AJAX based autocomplete

[shalinmangar]

Hi,
I want to build an Ajax based autocomplete feature. Being a server side
guy, I have little knowledge regarding layers and DHTML stuff. Having
already implemented the AJAX part of the app, I am stuck with the
layers thing.

The Google Suggest autocomplete is cool. Has anybody written code
(free) or adapted Google Suggest kind of thing for their own use (like
querying from database and showing results) ? Can you point me to some
links or resources on the net.

Thanks.

[RobG]

sh**********@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,
I want to build an Ajax based autocomplete feature. Being a server side
guy, I have little knowledge regarding layers and DHTML stuff. Having
already implemented the AJAX part of the app, I am stuck with the
layers thing.

The Google Suggest autocomplete is cool. Has anybody written code
(free) or adapted Google Suggest kind of thing for their own use (like
querying from database and showing results) ? Can you point me to some
links or resources on the net.

The Wikipedia entry for XMLHttpRequest is amazingly good:

<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest>

--
Rob

[Randy Webb]

RobG said the following on 10/6/2005 5:02 PM:

sh**********@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,
I want to build an Ajax based autocomplete feature. Being a server side
guy, I have little knowledge regarding layers and DHTML stuff. Having
already implemented the AJAX part of the app, I am stuck with the
layers thing.

The Google Suggest autocomplete is cool. Has anybody written code
(free) or adapted Google Suggest kind of thing for their own use (like
querying from database and showing results) ? Can you point me to some
links or resources on the net.

The Wikipedia entry for XMLHttpRequest is amazingly good:

<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest>

But very dissapointing none the less because the second sentence is
totally and utterly false:

The biggest advantage of XMLHTTP is the ability to dynamically update a
webpage without reloading the entire webpage or using software plugins
(This was previously only possible using hidden IFRAMEs with DHTML).

No, it doesn't require a plugin, but, in IE it requires ActiveX. I would
prefer a plugin, or, Mozillas approach to it.

The second inaccuracy is the "This was previously only possible using
hidden IFRAMES with DHTML".

There is another alternative to those two approaches, the second of
which enjoys much wider support in browsers than XMLHTTP does - loading
..js files on the fly. And if the end approach is to dynamically change
the page, it doesn't matter how you get the file as long as you get the
data you want in a format you can deal with. And I have been loading .js
files on the fly in many more browsers than support XMLHTTP for at least
3 years now.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly

[Geoff Cox]

On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:24:29 -0400, Randy Webb
<Hi************@aol.com> wrote:

There is another alternative to those two approaches, the second of
which enjoys much wider support in browsers than XMLHTTP does - loading
.js files on the fly. And if the end approach is to dynamically change
the page, it doesn't matter how you get the file as long as you get the
data you want in a format you can deal with. And I have been loading .js
files on the fly in many more browsers than support XMLHTTP for at least
3 years now.

Randy,

Could you say a little more on this loading of .js files ? Or point to
further info on this?

Thanks

Geoff

[Randy Webb]

Geoff Cox said the following on 10/8/2005 5:11 AM:

On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:24:29 -0400, Randy Webb
<Hi************@aol.com> wrote:

There is another alternative to those two approaches, the second of
which enjoys much wider support in browsers than XMLHTTP does - loading
.js files on the fly. And if the end approach is to dynamically change
the page, it doesn't matter how you get the file as long as you get the
data you want in a format you can deal with. And I have been loading .js
files on the fly in many more browsers than support XMLHTTP for at least
3 years now.

Randy,

Could you say a little more on this loading of .js files ? Or point to
further info on this?

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....+js+file&hl=en
Your three options are:

1)Changing the src property of a script tag.
2)Inserting a script src="" tag in a div via innerHTML
3)Using document.createElement to add a script element.

Of those three, createElement seemed to have the widest support among
newer browsers.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly