Question

The following jQuery autocomplete code is not displaying the results in MVC3. When I debug the code, I can see it is calling the QuickSearchByLastName correctly. Can someone tell me if my code is incorrect? (I also tried with jquery-1.6.2.min.js with no luck) Thank you!

Index.cshtml:

@using (Ajax.BeginForm(new AjaxOptions
{
    HttpMethod = "GET",
    InsertionMode = InsertionMode.Replace,
    UpdateTargetId = "results"
}
))
{               
    <input type="text" name="q" data-autocomplete="@Url.Action("QuickSearchByLastName","Search")"  />                 
}
<div id="results" >
</div>    


----------------------------------------------------------------
Search Controller:

    public ActionResult QuickSearchByLastName(string term)
            {
                using (var context = new CSCContext())
                {
                    var searchResults = context.Students
                                      .Where(s => s.LastName.Contains(term) && s.IsActive == true)
                                      .Take(10)
                                      .Select(s => new { label = s.LastName });


                    return Json(searchResults, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                }                
            }

---

_Layout.cshtml:
    @Content.Script("jquery-1.4.4.min.js", Url)              
    @Content.Script("jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.min.js", Url)
    @Content.Script("jquery-ui.min.js", Url)     
    @Content.Script("jquery.validate.min.js", Url)    
    @Content.Script("jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js", Url)    
    @Content.Script("CSC.js", Url)  
    @RenderSection("scripts", false)

---

CSC.js

$(document).ready(function () 
{
    $(":input[data-autocomplete]").each(function () 
    {
        $(this).autocomplete({ 
                               source: $(this).attr("data-autocomplete")
                              }
                            );
    });

});

The following code fixed the issue:

public ActionResult QuickSearchByLastName(string term)
        {           
            var context = new CSCContext();
            try
            {

                var searchResults = context.Students
                                  .Where(s => s.LastName.Contains(term) && s.IsActive == true)
                                  .Take(10)
                                  .Select(s => new { label = s.LastName });


                return Json(searchResults.ToList(), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
            }
            finally
            {
                context.Dispose();
            }                       
        }

Answer 1

I have tried replicating your scenario to no avail as it always worked for me. Here’s what I did.

1. Create a new ASP.NET MVC 3 project using the Internet Template

2. HomeController:

   public class HomeController : Controller
   {
       public ActionResult Index()
       {
           return View();
       }
   
       public ActionResult QuickSearchByLastName(string term)
       {
           var results = Enumerable
               .Range(1, 5)
               .Select(x => new { 
                   id = x, 
                   label = "label " + x, 
                   value = "value " + x 
               });
           return Json(results, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
       }
   }
   

3. Index.cshtml

   <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.14/themes/base/jquery-ui.css" type="text/css" media="all" /> 
   <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
   <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-ui-1.8.11.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
   
   <script type="text/javascript">
       $(function () {
           $(':input[data-autocomplete]').each(function () {
               $(this).autocomplete({
                   source: $(this).attr('data-autocomplete')
               });
           });
       });
   </script>
   
   @using (Html.BeginForm())
   {               
       <input type="text" name="q" data-autocomplete="@Url.Action("QuickSearchByLastName", "Home")" />
   }
   

I used jquery-1.5.1.min.js and jquery-ui-1.8.11.min.js which are bundled by default with ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM. I also tried putting this in a Ajax.BeginForm and also importing the default unobtrusive scripts and it was still working for me.