option => option.name}
getOptionSelected={(option, value) => option._id === value._id}
renderInput={params => <TextField {...params} label="Country" />}
/>
}
onChange={([, { _id }]) => _id}
control={control}
/>
The only problem is that I get an MUI Error in the console
Material-UI: A component is changing the uncontrolled value state of Autocomplete to be controlled.
I've tried to set an defaultValue for it but it still behaves like that. Also I would not want to set a default value from the options array due to the fact that these fields in the form are not required.
The updated sandbox HERE
Any help is still very much appreciated

Answer 1

The accepted answer (probably) works for the bugged version of Autocomplete. I think the bug was fixed some time after that, so that the solution can be slightly simplified.
This is very useful reference/codesandbox when working with react-hook-form and material-ui: https://codesandbox.io/s/react-hook-form-controller-601-j2df5?
From the above link, I modified the Autocomplete example:
import TextField from '#material-ui/core/TextField';
import Autocomplete from '#material-ui/lab/Autocomplete';
const ControlledAutocomplete = ({ options = [], renderInput, getOptionLabel, onChange: ignored, control, defaultValue, name, renderOption }) => {
return (
<Controller
render={({ onChange, ...props }) => (
<Autocomplete
options={options}
getOptionLabel={getOptionLabel}
renderOption={renderOption}
renderInput={renderInput}
onChange={(e, data) => onChange(data)}
{...props}
/>
)}
onChange={([, data]) => data}
defaultValue={defaultValue}
name={name}
control={control}
/>
);
}
With the usage:
<ControlledAutocomplete
control={control}
name="inputName"
options={[{ name: 'test' }]}
getOptionLabel={(option) => `Option: ${option.name}`}
renderInput={(params) => <TextField {...params} label="My label" margin="normal" />}
defaultValue={null}
/>
control is from the return value of useForm(}
Note that I'm passing null as defaultValue as in my case this input is not required. If you'll leave defaultValue you might get some errors from material-ui library.
UPDATE:
Per Steve question in the comments, this is how I'm rendering the input, so that it checks for errors:
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField
{...params}
label="Field Label"
margin="normal"
error={errors[fieldName]}
/>
)}
Where errors is an object from react-hook-form's formMethods:
const { control, watch, errors, handleSubmit } = formMethods

Answer 2

So, I fixed this. But it revealed what I believe to be an error in Autocomplete.
First... specifically to your issue, you can eliminate the MUI Error by adding a defaultValue to the <Controller>. But that was only the beginning of another round or problems.
The problem is that functions for getOptionLabel, getOptionSelected, and onChange are sometimes passed the value (i.e. the _id in this case) and sometimes passed the option structure - as you would expect.
Here's the code I finally came up with:
import React from "react";
import { useForm, Controller } from "react-hook-form";
import { TextField } from "#material-ui/core";
import { Autocomplete } from "#material-ui/lab";
import { Button } from "#material-ui/core";
export default function FormTwo({ options }) {
const { register, handleSubmit, control } = useForm();
const getOpObj = option => {
if (!option._id) option = options.find(op => op._id === option);
return option;
};
return (
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit(data => console.log(data))}>
<Controller
name="country"
as={
<Autocomplete
options={options}
getOptionLabel={option => getOpObj(option).name}
getOptionSelected={(option, value) => {
return option._id === getOpObj(value)._id;
}}
renderInput={params => <TextField {...params} label="Country" />}
/>
}
onChange={([, obj]) => getOpObj(obj)._id}
control={control}
defaultValue={options[0]}
/>
<Button type="submit">Submit</Button>
</form>
);
}

