How to start search only when user stops typing?

I need to perform a Search when user stops typing.I know I am supposed to use setTimeout() . But with Reactjs I cant find how it works. Can someone please tell me how to invoke a method (that will handle Search) when the user stops typing for a few seconds (suppose 5).I cant figure out where to write the code to check that the user has stopped typing.

import React, {Component, PropTypes} from 'react';

export default class SearchBox extends Component {

    state={
      name:" ",
    }

    changeName = (event) => {
        this.setState({name: event.target.value}); 
    }

    sendToParent = () => {
        this.props.searching(this.state.name);
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <div>
                 <input type="text"  placeholder='Enter name you wish to Search.'  onChange={this.changeName} />
              
            </div>
        );
    }
}   

I want to invoke the sendToParent method when the user stops typing.

Implement using useEffect hook:

function Search() {
  const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState('')

  useEffect(() => {
    const delayDebounceFn = setTimeout(() => {
      console.log(searchTerm)
      // Send Axios request here
    }, 3000)
    
    return () => clearTimeout(delayDebounceFn)
  }, [searchTerm])

  return (
    <input
      autoFocus
      type='text'
      autoComplete='off'
      className='live-search-field'
      placeholder='Search here...'
      onChange={(e) => setSearchTerm(e.target.value)}
    />
  )
}

You can use setTimeout with respect to your code as follows,

state = {
    name: '',
    typing: false,
    typingTimeout: 0
}
changeName = (event) => {
    const self = this;

    if (self.state.typingTimeout) {
       clearTimeout(self.state.typingTimeout);
    }

    self.setState({
       name: event.target.value,
       typing: false,
       typingTimeout: setTimeout(function () {
           self.sendToParent(self.state.name);
         }, 5000)
    });
}

Also, you need to bind changeName handler function in constructor.

constructor(props) {
   super(props);
   this.changeName = this.changeName.bind(this);
}

Another way that worked with me:

class Search extends Component {
  constructor(props){
    super(props);
    this.timeout =  0;
  }

  doSearch(evt){
  	var searchText = evt.target.value; // this is the search text
    if(this.timeout) clearTimeout(this.timeout);
  	this.timeout = setTimeout(() => {
	  //search function
	}, 300);
  }

   render() {
    return (
      <div className="form-group has-feedback">
      	<label className="control-label">Any text</label>
      	<input ref="searchInput" type="text" onChange={evt => this.doSearch(evt)} />
      </div>
    );
  }
}

I used the debounce function of lodash

onChangeSearchInput = (evt)=> {
    this.debouncedSearch(evt.target.value);
};

debouncedSearch = debounce(function (query) {
    this.setState({query});
}, 1000);

Somewhere in my render method i have this input field

<input
    type='text'
    onChange={this.onChangeSearchInput}
    className='uk-input'
    placeholder={'search by name or email...'}
   />

This library (use-debounce) is nice and simple.

Setup

yarn add use-debounce

or

npm i use-debounce --save

Usage sample from documentation

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { useDebounce } from 'use-debounce';

export default function Input() {
  const [text, setText] = useState('Hello');
  const [value] = useDebounce(text, 1000);

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        defaultValue={'Hello'}
        onChange={(e) => {
          setText(e.target.value);
        }}
      />
      <p>Actual value: {text}</p>
      <p>Debounce value: {value}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

> Things that I liked at this moment, things could be different in > future!: > > - Easy to setup & use > - Less Boilerplate code > - Modest ratings (~1K) and usage (npm - 200K downloads/Week) > - Supports timeout, MaxWait and other features

I think we can do it in a more simpler and cleaner manner, without abrupting the state parameter which calls the complete component life cycle like this:

constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    
    //Timer
    this.typingTimeout = null;

    //Event
    this.onFieldChange = this.onFieldChange.bind(this);

    //State
    this.state = { searchValue: '' }; 
}   


 /**
 * Called on the change of the textbox.
 * @param  {[Object]} event [Event object.]
 */
onFieldChange(event) {
    // Clears the previously set timer.
    clearTimeout(this.typingTimeout);

    // Reset the timer, to make the http call after 475MS (this.callSearch is a method which will call the search API. Don't forget to bind it in constructor.)
    this.typingTimeout = setTimeout(this.callSearch, 475);

    // Setting value of the search box to a state.
    this.setState({ [event.target.name]: event.target.value });
}


