Question

Hi I am working on a search tool for my website in Flex. I want it to work exactly like the “Spotlight” tool on MAC desktop. “http://www.recipester.org/images/6/66/How_to_Use_Spotlight_to_Search_on_Mac_OS_X_42.png” The link is to an image of spotlight.

I want to create almost the same thing in FLEX.
What I currently have is a “Autocomplete” box, and I get all the data I want in it. Code for the autocomplete is below:

<auto:AutoComplete borderStyle="none" id="txt_friends_search" 
        textAlign="left" prompt="Search Friends" dataProvider="{all_friends_list}" 
        allowEditingNewValues="true" allowMultipleSelection="true" allowNewValues="true" 
        backspaceAction="remove" labelField="label"
        autoSelectEnabled="false" matchType="anyPart" 
        height="23" right="400"  top="1" dropDownItemRenderer="{new ClassFactory(weather.index_cloud_global_search_item_renderer)}" />

And my ItemRenderer looks like :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:HBox 
    xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" 
    width="100%" height="100%" 
    verticalGap="0" horizontalGap="0"
    creationComplete="init()"
    verticalScrollPolicy="off" horizontalScrollPolicy="off" 
    verticalAlign="middle">
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.controls.Alert;
            import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
            import com.hillelcoren.utils.StringUtils;
            import mx.utils.StringUtil;
            import mx.events.FlexEvent;
            import mx.controls.List;

        public function init():void
        {

        }                                                           
    ]]>
</mx:Script>

<mx:HBox width="100%" verticalGap="0" horizontalGap="0">
    <mx:HBox borderThickness="1" width="75" borderStyle="solid" horizontalAlign="left" horizontalScrollPolicy="off">
        <mx:Label id="type"  text="{data.type}" fontSize="12"/> 
    </mx:HBox>
    <mx:HBox borderThickness="1" width="75" borderStyle="solid" horizontalAlign="left" horizontalScrollPolicy="off">
        <!--mx:Label id="nameLabel"  text="{data.label}" fontSize="12"/-->
        <mx:List id="names" dataProvider="{all}"    
    </mx:HBox>      
</mx:HBox>      

<!--mx:Box id="colorBox" borderStyle="solid" width="50" height="25"/-->
<mx:Spacer width="15"/>

This shows the type and label of everything, example:

• Friends ABC
• Friends XYZ
• Messages This is the message
• Messages example for messages
• Files filename1
• Files filename123

I believe you get my point there.

But what I want to create is something like:

Friends ABC
XYZ
Messages This is the message
example for messages
Files filename1
filename123
MoreFiles

Can someone plz help me in this.
I actually have no idea how to move forward in this.

Let me know if you want more clarification on anything.

Regards
Zeeshan

Answer 1

Since you’re offering a bounty, I’ll submit a different answer (as the previous one is technically valid).

Step #1: Download the Adobe Autocomplete Component integrate the class into your project.

Step #2: Create a new component that is derived from AutoComplete (I called mine SpotlightField.mxml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AutoComplete 
    xmlns="com.adobe.flex.extras.controls.*" 
    xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    creationComplete="init()"
    labelField="value"  
    itemRenderer="SpotlightFieldRenderer">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[

            private function init() : void
            {
                this.filterFunction = substringFilterFunction;
            }                                                       

            private function substringFilterFunction(element:*, text:String):Boolean
            {
                var label:String = this.itemToLabel(element);
                return(label.toLowerCase().indexOf(text.toLowerCase())!=-1);
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>        
</AutoComplete>

Step #3: Create the ItemRenderer you want to apply to this new component (I called mine SpotlightFieldRenderer.mxml). Note that the code is the same as the previous example, but I’ll post it again for completeness.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Canvas xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml">
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[

        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:HBox width="100%">
        <mx:Label width="100" text="{data.type}" />
        <mx:Label text="{data.value}" />
    </mx:HBox>
</mx:Canvas>

Step #4: Update the AutoComplete.as class as follows:

/**
 *  @private
 *  Updates the dataProvider used for showing suggestions
 */
private function updateDataProvider():void
{
    dataProvider = tempCollection;
    collection.filterFunction = templateFilterFunction;
    collection.refresh();

    sort_and_filter(collection);

    //In case there are no suggestions, check there is something in the localHistory
      if(collection.length==0 && keepLocalHistory)
      {
        var so:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("AutoCompleteData");
        usingLocalHistory = true;
        dataProvider = so.data.suggestions;
        usingLocalHistory = false;
        collection.filterFunction = templateFilterFunction;
        collection.refresh();
      }
  }

private function sort_and_filter(source:Object):Object
{
    if (source && source.length > 1) {   
        trace (source.length);  
        source.sortOn('type', Array.CASEINSENSITIVE);           
        var last:String = "";
        for each(var entry:Object in source) {      
            var current:String = entry.type;
            if (current != last)            
                last = current      
            else
                entry.type = "";
            last = entry.type;
        }
    }

    return source;
}  

You’ll notice that the sort_and_filter function is defined, and called on the collection within updateDataProvider. The app now looks like this:

That’s it. The sample application now looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" xmlns:local="*">
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            [Bindable]
            private var items:Array = [
                { type:'friends', value:'abc' },
                { type:'friends', value:'xyz' },
                { type:'messages', value:'this is the message' },
                { type:'messages', value:'example for messages' },
                { type:'files', value:'filename1' },
                { type:'files', value:'filename123' },
            ];
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>        
    <local:SpotlightField dataProvider="{items}" width="400" />
</mx:Application>

Let me know if you have any further questions. There is still a bit of work to do depending on how you want to display the results, but this should get you 95% of the way there 😉