Answer 3

import { Button } from "#material-ui/core";
import Autocomplete from "#material-ui/core/Autocomplete";
import { red } from "#material-ui/core/colors";
import Container from "#material-ui/core/Container";
import CssBaseline from "#material-ui/core/CssBaseline";
import { makeStyles } from "#material-ui/core/styles";
import TextField from "#material-ui/core/TextField";
import AdapterDateFns from "#material-ui/lab/AdapterDateFns";
import LocalizationProvider from "#material-ui/lab/LocalizationProvider";
import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react";
import { Controller, useForm } from "react-hook-form";
export default function App() {
const [itemList, setItemList] = useState([]);
// const classes = useStyles();
const {
control,
handleSubmit,
setValue,
formState: { errors }
} = useForm({
mode: "onChange",
defaultValues: { item: null }
});
const onSubmit = (formInputs) => {
console.log("formInputs", formInputs);
};
useEffect(() => {
setItemList([
{ id: 1, name: "item1" },
{ id: 2, name: "item2" }
]);
setValue("item", { id: 3, name: "item3" });
}, [setValue]);
return (
<LocalizationProvider dateAdapter={AdapterDateFns}>
<Container component="main" maxWidth="xs">
<CssBaseline />
<form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)} noValidate>
<Controller
control={control}
name="item"
rules={{ required: true }}
render={({ field: { onChange, value } }) => (
<Autocomplete
onChange={(event, item) => {
onChange(item);
}}
value={value}
options={itemList}
getOptionLabel={(item) => (item.name ? item.name : "")}
getOptionSelected={(option, value) =>
value === undefined || value === "" || option.id === value.id
}
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField
{...params}
label="items"
margin="normal"
variant="outlined"
error={!!errors.item}
helperText={errors.item && "item required"}
required
/>
)}
/>
)}
/>
<button
onClick={() => {
setValue("item", { id: 1, name: "item1" });
}}
>
setValue
</button>
<Button
type="submit"
fullWidth
size="large"
variant="contained"
color="primary"
// className={classes.submit}
>
submit
</Button>
</form>
</Container>
</LocalizationProvider>
);
}

Answer 4

I do not know why the above answers did not work for me, here is the simplest code that worked for me, I used render function of Controller with onChange to change the value according to the selected one.
<Controller
control={control}
name="type"
rules={{
required: 'Veuillez choisir une réponse',
}}
render={({ field: { onChange, value } }) => (
<Autocomplete
freeSolo
options={['field', 'select', 'multiple', 'date']}
onChange={(event, values) => onChange(values)}
value={value}
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField
{...params}
label="type"
variant="outlined"
onChange={onChange}
/>
)}
/>
)}

Answer 5

Thanks to all the other answers, as of April 15 2022, I was able to figure out how to get this working and render the label in the TextField component:
const ControlledAutocomplete = ({
options,
name,
control,
defaultValue,
error,
rules,
helperText,
}) => (
<Controller
name={name}
control={control}
defaultValue={defaultValue}
rules={rules}
render={({ field }) => (
<Autocomplete
disablePortal
options={options}
getOptionLabel={(option) =>
option?.label ??
options.find(({ code }) => code === option)?.label ??
''
}
{...field}
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField
{...params}
error={Boolean(error)}
helperText={helperText}
/>
)}
onChange={(_event, data) => field.onChange(data?.code ?? '')}
/>
)}
/>
);
ControlledAutocomplete.propTypes = {
options: PropTypes.arrayOf({
label: PropTypes.string,
code: PropTypes.string,
}),
name: PropTypes.string,
control: PropTypes.func,
defaultValue: PropTypes.string,
error: PropTypes.object,
rules: PropTypes.object,
helperText: PropTypes.string,
};
In my case, options is an array of {code: 'US', label: 'United States'} objects. The biggest difference is the getOptionLabel, which I guess needs to account for if both when you have the list open (and option is an object) and when the option is rendered in the TextField (when option is a string) as well as when nothing is selected.

Answer 6

I have made it work pretty well including multiple tags selector as follow bellow. It will work fine with mui5 and react-hook-form 7
import { useForm, Controller } from 'react-hook-form';
import Autocomplete from '#mui/material/Autocomplete';
//setup your form and control
<Controller
control={control}
name="yourFiledSubmitName"
rules={{
required: 'required field',
}}
render={({ field: { onChange } }) => (
<Autocomplete
multiple
options={yourDataArray}
getOptionLabel={(option) => option.label}
onChange={(event, item) => {
onChange(item);
}}
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField {...params} label="Your label" placeholder="Your placeholder"
/>
)}
)}
/>

Answer 7

Instead of using controller, with the help of register, setValue of useForm and value, onChange of Autocomplete we can achieve the same result.
const [selectedCaste, setSelectedCaste] = useState([]);
const {register, errors, setValue} = useForm();
useEffect(() => {
register("caste");
}, [register]);
return (
<Autocomplete
multiple
options={casteList}
disableCloseOnSelect
value={selectedCaste}
onChange={(_, values) => {
setSelectedCaste([...values]);
setValue("caste", [...values]);
}}
getOptionLabel={(option) => option}
renderOption={(option, { selected }) => (
<React.Fragment>
<Checkbox
icon={icon}
checkedIcon={checkedIcon}
style={{ marginRight: 8 }}
checked={selected}
/>
{option}
</React.Fragment>
)}
style={{ width: "100%" }}
renderInput={(params) => (
<TextField
{...params}
id="caste"
error={!!errors.caste}
helperText={errors.caste?.message}
variant="outlined"
label="Select caste"
placeholder="Caste"
/>
)}
/>
);