Question

Thanks for the response, @ManselUK

Fixed this part with finding values(below)

But, when I SELECT a value, it doesnt set the value of the hidden element, why not?

I’m getting error: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot set property 'value' of null when I select a value from autocomplete..

Php code which is called upon entering 5 characters:

   try{

        $occupation = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['term2']); //////
        echo 'term 2 '. $occupation;
        ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        $dbh->setAttribute( PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION );  
        $sth = $dbh->prepare(
        'SELECT occupID, occupVal From Occupation WHERE occupVal = ?');
        $sth->bindParam(1, $occupation);
        $sth->execute();
        $jsonArray = array();
        while ($result = $sth->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
         $jsonArray[] = array(
              'label' => $result['occupVal'], 
              'value' => $result['occupVal']."|".$result['occupID']); 
        }

        print json_encode($jsonArray); // json encode that array
    } // try   

the catch{} block of code, will send errors to a file, but that file has no errors in it.

The HTML Form Input:

<label for="occup">What is your occupation? <br /></label>
                            <div class="ui-widget">
                                <input id="occup" type="text"  name="term2" value="e.g. Carpenter, Developer, etc" onFocus="clearText(this)" /><br />
                                <input type="hidden" id="actualOccup" name="actualOccupval" value="" />

The JS that is called upon entering something:

    <script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function()
    {
        // Zipcode Field
        $('input#zip').autocomplete({

            dataType: "json",
            source: "../src/php/registration/getFanLoc.php",
            minLength: 4,
            select: function(event, args){
                event.preventDefault();
                var joinedValues = args.item.value;
                var id = joinedValues.split("|")[0];
                var cityAndState= joinedValues.split("|")[1];
                document.getElementById('actualZip').value = cityAndState ; 
                document.getElementById('zip').value = id;
            }
        });
        // Occupation Field
        $('input#occup').autocomplete({
        source: function(request, response) {
        $.getJSON("../src/php/registration/getFanOccupation.php", { term2: request.term }, response);
        },
        minLength: 5,
        select: function(event, args){
        event.preventDefault();
        var joinedValues = args.item.value;
        var id = joinedValues.split("|")[0];
        var occupValAndId= joinedValues.split("|")[1];
        $('#actualOccupval').val(occupValAndId); 
        $('#occup').val(id);
    }
});
    });
    </script>

I’ve tried debugging:

– Check error log for this file. (no errors)
– Check the SELECT query , the value for occupVal in database is a VARCHAR, in SQL the value is found by doing occupVal = 'some val here'; does jQuery need these quotes?
– if I access getFanOccupation.php?term2=Computer Programmer directly it outputs: term 2 Computer Programmer[{"label":"Computer Programmer","value":"Computer Programmer|183"}]
– Which is RIGHT, the problem is if I get Computer Programmer value and paste directly in input, or even start to write it, it

Fixed JS: – this code works, was select wrong ID for occupation, that’s why it wasn’t showing the hidden forms field value

    $(document).ready(function()
    {
        // Zipcode Field
        $('input#zip').autocomplete({

            dataType: "json",
            source: "file1.php",
            minLength: 4,
            select: function(event, args){
                event.preventDefault();
                var joinedValues = args.item.value;
                var id = joinedValues.split("|")[0];
                var cityAndState= joinedValues.split("|")[1];
                document.getElementById('actualZip').value = cityAndState ; 
                document.getElementById('zip').value = id;
            }
        });
        // Occupation Field
        $('input#occup').autocomplete({
            source: function(request, response) {
                $.getJSON("file.php", { term2: request.term }, response);
            },
            minLength: 5,
            select: function(event, args){
                event.preventDefault();
                var joinedValues = args.item.value;
                var id = joinedValues.split("|")[0];
                var occupValAndId= joinedValues.split("|")[1];
                $('#actualOccup').val(occupValAndId); 
                $('#occup').val(id);
            }
        });
});

Answer 1

Use this :

source: function(request, response) {
   $.getJSON("../src/php/registration/getFanOccupation.php", { term2: request.term }, response);
}

on the second autocomplete. Docs for $.getJSON() here

From the docs :

A request object, with a single property called “term”, which refers
to the value currently in the text input. For example, when the user
entered “new yo” in a city field, the Autocomplete term will equal
“new yo”.

Full code :

$('input#occup').autocomplete({
    source: function(request, response) {
       $.getJSON("../src/php/registration/getFanOccupation.php", { term2: request.term }, response);
    },
    minLength: 4,
    select: function(event, args){
        event.preventDefault();
        var joinedValues = args.item.value;
        var id = joinedValues.split("|")[0];
        var occupValAndId= joinedValues.split("|")[1];
        $('#actualOccupval').val(occupValAndId); 
        $('#occup').val(id);
    }
});

Note also changed document.getElementById('blah').value = to $('#blah').val() as your already using jQuery … docs for the val() method here