I'm implementing a version of the autocompletion script found at http://ricardo.pacheco.name/blog/articles/2006/07/26/using- autocomplete-with-belongs_to-fields and have run into a stumbling block.
The issue involves passing in a variable to indicate which custom method should be invoked. I have an ugly workaround (a duplicate function hardcoded to use the custom method), but would like to learn a better way to handle this case. It feels like I'm missing something simple, but I'll be damned if I can see it.
# from: app/helpers/application_helper.rb
def indexed_auto_complete_result(entries, entityType, field, index) return unless entries items = entries.map { |entry| content_tag("li", entry[field], "id" => entityType+'::'+entry[index].to_s) } content_tag("ul", items.uniq) end
This works fine for referencing model attributes which exist in the "Highlights" table (name, description, etc.) but fails if 'field' is passed in as "name_with_place". The unordered list is created, but it's full of empty <li> tags. If I change it to use entry.field I get NoMethodError (undefined method 'field') errors in the log.
My eventual workaround was to add this function for those times I need to access the name_with_place method. This works as desired, and properly invokes the custom name_with_place method. It's clearly not DRY, though.
def indexed_auto_complete_result_with_place(entries, entityType, field, index) return unless entries items = entries.map { |entry| content_tag("li", entry.name_with_place, "id" => entityType+'::'+entry[index].to_s)} content_tag("ul", items.uniq) end
# from: app/models/highlight.rb belongs_to :place
def name_with_place if self.place.nil? self.name else "#{self.name} (#{self.place.name})" end end
# from: app/controllers/highlights_controller.rb def auto_complete_for_highlight_internal_name find_options = { :conditions => [ "LOWER(name) LIKE ?", '%' +params[:highlight] [:internal_name].downcase + '%' ], :order => "name ASC", :limit => 10 } @highlights = Highlight.find(:all,find_options) render :inline => "<%= indexed_auto_complete_result @highlights, 'highlight_id', 'name_with_place', 'id' %>" end
# from: public/javascripts/application.js
function auto_complete_on_select(element, selectedElement) { var entityParts = selectedElement.id.split('::'); var entityType = entityParts[0]; var entityId = entityParts[1]; document.getElementById(entityType).value = entityId; }
# from: app/views/highlights/index.rhtml
<% form_tag('/highlights/edit', :method => :post) do %> <%= text_field_with_auto_complete :highlight, :internal_name, { :size => 40 }, { :after_update_element => 'auto_complete_and_redirect_on_select' } %> <%= hidden_field 'highlight', 'id' %> <%= submit_tag("Edit") %> <% end -%>
