Question

I have this code:

$("input#autocomplete").autocomplete({
    source: ["c++", "java", "php", "coldfusion", "javascript", "asp", "ruby"]
});

and it works. If I try to put anything else in there like:

$("input#autocomplete").autocomplete({
alert ("test");
    source: ["c++", "java", "php", "coldfusion", "javascript", "asp", "ruby"]
});

then it doesn’t work and gives this error: syntax error: unexpected string.

I was hoping to make an AJAX call before the source: call so that I can get the data to display to the user. Am I misunderstanding something in how this is supposed to work?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

see the autocomplete events, i think the “search” event is the one you need, here is a link http://jqueryui.com/demos/autocomplete#event-search

here is an ajax example

$( "#user_name" ).autocomplete({
            source: "index.php?option=abc",
            delay: 0,
            minLength: 0,
            autoFocus: true,
            select: function (event, ui) {

                    $("#user_id").val(ui.item.id);
                    $(this).data("user_id",ui.item.id);//Store arbitrary data associated with the specified element
                    $(this).data("username",ui.item.value);//Store arbitrary data associated with the specified element

                },
                selectFirst: true,
                autoFill: true,
                mustMatch: true
            })
            .bind("blur",function() {
                var user_id = $(this).data("user_id");
                var username = $(this).data("username");
                if(typeof username === \'undefined\')
                {
                    username = \'\';
                    user_id = null;
                }
                $(this).val(username);
                $("#user_id").val(user_id);
            })


;
    });//fine autocomplete