Question

I have implemented Autocomplete and I’m having trouble with the label vs. value in the text box after the item is selected. When I type in a zip code, I see the label in the dropdown:

but after I select one, instead of the label showing in the text box, the value (which is the ID that needs to be saved to the database) is displayed:

How do I still show the label after it’s selected, but then when the form is saved, it passes the ZipCodeID for the field?

Here’s my Controller method:

public JsonResult FindZipCode(string term)
    {
        VetClinicDataContext db = new VetClinicDataContext();

        var zipCodes = from c in db.ZipCodes
                       where c.ZipCodeNum.ToString().StartsWith(term)
                       select new { value = c.ZipCodeID, label = c.ZipCodeNum};

        return this.Json(zipCodes, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

And here’s my markup:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#ZipCodeID").autocomplete({
                  source: '<%= Url.Action("FindZipCode", "Customers") %>',
        });
    });
</script>

<div class="ui-widget"><input type="text" name="ZipCodeID" id="ZipCodeID" /></div>

EDIT: Here’s my final working code:

Controller:

public JsonResult FindZipCode(string term)
    {
        VetClinicDataContext db = new VetClinicDataContext();

        var zipCodes = from c in db.ZipCodes
                       where c.ZipCodeNum.ToString().StartsWith(term)
                       select new { value = c.ZipCodeID, label = c.ZipCodeNum};

        return this.Json(zipCodes, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

and markup:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#ddZipCode").autocomplete({
            source: '<%= Url.Action("FindZipCode", "Customers") %>',
            select: function(event, ui) {
                var zipCodeID = parseInt(ui.item.value, 1);
                $("#ddZipCode").val(ui.item.label);
                $("#ZipCodeID").val(ui.item.value);
                return false;
            }
        });
    });
</script>

<div class="ui-widget"><input type="text" name="ddZipCode" id="ddZipCode" /></div>
<%= Html.Hidden("ZipCodeID")%>

Answer 1

Short of changing your model to not use a different ID for zip codes…

Create a hidden field for the zipcode id. Change the select behaviour to populate the hidden field with the ID and the visible one with the label.

See The sample for how to achieve this

Have you considered what happens if they type their own in?