jQuery Autocomplete verify selected value

Question

We are using the autocomplete jQuery plugin written by Jörn Zaefferer, and are trying to verify a valid option is entered.

The plugin has result() event which fires

Answer 1

I use a global data structure to keep track of the values that were found

var ac_sent = {};

the .result() event handler is called before the .change() event handler, so in .result( event, data, formatted ) I add the data to the structure:

ac_sent[ data ] = true;

then in the .change( event ) event handler I check to see if there is an item at ac_sent[ data ], and if there isn't any, I know that the word was not found:

$( "#textbox" ).change( function( event ) {

  var data = event.target.value;

  if ( !ac_sent[ data ] ) {
    // result was not found in autocomplete, do something...
    ac_sent[ data ] = true;  // remember that we processed it
  }

  return false;
});