jquery ui autocomplete with autoselect plugin - jquery-ui

Question

I am using a jquery ui autocomplete. when the user types in their own value, rather than selecting an item from the list, the textbox clears. This is ok (I don't want the user to be able to enter their own values) except if the user types in a value that does exist on the list.
I tried using the autoSelect plugin as detailed in this post, but it is not working - I added the plugin but when I type in a value that IS on the list and hit tab, I get the same results as before - the textbox clears.
Here is my autocomplete:
$(function () {
$('[id$="txtDocType').autocomplete({
source: function (request, response) {
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
url: "/MyPage.aspx/myFunction",
data: "{'prefixText':'" + request.term.toLowerCase() + "', 'ddvId':'" + this.element.data('autocomplete') + "'}",
dataType: "json",
success: function (data) {
response(data.d);
},
error: function (result) { }
});
},
minlength: 1,
select: function (event, ui) {
$('#divOtherFields input[type=text], input[type=password]').prop("disabled", false).removeClass("disabled");
$('[id$="btnSaveNext"],[id$="btnSaveClose"]').prop("disabled", false);
$('[id$="txtReceiptDate"]').datepicker("setDate", new Date());
}
});
});
Here is the plugin:
(function( $ ) {
$.ui.autocomplete.prototype.options.autoSelect = true;
$( ".ui-autocomplete-input" ).on( "blur", function( event ) {
var autocomplete = $( this ).data( "autocomplete" );
if ( !autocomplete.options.autoSelect || autocomplete.selectedItem ) { return; }
var matcher = new RegExp( "^" + $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex( $(this).val() ) + "$", "i" );
autocomplete.widget().children( ".ui-menu-item" ).each(function() {
var item = $( this ).data( "item.autocomplete" );
if ( matcher.test( item.label || item.value || item ) ) {
autocomplete.selectedItem = item;
return false;
}
});
if ( autocomplete.selectedItem ) {
autocomplete._trigger( "select", event, { item: autocomplete.selectedItem } );
}
});
}( jQuery ));
I set a breakpoint in the plugin on this line - "$( ".ui-autocomplete-input" ).on( "blur", function( event )" and the breakpoint was hit, yet the code would not step through. When I set a breakpoint to this line - "var autocomplete = $( this ).data( "autocomplete" );" the breakpoint was NOT hit.
Any ideas? I am at my wits end with this.

Answer 1

I solved this by making a couple of tweaks to the autoSelect plugin. Here is the code that eventually worked for me:
$(".ui-autocomplete-input").bind("focusout", function (event) {
var autocomplete = $(this).data("ui-autocomplete");
if (!autocomplete.options.autoSelect || autocomplete.selectedItem) { return; }
var matcher = new RegExp("^" + $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex($(this).val()) + "$", "i");
autocomplete.widget().children(".ui-menu-item").each(function () {
var item = $(this).data("ui-autocomplete-item");
if (matcher.test(item.label || item.value || item)) {
autocomplete.selectedItem = item;
return false;
}
});
if (autocomplete.selectedItem) {
autocomplete._trigger("select", event, { item: autocomplete.selectedItem });
}
});

Answer 2

I used the focus event to set the first value to a hidden variable. The same hidden variable also got updated in the select event. And then this was the hidden variable which I posted to the ajax call.
Why I did not use focus to set the value in the autocomplete input box, was because doing so populated the autocomplete input box even while I was typing in this box.
focus: function (event, ui) {
if($("#streetid")) $("#streetid").val(ui.item.label); //this was my hidden variable
}
},