Question

Help using jquery change event for drop down list

Asked by: holly_mbd

Hello,

I am trying to use a drop down box on my page. When a user selects a category from the list, I want to perform a function (filtering a table). I know the code for my table and the function to filter it is correct - it's selecting an option and running the function that I can't get to work.

I'm currently using this exact same script on another page, only instead of using the .change event, I am using .click because the categories are displayed as links.  In this case, there are so many categories that I want them to be displayed as a drop down box instead, so I was pretty sure that I just needed to change the script to use the .change event, correct? I'm sure its something very simple, but I'm still new to javascript and jquery. Thanks for your help!

drop down box html:
 
<select id="categories">
	<option>Select a Category</option>
	<option id="showAccomodations">Accommodations/Lodging/Travel</option>
	<option id="showAccounting">Accounting/Bookkeeping/Tax Services</option>
	<option id="showAdvertising">Advertising/Promotions</option>
	<option id="showAgricultural">Agricultural Equipment/Sales/Repair</option>
	<option id="showAuto_Truck_Sales">Auto/Truck Sales</option>
</select>
 
 
script:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.mercerbusinessdirectory.com/jquery.dataTables.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
var filterCategory;
$(document).ready(function() {
filterCategory = $('#listings').dataTable( {
"iDefaultSortIndex": 0,
"sDefaultSortDirection": "asc",
"bPaginate": false,
"bLengthChange": false,
"bFilter": true,
"bInfo": false,
"bAutoWidth": false,
"aoData": [{ "sType": "html" },null,null]
} );
$('#listings').hide();
$('#listings_filter').hide();
$('#showAccomodations').change(function () {
	filterCategory.fnFilter( 'Accomodations/Lodging/Travel' );
	$('#listings').show();
	} );
$('#showAccounting').change(function () {
	filterCategory.fnFilter( 'Accounting/Bookkeeping/Tax Services' );
	$('#listings').show();
	} );
$('#showAdvertising').change(function () {
	filterCategory.fnFilter( 'Advertising/Promotions' );
	$('#listings').show();
	} );
$('#showAgricultural').change(function () {
	filterCategory.fnFilter( 'Agricultural Equipment/Sales/Repair' );
	$('#listings').show();
	} );
$('#showAuto_Truck_Sales').change(function () {
	filterCategory.fnFilter( 'Auto/Truck Sales' );
	$('#listings').show();
	} );
} );
</script>

                                  
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Asked On
2008-10-16 at 07:52:58ID23820581
Tags

Javascript, jquery

,

IE7

,

www.mercerbusinessdirectory.com/jquery_test.html

Topics

Jquery

,

JavaScript

Participating Experts
1
Points
400
Comments
2

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Answers

 

by: AlbertVanHalenPosted on 2008-10-16 at 12:06:31ID: 22734611

Rather than bind a change function to each of the options in selectbox, you better bind the change event to the selectbox itself.
You can use the val() method to check what the selected value is and thus filter your dataset and display the results accordingly.

Loose the id attribute for each option.
Specify an empty string to the first option in order to determine if the value is equal to ''.
Bind the change event to the selectbox.

<select id="categories">
        <option value="">Select a Category</option>
        <option>Accommodations/Lodging/Travel</option>
        <option>Accounting/Bookkeeping/Tax Services</option>
        <option>Advertising/Promotions</option>
        <option>Agricultural Equipment/Sales/Repair</option>
        <option>Auto/Truck Sales</option>
</select>
 
<script>
$('#categories').change(function () {
        if($(this).val() != '') {
                filterCategory.fnFilter($(this).val());
                $('#listings').show();
        } else
                $('#listings').hide();
        } );
} );
</script>

                                              
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by: holly_mbdPosted on 2008-10-16 at 12:46:24ID: 31506771

Perfect! That's exactly what I needed and this is much simpler. I just wasn't quite understanding how the .change event worked...thanks for enlightening me!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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