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The HierarchicalMenu connector provides the logic to build a custom widget that lets users explore facets in a tree-like structure. This is commonly used for multi-level categorization of products on e-commerce websites. From a UX perspective, we suggest not displaying more than two levels deep.

​
Usage

import { connectHierarchicalMenu } from 'instantsearch.js/es/connectors';

const customHierarchicalMenu = connectHierarchicalMenu(
  (renderOptions, isFirstRender) => {
    const { items, refine, widgetParams } = renderOptions;
    const { container } = widgetParams;
    
    const renderItems = (items) => `
      <ul>
        ${items.map(item => `
          <li>
            <a 
              href="#" 
              data-value="${item.value}"
              style="${item.isRefined ? 'font-weight: bold' : ''}"
            >
              ${item.label} (${item.count})
            </a>
            ${item.data ? renderItems(item.data) : ''}
          </li>
        `).join('')}
      </ul>
    `;
    
    container.innerHTML = renderItems(items);
    
    container.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(link => {
      link.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
        e.preventDefault();
        refine(e.target.dataset.value);
      });
    });
  }
);

search.addWidgets([
  customHierarchicalMenu({
    container: document.querySelector('#hierarchical-menu'),
    attributes: ['categories.lvl0', 'categories.lvl1', 'categories.lvl2'],
  }),
]);

​
Connector Options

​
attributes
string[]
required
Attributes to use to generate the hierarchy of the menu.
​
separator
string
default:"' > '"
Separator used in the attributes to separate level values.
​
rootPath
string
Prefix path to use if the first level is not the root level.
​
showParentLevel
boolean
default:"true"
Show the siblings of the selected parent levels of the current refined value. This does not impact the root level.
​
limit
number
default:"10"
Max number of values to display.
​
showMore
boolean
default:"false"
Whether to display the “show more” button.
​
showMoreLimit
number
default:"20"
Max number of values to display when showing more.
​
sortBy
string[] | function
default:"['name:asc']"
How to sort refinements. Possible values: count, isRefined, name:asc, name:desc.
​
transformItems
(items: object[]) => object[]
Function to transform the items passed to the templates.

​
Render Options

​
items
Array<HierarchicalMenuItem>
The values to be rendered.Each item has:
  • value: Value of the menu item
  • label: Human-readable value of the item
  • count: Number of matched results after refinement
  • isRefined: Indicates if the refinement is applied
  • data: n+1 level of items (same structure)
​
refine
(value: string) => void
Sets the path of the hierarchical filter and triggers a new search.
​
createURL
(value: string) => string
Creates a URL for the next state for a clicked item.
​
canRefine
boolean
Indicates if search state can be refined.
​
isShowingMore
boolean
true if the menu is displaying all items.
​
toggleShowMore
() => void
Toggles the number of values displayed between limit and showMoreLimit.
​
canToggleShowMore
boolean
true if the toggleShowMore button can be activated.
​
sendEvent
function
Sends an event to the Insights middleware.
​
widgetParams
object
The options passed to the connector.

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