jQuery Plugin For Multiple Select With Checkboxes - multi-select.js

Just another jQuery plugin that converts the regular multiselect box into an easy to use dropdown list with checkboxes to simplify the selection of multiple options.

How to use it:

1. Add the jQuery multi-select.js script to the webpage, after you've loaded the latest version of jQuery library.

<script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.slim.min.js"></script>
<script src="src/jquery.multi-select.js"></script>

2. Let's say you have a multi-select list like this:

<select id="languages" name="languages" multiple>
  <option value="JavaScript">JavaScript</option>
  <option value="C++">C++</option>
  <option value="Python">Python</option>
  <option value="Ruby">Ruby</option>
  <option value="PHO">PHP</option>
  <option value="Pascal">Pascal</option>
</select>

3. Call the function .multiSelect() on the select element and we're done.

$('#languages').multiSelect();

4. Style the plugin in the CSS as follows:

.multi-select-container {
  display: inline-block;
  position: relative;
}
.multi-select-menu {
  position: absolute;
  left: 0;
  top: 0.8em;
  float: left;
  min-width: 100%;
  background: #fff;
  margin: 1em 0;
  padding: 0.4em 0;
  border: 1px solid #aaa;
  box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  display: none;
}
.multi-select-menu input {
  margin-right: 0.3em;
  vertical-align: 0.1em;
}
.multi-select-button {
  display: inline-block;
  font-size: 0.875em;
  padding: 0.2em 0.6em;
  max-width: 20em;
  white-space: nowrap;
  overflow: hidden;
  text-overflow: ellipsis;
  vertical-align: -0.5em;
  background-color: #fff;
  border: 1px solid #aaa;
  border-radius: 4px;
  box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  cursor: default;
}
.multi-select-button:after {
  content: "";
  display: inline-block;
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
  border-style: solid;
  border-width: 0.4em 0.4em 0 0.4em;
  border-color: #999 transparent transparent transparent;
  margin-left: 0.4em;
  vertical-align: 0.1em;
}
.multi-select-container--open .multi-select-menu { display: block; }
.multi-select-container--open .multi-select-button:after {
  border-width: 0 0.4em 0.4em 0.4em;
  border-color: transparent transparent #999 transparent;
}

5. Possible plugin options with default values.

$('#languages').multiSelect({
  containerHTML: '<div class="multi-select-container">',
  menuHTML: '<div class="multi-select-menu">',
  buttonHTML: '<span class="multi-select-button">',
  menuItemHTML: '<label class="multi-select-menuitem">',
  activeClass: 'multi-select-container--open',
  placeholderText: '-- Select --'
});

Change log:

2017-11-18

• Only one active menu at a time per page

2016-10-25

• Allow selection of preset groups of options
• Prevent updateButtonContents being called twice

2016-10-14

• Better alignment for checkboxes in menu.
• Add namespace to all listeners.

2016-10-05

• Ignore whitespace when constructing button label

This awesome jQuery plugin is developed by mysociety. For more Advanced Usages, please check the demo page or visit the official website.