Question

I am trying to implement the jQuery autocomplete plugin by receiving the data through a servlet.
The script works and it does pull the results from the servlet but I can’t get it to render properly in the drop down menu. Say I write “hel” in the search bar, the autocomplete drop down list is:

h
e
l
l
o

From what I understand, the autocomplete plugin is supposed to receive an array and I think that may be the issue.
This is my javascript code:

<script>
function getFilteredNames(request, response){

    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "../servlet/Autocomplete", 
        data: request,
        success: function(data) {
            response(data);
        }
    });
}

$(document).ready(function(){
        $("#buscar").autocomplete({ source : getFilteredNames, minLength: 3}); 
});
</script>

And this is part of the servlet code:

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();

        try {
            String query = request.getParameter("term");
            List<Socio> rs = new ArrayList<Socio>();    
            rs = SocioDAO.getSociosByQuery(query);      

                if (rs.isEmpty()) {
                    out.println("No hay coincidencias");
                }
                else {

                    Iterator <Socio> iterator = rs.iterator();
                    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
                        String nombre = (String) iterator.next().getNombre();
                        out.println(nombre);
                    }

            }

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Nick

Answer 1

The autocomplete UI plugin accepts array,object formatted in JSON data.

1. So u have to put datatype:json in ur $.ajax Call
2. As u r using servlet u have to format it in json format before
   sending to client side through ajax call.

for converting ur data to json format u can use utility call provided by http://www.json.org/