How do I set Algolia to not return any results if the query is blank?

Question

I'm using the instantsearch.js library provided by Algolia.

The behaviour I want is: if the visitor hasn't entered anything in the search box then no results are returned.

However, the Algolia documentation states that:

If no query parameter is set, the textual search will match with all the objects.

Is it possible to change this behaviour, while still using instantsearch.js?

Here is the code I currently have:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.jsdelivr.net/instantsearch.js/1/instantsearch.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">

    window.onload = function ()
    {

        function getTemplate(templateName) {
            return document.getElementById(templateName + '-template').innerHTML;
        }

        var search = instantsearch({
            appId: '{{config["ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID"]}}',
            apiKey: '{{config["ALGOLIA_API_KEY"]}}',
            indexName: '{{config["ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME"]}}',
            urlSync: true
        });

        search.addWidget(
            instantsearch.widgets.searchBox({
                container: '#search-input'
            })
        );

        search.addWidget(
            instantsearch.widgets.hits({
                container: '#hits-container',
                hitsPerPage: 10,
                templates: {
                    item: getTemplate('hit'),
                    empty: getTemplate('no-results')
                }
            })
        );

        search.start();
    };

</script>

Triple

Answer 1

You could use the searchFunction and check the underlying helper state to check whether or not the query is empty. Based on that, you can show/hide the search results div.

var search = instantsearch({
  [...],
  searchFunction: function(helper) {
    var homePage = $('.home-page');
    var searchResults = $('.search-results');
    if (helper.state.query === '') {
      // empty query string -> hide the search results & abort the search
      searchResults.hide();
      homePage.show();
      return;
    }
    // perform the regular search & display the search results
    helper.search();
    homePage.hide();
    searchResults.show();
  }
}

This is also documented on the official website.

Bromoform

Answer 2

@aseure's solution will result in the script returning upon clicking "x" in the input to clear the search query. The following achieves the goal without breaking anything:

const search = instantsearch({
  /* other parameters */
  searchFunction(helper) {
    const container = document.querySelector('#results');

    if (helper.state.query === '') {
      container.style.display = 'none';
    } else {
      container.style.display = '';
    }

    helper.search();
  }
});

The above example is taken from the documentation here: https://www.algolia.com/doc/guides/building-search-ui/going-further/conditional-display/js/#handling-empty-queries

Orlandoorlanta