Question

here is an example

Before:

Create Pig

[search chicken textfield] [search chicken button]

[name text field]

[another text field]

[submit button]

After clicking search:

Create Pig

/List of Chickens/

[name text field]

[another text field]

[submit button]

Answer 1

[search chicken textfield] [search chicken button]

Better use it:

$this->widget('zii.widgets.jui.CJuiAutocomplete', array(
   'model' => $model,
   'attribute' => 'chicken',
   'minLength'=>'999', // for disable autosearching
));
CHtml::button('Search', array(
    'onclick'=>'$("#Pig_chicken").autocomplete( "search", "" );',
));

When user type search string it will be auto completed by ajax request (or use predefined list) for useful search