Autocomplete Widget

autoFocus

Initialize the autocomplete with the autoFocus option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  autoFocus: true
});

Get or set the autoFocus option, after initialization:

// Getter
var autoFocus = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "autoFocus" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "autoFocus", true );

classes

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  classes: {
    "ui-autocomplete": "highlight"
  }
});

// Getter
var themeClass = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "classes.ui-autocomplete" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "classes.ui-autocomplete", "highlight" );

delay

Initialize the autocomplete with the delay option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  delay: 500
});

Get or set the delay option, after initialization:

// Getter
var delay = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "delay" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "delay", 500 );

disabled

Initialize the autocomplete with the disabled option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  disabled: true
});

Get or set the disabled option, after initialization:

// Getter
var disabled = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "disabled" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "disabled", true );

minLength

Initialize the autocomplete with the minLength option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  minLength: 0
});

Get or set the minLength option, after initialization:

// Getter
var minLength = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "minLength" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "minLength", 0 );

position

Initialize the autocomplete with the position option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  position: { my : "right top", at: "right bottom" }
});

Get or set the position option, after initialization:

// Getter
var position = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "position" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "position", { my : "right top", at: "right bottom" } );

source

• Array: An array can be used for local data. There are two supported formats:
  • An array of strings: [ "Choice1", "Choice2" ]
  • An array of objects with label and value properties: [ { label: "Choice1", value: "value1" }, ... ]
  The label property is displayed in the suggestion menu. The value will be inserted into the input element when a user selects an item. If just one property is specified, it will be used for both, e.g., if you provide only value properties, the value will also be used as the label.
• String: When a string is used, the Autocomplete plugin expects that string to point to a URL resource that will return JSON data. It can be on the same host or on a different one (must support CORS). The Autocomplete plugin does not filter the results, instead a query string is added with a term field, which the server-side script should use for filtering the results. For example, if the source option is set to "https://example.com" and the user types foo, a GET request would be made to https://example.com?term=foo. The data itself can be in the same format as the local data described above.
• Function: The third variation, a callback, provides the most flexibility and can be used to connect any data source to Autocomplete, including JSONP. The callback gets two arguments:
  • A request object, with a single term property, which refers to the value currently in the text input. For example, if the user enters "new yo" in a city field, the Autocomplete term will equal "new yo".
  • A response callback, which expects a single argument: the data to suggest to the user. This data should be filtered based on the provided term, and can be in any of the formats described above for simple local data. It's important when providing a custom source callback to handle errors during the request. You must always call the response callback even if you encounter an error. This ensures that the widget always has the correct state.

  When filtering data locally, you can make use of the built-in $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex function. It'll take a single string argument and escape all regex characters, making the result safe to pass to new RegExp().

Initialize the autocomplete with the source option specified:

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  source: [ "c++", "java", "php", "coldfusion", "javascript", "asp", "ruby" ]
});

Get or set the source option, after initialization:

// Getter
var source = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "source" );
 
// Setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "source", [ "c++", "java", "php", "coldfusion", "javascript", "asp", "ruby" ] );

close( event, ui )Type: autocompleteclose

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object

Note: The ui object is empty but included for consistency with other events.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  close: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompleteclose", function( event, ui ) {} );

create( event, ui )Type: autocompletecreate

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object

Note: The ui object is empty but included for consistency with other events.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  create: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompletecreate", function( event, ui ) {} );

focus( event, ui )Type: autocompletefocus

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object
  • item
    Type: Object
    The focused item.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  focus: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompletefocus", function( event, ui ) {} );

open( event, ui )Type: autocompleteopen

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object

Note: The ui object is empty but included for consistency with other events.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  open: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompleteopen", function( event, ui ) {} );

response( event, ui )Type: autocompleteresponse

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object
  • content
    Type: Array
    Contains the response data and can be modified to change the results that will be shown. This data is already normalized, so if you modify the data, make sure to include both value and label properties for each item.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  response: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompleteresponse", function( event, ui ) {} );

search( event, ui )Type: autocompletesearch

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object

Note: The ui object is empty but included for consistency with other events.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  search: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompletesearch", function( event, ui ) {} );

select( event, ui )Type: autocompleteselect

• event
  Type: Event
• ui
  Type: Object
  • item
    Type: Object
    An Object with label and value properties for the selected option.

$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
  select: function( event, ui ) {}
});

$( ".selector" ).on( "autocompleteselect", function( event, ui ) {} );