Add autoFill capabilities to jQuery-UI 1.8.1

Question

here's what I currently have, unfortunately I cannot seem to figure out how to get autoFill to work with jQuery-UI... It used to work with the straight up Autocomplete.js

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.1/jquery-ui.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://jquery-ui.googlecode.com/svn/tags/latest/external/jquery.bgiframe-2.1.1.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.1/i18n/jquery-ui-i18n.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">


    var thesource = "RegionsAutoComplete.axd?PID=3"
    $(function () {
        function log(message) {
            $("<div/>").text(message).prependTo("#log");
            $("#log").attr("scrollTop", 0);
        }

        $.expr[':'].textEquals = function (a, i, m) {
            return $(a).text().match("^" + m[3] + "$");
        };

        $("#regions").autocomplete({
            source: thesource,
            change: function (event, ui) {
                //if the value of the textbox does not match a suggestion, clear its value
                if ($(".ui-autocomplete li:textEquals('" + $(this).val() + "')").size() == 0) {
                    $(this).val('');
                }
                else {
                    //THIS IS CURRENTLY NOT "LOGGING" THE "UI" DATA
                    //IF THE USER DOES NOT EXPLICITLY SELECT
                    //THE SUGGESTED TEXT
                    //PLEASE HELP!!!
                    log(ui.item ? ("Selected: " + ui.item.value + " aka " + ui.item.id) : "Nothing selected, input was " + this.value);
                }
            }
        }).live('keydown', function (e) {
            var keyCode = e.keyCode || e.which;
            //if TAB or RETURN is pressed and the text in the textbox does not match a suggestion, set the value of the textbox to the text of the first suggestion
            if ((keyCode == 9 || keyCode == 13) && ($(".ui-autocomplete li:textEquals('" + $(this).val() + "')").size() == 0)) {
                $(this).val($(".ui-autocomplete li:visible:first").text());
            }
        });
    });


</script>

My JSON in the back end looks like this

[
    { "label": "Canada", "value": "Canada", "id": "1" },
    { "label": "United States", "value": "United States", "id": "2" },
]

I've used the answer here to get the mustMatch working, but unfortunately if I "tab" away from the input box or if I type the word completely rather than actually selecting the suggested text, I get the "Nothing selected" response instead of an Value and ID.

Does anyone know how to extract the id out of the autocomplete when you don't actually select the field?

---

Basically, What I'm looking for is something similar to the Month (local): example found HERE: http://jquery.bassistance.de/autocomplete/demo/

But obviously using the jQuery-UI instead of the jquery.autocomplete.js

Answer 1

AutoFill has been deprecated in the JQuery UI version of autocomplete, and the jquery.autocomplete plugin is no longer supported.

Here is a link to a github solutiuon. This will automatically select the first item in the list if you tab out of the field, and have "selectFirst: true" set as an option on your autocomplete call.

(function( $ ) {

$( ".ui-autocomplete-input" ).live( "autocompleteopen", function() {
    var autocomplete = $( this ).data( "autocomplete" ),
        menu = autocomplete.menu;

    if ( !autocomplete.options.selectFirst ) {
        return;
    }

    menu.activate( $.Event({ type: "mouseenter" }), menu.element.children().first() );
});

}( jQuery ));

Answer 2

DEMO: http://jsbin.com/akile3

UPDATED 2: with TAB support! ;)

DEMO: http://jsbin.com/akile3/8

try something like this:

not sure if is what you want, anyway it autofill entire word if match something!

$(function() {
 var json_source = [
        { "label": "Canada", "value": "Canada", "id": "1" },
        { "label": "United States", "value": "United States", "id": "2" }];

    $('<span id="hold"></span>').insertAfter('#regions');
    var $text_was = $('#hold');
    var $log = $('#log');

    $("#regions").autocomplete({
        minLength: 3,
        source: json_source,
        open: function(event, ui) {
            var first_option = $('.ui-autocomplete li:eq(0) a').text();
            $(this).text(first_option);
            $text_was.text(first_option);
        },
        change: function(event, ui) {
          var prev_text = $text_was.text() ? $text_was.text() : json_source[0].value ;
            $log.empty();
            var message = (prev_text != this.value) ? 
            'Nothing selected, input was ' + prev_text : 
            'Selected: ' + ui.item.value + ' aka ' + ui.item.id;
            if (prev_text != this.value) 
              $(this).val( prev_text  );

            $log.append(message);
        },
        select: function(event, ui) {
            $text_was.text(ui.item.value);
            $(this).blur();
        }
    }).blur(function(){
      if( this.value == '' )
     $(this).autocomplete('search', json_source[0].value );
    return false;
  });
});​

Answer 3

If you simply want to autofill this is the code I am using.

$("#regions").autocomplete({
        source: thesource
    }).live('keydown', function (e) {
        var keyCode = e.keyCode || e.which;
        //if TAB or RETURN is pressed set the value of the textbox to the text of the first suggestion
        if ((keyCode == 9 || keyCode == 13) && $(".ui-autocomplete").is(":visible")) {
            $(this).val($(".ui-autocomplete li:visible:first").text());
        }
    });