Is there a way to make a multiselection in Autocomplete (Angular4+)?

Question

Angular Material documentation for chips includes a nice example of how to get started with a multiple selection autocomplete:

<mat-form-field class="example-chip-list">
  <mat-chip-list #chipList>
    <mat-chip
      *ngFor="let fruit of fruits"
      [selectable]="selectable"
      [removable]="removable"
      (removed)="remove(fruit)">
      {{fruit}}
      <mat-icon matChipRemove *ngIf="removable">cancel</mat-icon>
    </mat-chip>
    <input
      placeholder="New fruit..."
      #fruitInput
      [formControl]="fruitCtrl"
      [matAutocomplete]="auto"
      [matChipInputFor]="chipList"
      [matChipInputSeparatorKeyCodes]="separatorKeysCodes"
      [matChipInputAddOnBlur]="addOnBlur"
      (matChipInputTokenEnd)="add($event)">
  </mat-chip-list>
  <mat-autocomplete #auto="matAutocomplete" (optionSelected)="selected($event)">
    <mat-option *ngFor="let fruit of filteredFruits | async" [value]="fruit">
      {{fruit}}
    </mat-option>
  </mat-autocomplete>
</mat-form-field>

Basically, you have a chip list bound to a list and an text input that allows to search within an autocomplete list.

import {COMMA, ENTER} from '@angular/cdk/keycodes';
import {Component, ElementRef, ViewChild} from '@angular/core';
import {FormControl} from '@angular/forms';
import {MatAutocompleteSelectedEvent, MatChipInputEvent} from '@angular/material';
import {Observable} from 'rxjs';
import {map, startWith} from 'rxjs/operators';

/**
 * @title Chips Autocomplete
 */
@Component({
  selector: 'chips-autocomplete-example',
  templateUrl: 'chips-autocomplete-example.html',
  styleUrls: ['chips-autocomplete-example.css'],
})
export class ChipsAutocompleteExample {
  visible = true;
  selectable = true;
  removable = true;
  addOnBlur = false;
  separatorKeysCodes: number[] = [ENTER, COMMA];
  fruitCtrl = new FormControl();
  filteredFruits: Observable<string[]>;
  fruits: string[] = ['Lemon'];
  allFruits: string[] = ['Apple', 'Lemon', 'Lime', 'Orange', 'Strawberry'];

  @ViewChild('fruitInput') fruitInput: ElementRef;

  constructor() {
    this.filteredFruits = this.fruitCtrl.valueChanges.pipe(
        startWith(null),
        map((fruit: string | null) => fruit ? this._filter(fruit) : this.allFruits.slice()));
  }

  add(event: MatChipInputEvent): void {
    const input = event.input;
    const value = event.value;

    // Add our fruit
    if ((value || '').trim()) {
      this.fruits.push(value.trim());
    }

    // Reset the input value
    if (input) {
      input.value="";
    }

    this.fruitCtrl.setValue(null);
  }

  remove(fruit: string): void {
    const index = this.fruits.indexOf(fruit);

    if (index >= 0) {
      this.fruits.splice(index, 1);
    }
  }

  selected(event: MatAutocompleteSelectedEvent): void {
    this.fruits.push(event.option.viewValue);
    this.fruitInput.nativeElement.value="";
    this.fruitCtrl.setValue(null);
  }

  private _filter(value: string): string[] {
    const filterValue = value.toLowerCase();

    return this.allFruits.filter(fruit => fruit.toLowerCase().indexOf(filterValue) === 0);
  }
}

The code is pretty straightforward (filter based on text input after each typed character, remove an item from the list etc.). Of course, this should be tweaked to your needs (e.g. once you select an item, it should be filtered out for next autocomplete results).

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