Web Component

The <gpa-autocomplete> custom element works in any framework — or none — since it's built directly on core with no framework runtime involved. It self-injects its stylesheet on first use, so there's no separate CSS import to remember.

With a bundler

npm install @anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-element

<script type="module">
  import { defineGooglePlacesAutocompleteElement } from '@anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-element'

  defineGooglePlacesAutocompleteElement('gpa-autocomplete')

  // Configure BEFORE inserting into the document — see the note below.
  const el = document.createElement('gpa-autocomplete')
  el.setAttribute('api-key', 'YOUR_API_KEY')
  el.setAttribute('placeholder', 'Search for an address…')
  el.addEventListener('select', (event) => console.log(event.detail.place.formattedAddress))
  el.addEventListener('gpaerror', (event) => console.error(event.detail.error))
  document.body.append(el)
</script>

Via a CDN — no build step

The package ships a standalone, self-contained bundle (the engine and styles are baked in) that registers <gpa-autocomplete> automatically. One <script> tag is all you need — no bundler, no npm, no manual define() call:

<!-- unpkg (or swap for jsdelivr: https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-element) -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-element"></script>

<gpa-autocomplete
  api-key="YOUR_API_KEY"
  placeholder="Search for an address…"
  region-code="us"
></gpa-autocomplete>

<script>
  document.querySelector('gpa-autocomplete').addEventListener('select', (event) => {
    console.log(event.detail.place.formattedAddress)
  })
</script>

Writing <gpa-autocomplete> directly in HTML like this is safe here: api-key and the other config attributes are read when the element connects, and since it's declared in the markup the browser already has them by then. (The createElement-then-configure dance below only matters when you construct the element from a separate script — see the note.)

Pin a version for production (e.g. .../@anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-element@0.2.0) so a future release can't change the behavior underneath you. Since the whole engine is bundled into this file, don't also load @anil-labs/google-places-autocomplete-core separately — it would just ship the engine twice.

Configure before connecting (createElement usage)

customElements.define() synchronously upgrades any matching tag already parsed into the document — if you build the element from a script with document.createElement and set api-key after appending it, the element may connect and read its attributes first. Set the attributes before append() (as in the bundler example above), or just declare the tag with its attributes directly in HTML (as in the CDN example).

Attributes

Every attribute is live: change it after the element is connected and it applies to the next request (via the controller's setConfig() under the hood) — the way HTML authors expect attributes to behave.

Attribute	Maps to
api-key	apiKey
value	the input's query
placeholder	the input's placeholder
debounce-ms	debounceMs (number)
min-length	minLength (number)
language-code	languageCode
region-code	regionCode
searching-text	panel text while loading
no-results-text	panel text when nothing matched

JS-only properties

For config that doesn't fit in a string attribute, set these directly on the element instance before connecting it:

el.fetcher = (input, init) => fetch('/api/places-proxy', init)
el.locationBias = { circle: { center: { latitude: 37.4, longitude: -122.1 }, radius: 5000 } }
el.locationRestriction = { rectangle: { low: { latitude: 26, longitude: 80 }, high: { latitude: 31, longitude: 89 } } }
el.origin = { latitude: 27.7, longitude: 85.3 } // suggestions gain distanceMeters
el.includedRegionCodes = ['us']
el.includedPrimaryTypes = ['locality'] // e.g. a city picker
el.placeFields = ['id', 'displayName', 'formattedAddress']
el.resolveDetails = true // default
// Replace the default two-line option content (the element keeps the <li>,
// ARIA wiring and selection handling):
el.renderOption = (suggestion, active) => {
  const div = document.createElement('div')
  div.textContent = suggestion.mainText
  return div
}

Events

Event	detail
select	{ place: PlaceDetails, suggestion: Suggestion }
gpaerror	{ error: PlacesAutocompleteError }

(Named gpaerror rather than error to avoid any ambiguity with the DOM's built-in error event.)