feat: ion-searchbar helperText

[donhmorris]

Prerequisites

• [X] I have read the Contributing Guidelines.
• [X] I agree to follow the Code of Conduct.
• [X] I have searched for existing issues that already include this feature request, without success.

Describe the Feature Request

Would be helpful to have a helperText property on the ion-searchbar that works the same as the helperText for ion-input.

Describe the Use Case

Provide helper text (similar to the helperText of ion-input) to provide guidance to users. An example would be "Enter a min of 3 characters to search"

Describe Preferred Solution

Mimic how the helperText feature works for ion-input.

Describe Alternatives

No response

Related Code

No response

Additional Information

No response

[liamdebeasi]

Do you have any examples of applications that implement this pattern?

[donhmorris]

It's not clear to me if you are asking for en example of using a searchbar with helper text of if you are looking for an example of how the existing helperText feature works for ion-input. Can you give more clarification of what you are asking?

The use case is the same as for ion-input; provide help text to the user. For example, the app I am currently working on requires a min of 4 characters to initiate a search of user names. Since there can be a million or more user names to search, 4 chars are required to begin a search. A helperText feature that works like the ion-input would be used to inform users of the 4 char requirement and that searches are case insensitive.

Does this description help or is there something else I can do?

[liamdebeasi]

I would like to know if there is an example of a real world application that uses helper text with a searchbar. The helper/error text in Ionic was designed for the Material Design specification which does not include helper text for the Searchbar. However, if there are examples of this in existing apps then the team might want to consider adding it.

[donhmorris]

Ahh. That explains why it is not there now. I will do some research. It seems like an obvious omission to me. The use case I shared is a good example. Searches are frequently (but not always) case insensitive. When I use one it is always the first thing i question. "Is this doing a case insensitive search?" Would my app qualify as a valid use case? 😀 It is about 4 to 6 months away from being published. Here is a screenshot of a workaround I did for helper text.

[liamdebeasi]

Thanks for the additional info! I spoke with the team, and we don't have plans to add this functionality at the moment. The helper/error text was originally intended to be used with form validation such as password strength and email validation. I recommend using the solution you demonstrated in the screenshot above.

[donhmorris]

I understand. I checked the md site and they did not have a provision for helper text.

I'm going to try suggesting the addition to the md team. If they decide to go with it, I will contact you guys.