An easy way to use jQuery's autocomplete with Rails 3.
Supports both ActiveRecord and mongoid.
Works with Formtastic and SimpleForm
You can find a detailed example on how to use this gem with ActiveRecord here.
You can find a detailed example on how to use this gem with MongoID here. (Same thing, different branch)
Make sure your project is using jQuery-ui with the autocomplete widget before you continue.
You can find more info about that here:
I'd encourage you to understand how to use those 3 amazing tools before attempting to use this gem.
Include the gem on your Gemfile
gem 'rails3-jquery-autocomplete'
Install it
bundle install
Run the generator
rails generate autocomplete
And include autocomplete-rails.js on your layouts
javascript_include_tag "autocomplete-rails.js"
If you are upgrading from a previous version, run the generator after installing to replace the javascript file.
rails generate autocomplete
I'd recommend you do this every time you update to make sure you have the latest JS file.
Assuming you have a Brand model:
class Brand < ActiveRecord::Base
end
create_table :brand do |t|
t.column :name, :string
end
To set up the required action on your controller, all you have to do is call it with the class name and the method as in the following example:
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name
end
This will create an action autocomplete_brand_name on your controller, don't forget to add it on your routes file
resources :products do
get :autocomplete_brand_name, :on => :collection
end
This example will display all the brands that have a name matching the pattern you specify in your autocomplete text-field
Imagine we have a Product and a Brand model linked by a 'has_many' relation:
class Brand < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :products
end
class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :brand
end
In the show view of the BrandsController you have a search_field used to find a product of the current brand object. You want this field to do autocompletion on the name attribute of the product model. You don't want to querry on all the products existing in the database but only to the products that belongs to the current brand object.
To do that you first need to add the autocomplete action to your brand controller:
class BrandsController < Admin::BaseController autocomplete :product, :name end
In your routes file you'll not add a "collection" but a "member" entry to the brands resources:
resources :brands do get :autocomplete_product_name, :on => :member end
As this is a member route, the "autocomplete_product_name" method of your BrandController will get a params[:id]. The search will retreive the brand object thanks to this id and will only search for matching products within: brand.products
By default, the search starts from the beginning of the string you're searching for. If you want to do a full search, set the full parameter to true.
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :full => true
end
The following terms would match the query 'un':
- Luna
- Unacceptable
- Rerun
Only the following terms mould match the query 'un':
- Unacceptable
When you limit the results based on the model relations (see example above), the parent model name ('Brand' in the example) is guessed based on the name of the controller where you added the 'autocomplete' statement. (controller name: 'BrandsController' => model name: 'Brand').
If you don't have this naming convention for you model-controllers, you can pass the parent_class_name as a parameter:
class BrandsController < Admin::BaseController autocomplete :product, :name, :parent_class_name => "MyBrand" end
The autocomplete_product_name method will then retreive the parent object with: MyBrand.find(params[:id])
When you limit the results based on the model relations (see example above), we use the name of the model on which you autocomplete to find the relation name:
autocomplete :product, :name
Here, the model name is 'product', we assume then that the brand model has_many :products (the results will be filtered within brand.products) But in the case you have a relation like:
class Brand < ActiveRecord::Base has_many :nice_products, :class_name => "Product" end
Then brand.products will not work. You then need to specify the :relation_name parameter:
class BrandsController < Admin::BaseController autocomplete :product, :name, :relation_name => "nice_products" end
The results will then be filtered within: brand.nice_products
By default, your search will only return the required columns from the database needed to populate your form, namely id and the column you are searching (name, in the above example).
Passing an array of attributes/column names to this option will fetch and return the specified data.
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :extra_data => [:slogan]
end
If you want to display a different version of what you're looking for, you can use the :display_value option.
This options receives a method name as the parameter, and that method will be called on the instance when displaying the results.
class Brand < ActiveRecord::Base
def funky_method
"#{self.name}.camelize"
end
end
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :display_value => :funky_method
end
In the example above, you will search by name, but the autocomplete list will display the result of funky_method
This wouldn't really make much sense unless you use it with the :id_element HTML tag. (See below)
<<<<<<< HEAD
You can specify an array of filters retrieved from controller params
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :filter_params => [:type, :category]
end
This will automatically add {:type => params[:type], :category => params[:category]} to your request
If you want the autocomplete results to be found based on a model scope instead of on a model attibute you can set the :scope or :scopes option.
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :scope => "a_scope", :display_value => :name
#or
autocomplete :brand, :name, :scopes => ["first_scope", "second_scope"], :display_value => :name
end
The last scope we receive the 'term' value as parameter.
Only the object's id and the column you are searching on will be returned in JSON, so if your display_value method requires another parameter, make sure to fetch it with the :extra_data option
crowdint/master
On your view, all you have to do is include the attribute autocomplete on the text field using the url to the autocomplete action as the value.
form_for @product do |f|
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path
end
This will generate an HTML tag that looks like:
<input type="text" data-autocomplete="products/autocomplete_brand_name">
If you are not using a FormBuilder (form_for) or you just want to include an autocomplete field without the form, you can use the autocomplete_field_tag helper.
form_tag 'some/path'
autocomplete_field_tag 'address', '', address_autocomplete_path, :size => 75
end
Or in the case of a "member" route (see: "Limit the results based on the model relations" above):
form_tag 'some/path'
autocomplete_field_tag 'search_product', '', autocomplete_product_name_brand_path(current_brand), :size => 75
end
Now your autocomplete code is unobtrusive, Rails 3 style.