<div className="block-header">
     <input
           type="text"
           name="searchValue"
           value={this.state.searchValue}
           placeholder="User Name or Email"
           onChange={this.onFieldChange}
     />
</div>

I have use this custom hook and it's work perfectly no issue still.

export function useSearchDebounce(delay = 350) {
  const [search, setSearch] = useState(null);
  const [searchQuery, setSearchQuery] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const delayFn = setTimeout(() => setSearch(searchQuery), delay);
    return () => clearTimeout(delayFn);
  }, [searchQuery, delay]);

  return [search, setSearchQuery];
}

Use in any place like

const [search, setSearch] = useSearchDebounce();

<input onChange={(e) => setSearch(e.target.value)}/>

How about a custom hook?

import {useEffect, useRef, useState} from "react";

export default function useSearchInputState(searchHandler) {
  
  // to prevent calling the handler on component mount
  const didMountRef = useRef(false);

  const [searchValue, setSearchValue] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    let delayDebounceFn;

    if (didMountRef.current) {
      delayDebounceFn = setTimeout(searchHandler, 600)
    } else {
      didMountRef.current = true;
    }

    return () => clearTimeout(delayDebounceFn);
  }, [searchValue]); // eslint-disable-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps

  return [searchValue, setSearchValue];

}

Usage:

function MyComponent(props) {

  const [searchValue, setSearchValue] = useSearchInputState(() => {
    resetData(searchValue ?? null, selectedFilterPos); // replace with your code
  });

  return (
    <input className="Search"
           onChange={e => setSearchValue(e?.target?.value ?? null)}
      />
  );
}

you can just use the debounce from lodash or simulate using setTimeout.

import React, {Component, PropTypes} from 'react';

export default class SearchBox extends Component {
    constructor(props){
       super(props);
       this.state={ name:" "}
       this.timeout =  null;

    }

    changeName = (event) => {
        clearTimeout(timeout);
         if(timeout){
           setTimeout((event)=> this.setState({name: event.target.value}), 200)
         }
    }

    sendToParent = () => {
        this.props.searching(this.state.name);
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <div>
                 <input type="text"  placeholder='Enter name you wish to Search.'  onChange={this.changeName} />

            </div>
        );
    }
}

you can use react hooks useEffect with the use of setTimeOut function since it always return the timer id and you could easily clear the timer with that id as follows

export const Search = () => {
const [term, setTerm] = useState();
const [results, setResult] = useState([]);

useEffect(() => {
	const searchWiki = async () => {
		const { data } = await axios.get('https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php', {
			params: {
				srsearch: term,
			},
		});

		setResult(data.query.search);
	};
	const timerId = setTimeout(() => {
		searchWiki();
     // make a request after 1 second since there's no typing 
	}, 1000);

	return () => {
		clearTimeout(timerId);
	};
}, [term]);

For React hooks:

First we'll define a component

import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react";

const SearchInputText = ({ value, name, placeholder, onChange }) => {
  // state for keepign search text 
  const [searchText, setSearchText] = useState(value);
  // state for keeping the timeout
  const [searchTextTimeout, setSearchTextTimeout] = useState(null);

  // handler for form submit (pressing enter without waiting for setimeout to trigger)
  const handleSubmit = (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    // clear timeout as it'll that would be triggered
    if (searchTextTimeout) {
      clearTimeout(searchTextTimeout);
    }
    onChange(searchText);
  };

  // onChange handler
  const handleOnChange = (e) => {
  // cancelling previous timeouts
    if (searchTextTimeout) {
      clearTimeout(searchTextTimeout);
    }
    // first update the input text as user type
    setSearchText(e.target.value);
    // initialize a setimeout by wrapping in our searchTextTimeout so that we can clear it out using clearTimeout
    setSearchTextTimeout(
      setTimeout(() => {
        onChange(searchText);
        // timeout is 2500ms, change it to less or more.
      }, 2500),
    );
  };

  // making sure that we clear the timeout if/when the component unmount
  useEffect(() => {
    return () => clearTimeout(searchTextTimeout);
  }, [searchTextTimeout]);

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
      <input
        name={name}
        placeholder={placeholder}
        type="text"
        value={searchText}
        onChange={handleOnChange}
      />
    </form>
  );
};

export default SearchInputText;

Usage:

const Parent = () => {
  const handleChange = (e) => {
    // your implementation here
  };
  return (
    <div>
      <SortSearchInput name="search" placeholder="Enter Search" onChange={handleChange} />
    </div>
  );
};

I made my own custom component like this.

