allow new values with chosen.js multiple select

Question

I\'m using the chosen.js plugin http://harvesthq.github.com/chosen/ with jQuery to allow the user to select multiple options from a select. However, I now want to be able to

Answer 1

Here's a simple way that I did it:

$(".search-field").find("input").live( "keydown", function (evt) {
    var stroke;
    stroke = (_ref = evt.which) != null ? _ref : evt.keyCode;
    if (stroke == 9) { // 9 = tab key
        $('#tags').append('<option value="' + $(this).val() + '" selected="selected">' + $(this).val() + '</option>');
        $('#tags').trigger('chosen:updated');
    }
});

Answer 2

I have updated the code from 3nochroot once more. Now I have only one selector to find the multiselect input.

$(document).ready(function() {
$(".js-choicelist").chosen({
    //config comes here
}).parent().find('.chosen-container .search-field input[type=text]').keydown(
    function (evt) {
        var stroke, _ref, target, list;
        // get keycode
        stroke = (_ref = evt.which) != null ? _ref : evt.keyCode;
        // If enter or tab key
        if (stroke === 9 || stroke === 13) {
            target = $(evt.target);
            // get the list of current options
            chosenList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-choices li.search-choice > span').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
            // get the list of matches from the existing drop-down
            matchList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-results li').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
            // highlighted option
            highlightedList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-results li.highlighted').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
            // Get the value which the user has typed in
            var newString = $.trim(target.val());
            // if the option does not exists, and the text doesn't exactly match an existing option, and there is not an option highlighted in the list
            if ($.inArray(newString,matchList) < 0 && $.inArray(newString,chosenList) < 0 && highlightedList.length == 0) {
                // Create a new option and add it to the list (but don't make it selected)
                var newOption = '<option value="' + newString + '">' + newString + '</option>';
                var choiceSelect = target.parents('.select-multiple').find('select');
                choiceSelect.prepend(newOption);
                // trigger the update event
                choiceSelect.trigger("chosen:updated");
                // tell chosen to close the list box
                choiceSelect.trigger("chosen:close");
                return true;
            }
            // otherwise, just let the event bubble up
            return true;
        }
    }
)

})

Answer 3

I know this not the answer, but, an alternate solution.

I was searching for the on-the-fly adding part and found that http://ivaynberg.github.com/select2/#tags provides the same thing as chosen + other stuffs like "Tagging".

Answer 4

I stumbled upon this looking for the same ideas. Seems like its a pretty popular feature request, and a couple of forks have implemented it. Looks like it'll be merged into the master branch soon enough.

+1 for this particular pull which worked a charm: https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/pull/166

You can view Koenpunt's fork here: https://github.com/koenpunt/chosen

Answer 5

I was just trying to solve the same problem. I wound up modifying the source code a bit. Here's the new keyup_checker function. Take a look at case 13:

AbstractChosen.prototype.keyup_checker = function(evt) {
  var stroke, _ref;
  stroke = (_ref = evt.which) != null ? _ref : evt.keyCode;
  this.search_field_scale();
  switch (stroke) {
    case 8:
      if (this.is_multiple && this.backstroke_length < 1 && this.choices > 0) {
        return this.keydown_backstroke();
      } else if (!this.pending_backstroke) {
        this.result_clear_highlight();
        return this.results_search();
      }
      break;
    case 13:
      evt.preventDefault();
      if (this.results_showing) {
        if (!this.is_multiple || this.result_highlight) {
          return this.result_select(evt);
        }  

        $(this.form_field).append('<option>' + $(evt.target).val() + '</option>');
        $(this.form_field).trigger('liszt:updated');
        this.result_highlight = this.search_results.find('li.active-result').last();
        return this.result_select(evt);
      } 
      break;
    case 27:
      if (this.results_showing) this.results_hide();
      return true;
    case 9:
    case 38:
    case 40:
    case 16:
    case 91:
    case 17:
      break;
    default:
      return this.results_search();
  }
};

Answer 6

An update to leogdion's answer which works with later versions of chosen:

        var dropDown = $('#select_chosen');
        // Make the chosen drop-down dynamic. If a given option is not in the list, the user can still add it
        dropDown.parent().find('.chosen-container .search-field input[type=text]').keydown( 
            function (evt) {
               var stroke, _ref, target, list;
               // get keycode
               stroke = (_ref = evt.which) != null ? _ref : evt.keyCode;
               // If enter or tab key
               if (stroke === 9 || stroke === 13) {
                   target = $(evt.target);               
                   // get the list of current options
                   chosenList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-choices li.search-choice > span').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
                   // get the list of matches from the existing drop-down
                   matchList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-results li').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
                   // highlighted option
                   highlightedList = target.parents('.chosen-container').find('.chosen-results li.highlighted').map(function () { return $(this).text(); }).get();
                   // Get the value which the user has typed in
                   var newString = $.trim(target.val());
                   // if the option does not exists, and the text doesn't exactly match an existing option, and there is not an option highlighted in the list
                   if ($.inArray(newString,matchList) < 0 && $.inArray(newString,chosenList) < 0 && highlightedList.length == 0) {
                     // Create a new option and add it to the list (but don't make it selected)
                     var newOption = '<option value="' + newString + '">' + newString + '</option>';
                     $("#select").prepend(newOption);
                     // trigger the update event
                     $("#select").trigger("chosen:updated");
                     // tell chosen to close the list box
                     $("#select").trigger("chosen:close");
                     return true;
                  } 
                  // otherwise, just let the event bubble up
                  return true;
               }
            }
        )