Sometimes you may want your form to be submited as soon as you select an element in the autocomplete item list. You just have to set the ':submit_on_select' option to true:
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :submit_on_select => true
If you need to use the id of the selected object, you can use the :id_element HTML tag too:
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :id_element => '#some_element'
This will update the field with id *#some_element with the id of the selected object. The value for this option can be any jQuery selector.
<<<<<<< HEAD
The Jquery autocomplete widget allow the following options: 'disabled', 'appendTo', 'delay', 'minLength' and 'source' (see: http://docs.jquery.com/UI/Autocomplete#option-disabled)
You can define values for these options by adding HTML tags to your 'autocomplete_field' field in the view:
Disables (true) or enables (false) the autocomplete. Can be set when initialising (first creating) the autocomplete.
Default = false
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :autocomplete_disabled => true
If you disable de autocomplete when initialising, you'll probably want to enable it somewhere else in your javascript code:
Get or set the disabled option, after init:
//getter
var disabled = $( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "disabled" );
//setter
$( ".selector" ).autocomplete( "option", "disabled", false );
Which element the menu should be appended to.
Default: 'body'
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :append_to => '#another_ellement'
The delay in milliseconds the Autocomplete waits after a keystroke to activate itself. A zero-delay makes sense for local data (more responsive), but can produce a lot of load for remote data, while being less responsive.
Default = 300
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :delay => 100
The minimum number of characters a user has to type before the Autocomplete activates. Zero is useful for local data with just a few items. Should be increased when there are a lot of items, where a single character would match a few thousand items.
Default = 2
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :min_length => 0
Defines the data to use.
The source options can obviously not be specified here since it is handled by this plugin itself.
You can add custom css for the result list (ul, li, and/or a):
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :result_list_css => {:ul => {:width => "100px"}, :li => {....}, :a => {:color => "red"}}.to_json
You also have the possibility to work client side. That mean that no remote action will be called and no query will be done in the DB.
If you work this way, you don't have to add anything to your controller (no "autocomplete" statment needed). You then also don't need to add any route in your routes.yml config file.
In your view, the autocomplete_field will not take the url of a remote autocompletion method but the source elements for the autocompletion.
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, [{:id => "my_element_id", :label => "my_element_label", :value => "my_element_value", :for_search => "pattern_for_search"}].to_json , :no_remote => true
Don't forget to Jsonify your sources array. As an example, here we directly put the sources array in our view but it is better to constuct it in your controller.
Also note that you can pass a :for_search element in your source hash. This will be the text use for the autocompletion query.
If you want to persom some custom javascript when a user select an element in the autocomplete item list, you can add it via the :on_select option:
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :on_select => "alert('Hello World')"
=======
If you need to extra data about the selected object, you can use the :update_elements HTML attribute.
The :update_elements attribute accepts a hash where the keys represent the object attribute/column data to use to update and the values are jQuery selectors to retrieve the HTML element to update:
f.autocomplete_field :brand_name, autocomplete_brand_name_products_path, :update_elements => {:id => '#id_element', :slogan => '#some_other_element'}
class ProductsController < Admin::BaseController
autocomplete :brand, :name, :extra_data => [:slogan]
end
The previous example would fetch the extra attribute slogan and update jQuery('#some_other_element') with the slogan value.
crowdint/master
If you are using Formtastic, you automatically get the autocompleted_input helper on semantic_form_for:
semantic_form_for @product do |f|
f.autocompleted_input :brand_name, :url => autocomplete_brand_name_path
end
The only difference with the original helper is that you must specify the autocomplete url using the :url option.
If you want to use it with simple_form, all you have to do is use the :as option on the input and set the autocomplete path with the :url option.
simple_form_for @product do |form|
form.input :name
form.input :brand_name, :url => autocomplete_brand_name_path, :as => :autocomplete
I have created a step to test your autocomplete with Cucumber and Capybara, all you have to do is add the following lines to your env.rb file:
require 'cucumber/autocomplete'
Then you'll have access to the following step:
I choose "([^"]*)" in the autocomplete list
An example on how to use it:
@javascript
Scenario: Autocomplete
Given the following brands exists:
| name |
| Alpha |
| Beta |
| Gamma |
And I go to the home page
And I fill in "Brand name" with "al"
And I choose "Alpha" in the autocomplete list
Then the "Brand name" field should contain "Alpha"
I have only tested this using Capybara, no idea if it works with something else, to see it in action, check the example app.
If you want to make changes to the gem, first install bundler 1.0.0:
gem install bundler
And then, install all your dependencies:
bundle install
You need to have an instance of MongoDB running on your computer or all the mongo tests will fail miserably.
rake test
If you make changes or add features to the jQuery part, please make sure you write a cucumber test for it.
You can find an example Rails app on the integration folder.
You can run the integration tests with the cucumber command while on the integration folder:
cd integration
cucumber
- 0.6.2 SimpleForm plugin
- 0.6.1 Allow specifying fully qualified class name for model object as an option to autocomplete
- 0.6.0 JS Code cleanup
- 0.5.1 Add STI support
- 0.5.0 Formtastic support
- 0.4.0 MongoID support
- 0.3.6 Using .live() to put autocomplete on dynamic fields
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