feat(core): add a reload method on the InstantSearch component (#2637)

dev/app/builtin/init-stories.js

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import initPriceRangesStories from './stories/price-ranges.stories';
 import initRangeInputStories from './stories/range-input.stories.js';
 import initRangeSliderStories from './stories/range-slider.stories';
 import initRefinementListStories from './stories/refinement-list.stories';
+import initReloadStories from './stories/reload.stories';
 import initSearchBoxStories from './stories/search-box.stories';
 import initSortBySelectorStories from './stories/sort-by-selector.stories';
 import initStarRatingStories from './stories/star-rating.stories';
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ export default () => {
   initRangeInputStories();
   initRangeSliderStories();
   initRefinementListStories();
+  initReloadStories();
   initSearchBoxStories();
   initSortBySelectorStories();
   initStatsStories();

dev/app/builtin/stories/reload.stories.js

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/* eslint-disable import/default */
+
+import { storiesOf } from 'dev-novel';
+import instantsearch from '../../../../index';
+import { wrapWithHits } from '../../utils/wrap-with-hits.js';
+
+const stories = storiesOf('Reload');
+
+export default () => {
+  stories.add(
+    'default',
+    wrapWithHits(container => {
+      const button = document.createElement('button');
+      button.addEventListener('click', () => window.search.reload());
+      button.innerHTML = 'Reload InstantSearch';
+      const searchBoxContainer = document.createElement('div');
+      window.search.addWidget(
+        instantsearch.widgets.searchBox({ container: searchBoxContainer })
+      );
+      container.appendChild(button);
+      container.appendChild(searchBoxContainer);
+    })
+  );
+};

src/lib/InstantSearch.js

@@ -200,7 +200,18 @@ Usage: instantsearch({
   }
 
   /**
-   * The start methods ends the initialization of InstantSearch.js and triggers the
+   * The reload method clears the cached answers from Algolia and triggers a new search.
+   *
+   * @return {undefined} Does not return anything
+   */
+  reload() {
+    if (this.helper) {
+      this.helper.clearCache().search();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The start method ends the initialization of InstantSearch.js and triggers the
    * first search. This method should be called after all widgets have been added
    * to the instance of InstantSearch.js. InstantSearch.js also supports adding and removing
    * widgets after the start as an **EXPERIMENTAL** feature.