In HTML, <select> creates a drop-down list. For example, this HTML creates a drop-down list of flavors:
<select>
<option value=”grapefruit”>Grapefruit</option>
<option value=”lime”>Lime</option>
<option selected value=”coconut”>Coconut</option>
<option value=”mango”>Mango</option>
</select>
Note that the Coconut option is initially selected, because of the selected attribute. React, instead of using this selected attribute, uses a value attribute on the root select tag. This is more convenient in a controlled component because you only need to update it in one place. For example:
class FlavorForm extends React.Component {
constructor(props) {
super(props);
this.state = {value: ‘coconut’};
this.handleChange = this.handleChange.bind(this);
this.handleSubmit = this.handleSubmit.bind(this);
}
handleChange(event) {
this.setState({value: event.target.value});
}
handleSubmit(event) {
alert(‘Your favorite flavor is: ‘ + this.state.value);
event.preventDefault();
}
render() {
return (
<form onSubmit={this.handleSubmit}>
<label>
Pick your favorite flavor:
<select value={this.state.value} onChange={this.handleChange}>
<option value=”grapefruit”>Grapefruit</option>
<option value=”lime”>Lime</option>
<option value=”coconut”>Coconut</option>
<option value=”mango”>Mango</option>
</select>
</label>
<input type=”submit” value=”Submit” />
</form>
);
}
}
Overall, this makes it so that <input type=”text”>, <textarea>, and <select> all work very similarly – they all accept a value attribute that you can use to implement a controlled component.
