Question

I have a Google Instant style search script written in jQuery which queries a PHP file. Currently, when no results are found, the PHP file returns no HTML code so the script displays a message saying “No results were found.”. However, when there are no search terms in the search box and the query string is empty this message is still displayed. How can I get it so that the message is only shown when there is text in the search box?

Here is my jQuery code:

$(document).ready(function(){
    $("#search").keyup(function(){
        var search=$(this).val();
        var query=encodeURIComponent(search);
        var yt_url='search.php?q='+query+'&category=web';
        window.location.hash='search/'+query+'/1/';
        document.title=$(this).val()+" - My Search Script";
        if(search==''){
            window.location.hash='';
            document.title='My Search Script';
        }
        $.ajax({
            type:"GET",
            url:yt_url,
            dataType:"html",
            success:function(response){
                if(response !=""){
                $("#result").html(response);
                } else {
                $("#result").html("No results were found.");
                }
            }
        });
    });
});

Answer 1

The request is still firing even when there is nothing in the search field. Only make the request if the field isn’t empty.