Question

I have a loading animation which I initially hide in my application.js file:

$('#loading_field').hide();

I have an autocomplete field, and I want the animation to appear when the user starts typing, and for it to disappear when the autocomplete suggestion results appear. Below is my jquery code for the jquery ui autocomplete plugin:

$(".showable_field").autocomplete({
    minLength: 1,
    source: '/followers.json',
    focus: function(event, ui) {
       $('.showable_field').val(ui.item.user.name);
       return false;
    },
    select: function(event, ui) {
        var video_id = $('#video_id_field').val();
        var user_id = ui.item.user.id;
        $.post("/showable_videos.js", {video: video_id, user: user_id});
        $(':input','#new_showable_video').not(':button, :submit, :reset, :hidden').val('');
        return false;
    }
});
var obj = $(".showable_field").data('autocomplete');
obj && (obj._renderItem = function( ul, item ) {
    return $( "<li></li>" )
       .data( "item.autocomplete", item )
       .append( "<a>" + item.user.name + "</a>" )
       .appendTo( ul );
});

Where should I show and hide the animation?

Answer 1

Because you’re using AJAX to load the suggestions I think this should work for you:

$('#loading_field').ajaxStart(function () {
  $(this).show();
}).ajaxStop(function () {
  $(this).hide();
});