Question

Searchable List Box/Combo Box

Asked by: drawdef

I have a big List Box/Combo Box in my .asp application.  The data in the box is populated via a database and is getting quite large.  The problem is that the user can press the first letter and the box will jump to that but that still leaves a lot of scrolling to do.  Is there any way with JS to basically 'search' that box - or at least be able to enter more than the first character and have it jump to that portion of the list?  Thanks

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Asked On
2005-07-05 at 19:24:41ID21481379
Tags

list

,

box

Topic

JavaScript

Participating Experts
1
Points
250
Comments
1

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Answers

 

by: override_y2kPosted on 2005-07-06 at 01:37:01ID: 14375719

/*
 * ComboSearcher.js
 *
 * Usage:
 *  Add the following events to your SELECT Tag.
 *  onfocus="initComboSearch();" onkeydown="searchComboBox(this);"
 *
 */


var comboSearchChars;
var KEY_BACKSPACE = 8;

function initComboSearch() {
  comboSearchChars = "";
}

function searchComboBox(theComboBox) {
  //undo the keypress to avoid the default browser behaviour
  window.event.returnValue = false;
 
  var keyCode = window.event.keyCode;
  if (keyCode == KEY_BACKSPACE) {
    comboSearchChars = comboSearchChars.substring(0, comboSearchChars.length-1);
  } else {
    var keyChar = String.fromCharCode(keyCode);
    comboSearchChars += keyChar.toLowerCase();
  }

  for (var i = 0; i < theComboBox.length; i++) {
    var comboValue = theComboBox.options[i].text.substring(0, comboSearchChars.length);
    comboValue = comboValue.toLowerCase();
    if (comboValue == comboSearchChars) {
      theComboBox.options[i].selected = true;
      return;
    }
  }
}


That way if you have James, Jean, John and Olive if you type JO, it will go to John, rather than Olive.

Regards,

o2k

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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