jQuery UI Autocomplete Multiple Values in Textbox

Question

I need a simple autocomplete search functionality but also allowing users to type more than one value. I\'m using jQuery UI\'s autocomplete widget (http://jqueryui.com/autoc

Answer 1

To solve the issue of multiple strings in the same textbox AND include a regex to only show suggestions matching the start of the string I did the following:

    $('#search').autocomplete({
        minLength: 1,
        source: function (request, response) {
            var term = request.term;

            // substring of new string (only when a comma is in string)
            if (term.indexOf(', ') > 0) {
                var index = term.lastIndexOf(', ');
                term = term.substring(index + 2);
            }

            // regex to match string entered with start of suggestion strings
            var re = $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(term);
            var matcher = new RegExp('^' + re, 'i');
            var regex_validated_array = $.grep(items, function (item, index) {
                return matcher.test(item);
            });

            // pass array `regex_validated_array ` to the response and 
            // `extractLast()` which takes care of the comma separation

            response($.ui.autocomplete.filter(regex_validated_array, 
                 extractLast(term)));
        },
        focus: function () {
            return false;
        },
        select: function (event, ui) {
            var terms = split(this.value);
            terms.pop();
            terms.push(ui.item.value);
            terms.push('');
            this.value = terms.join(', ');
            return false;
        }
    });

    function split(val) {
        return val.split(/,\s*/);
    }

    function extractLast(term) {
        return split(term).pop();
    }