jquery UI Autocomplete with stored list - jquery-ui

Question

Hi I'm using jQuery UI Autocomplete and want do something like this: I want to get the list with AJAX when length=3 and this work great it populate the drop-down. Next I want when the length is >3 to use the returned list from the AJAX and filter it. But it give the same list not filtered.
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete({
source:function(request, response) {
var str_req = request.term;
if(str_req.length==3) {
$.ajax({
url: "/?search=1",
type: "GET",
dataType: "json",
data: {term: request.term},
success: function (data) {
auto_data=data;
response(data);
}
});
} else{
return response(auto_data);
}
},
minLength: 3,
select: function( event, ui ) {
console.log( "Selected: " + ui.item.value + " aka " + ui.item.id );
}
});

Answer 1

I would simply set the min to 1 and do a comparison in the source.
$(".selector").autocomplete({
source:function(request, response) {
var str_req = request.term;
if(str_req.length < 3) {
// Send your list back, if it was stored in 'myData'
response(myData);
} elseif(str_req.length==3) {
$.ajax({
url: "/?search=1",
type: "GET",
dataType: "json",
data: {term: str_req},
success: function (data) {
auto_data=data;
response(data);
}
});
} else{
response(auto_data);
}
}
},
minLength: 1,
select: function(event, ui) {
console.log( "Selected: " + ui.item.value + " aka " + ui.item.id );
}
});
You could also do this as a Switch statement:
var str_req = request.term;
switch(true){
case str_req.length < 3:
// Send your list
break;
case str_req.length == 3:
// Perform AJAX & return results
break;
default:
// All other options
response(auto_data);
}