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react'

const InputDebounce = props => {
  const { onChange, ...otherProps } = props

  const [inputTimeout, setInputTimeout] = useState(null)

  useEffect(() => () => clearTimeout(inputTimeout), [inputTimeout])

  const inputOnChange = value => {
    if (inputTimeout) clearTimeout(inputTimeout)
    setInputTimeout(
      setTimeout(() => {
        if (onChange) onChange(value)
      }, 1000)
    )
  }

  return (
    <input
      {...otherProps}
      onChange={e => inputOnChange(e.target.value)}
    />
  )
}

export default InputDebounce

And using anywhere like this.

import React from 'react'
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom'

import InputDebounce from './InputDebounce'

const App = () => {
  const usernameOnChange = value => {
    console.log(value)
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <InputDebounce
        type='text'
        name='username'
        placeholder='Username'
        onChange={usernameOnChange}
      />
    </div>
  )
}

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'))

Here's a working component template with some useful parameters to get your started.

import React, { Component } from 'react'

const initialState = { results: [], value: '' }

export default class SearchBox extends Component {
  state = initialState
  timeout = null
  search_url = "https://example.com/search?q="
  min_query_length = 2
  timeout_duration = 300

  handleSearchChange = (e) => {
    let value = e.target.value
    clearTimeout(this.timeout);
    if (value.length < 1) {
        return this.setState(initialState) 
    } else {
        this.setState({ value })
        if (value.length>=this.min_query_length) {    
            this.timeout = setTimeout(this.search, this.timeout_duration);
        }
    }
  }

  search = () => {
    // assuming your results are returned as JSON
    fetch(`${this.search_url}${this.state.value}`)
    .then(res => res.json())
    .then(data => {
        this.setState({
            results: data,
        })
    })
  }

  render() {
    return (
          <input
            onChange={this.handleSearchChange}
          />
    )
  }
}

using react hooks, modified from @anoNewb's answer. With additions:

• prevent multiple triggers when there's still timer running
• add on Form Submit event

codesandbox

    import React, { useState, useEffect } from "react";

    export default function App() {
      const [search, setSearch] = useState("");
      const [searchTimeout, setSearchTimeout] = useState(null);

      useEffect(() => {
        if (searchTimeout) {
          clearTimeout(searchTimeout);
        }

        setSearchTimeout(
          setTimeout(() => {
            loadUsers();
          }, 1000),
        );

        return () => clearTimeout(searchTimeout);
      }, [search]);

      const loadUsers = () => {
        console.log("axios call with query: ", search);
      };

      return (
        <div className="App">
          <form
            onSubmit={(e) => {
              e.preventDefault();
              if (searchTimeout) {
                clearTimeout(searchTimeout);
              }
              loadUsers();
            }}
          >
            <input
              onChange={(e) => {
                setSearch(e.target.value);
              }}
            />
          </form>
        </div>
      );
    }

The code below works for me.

const[isReady, setReady]  = useState(true);
const onSearchSet =(event:React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => { 

    setCriteria(event.target.value);
    if(isReady) {
        setReady(false);
        const delayDebounceFn = setTimeout(() => {
            // Send Axios request here
            
            props.returnCall(props.RDropID, sortCriteria, event.target.value);

            setReady(true);
          }, 1000)
        
    }
      
};

User lodash javascript library and use [_.debounce][1]

changeName: _.debounce(function (val) {
  console.log(val)                
}, 1000)

Problem of Typeahead library https://twitter.github.io/typeahead.js/

Since the case here is simple, I can use a quick and dirty solution:

onChange: (event) ->
  if @_timeoutTask?
    clearTimeout @_timeoutTask

  @_timeoutTask = setTimeout (=>
    @sendToParent event.target.value
    clearTimeout @_timeoutTask
  ), 5000

In this way, the task will be triggered 5s after input event. If new event happens, the old task will be cancelled and a new task is scheduled, then it's another 5s to wait.

The difference in React is the where to store the computation state like _timeoutTask. The file scope, the component state, or the component instance.

Since _timeoutTask is component level, it should be be store globally. And it does not affect rendering, so not in component state too. So I suggest attaching it to component instance directly.