retrieve data from database using jquery autocomplete

If you're talking about a relatively small number of values then you should pull them into memory ahead of time. If you have a lot of records then you may be looking at a large number of queries in a short time which isn't an especially good idea.

Can you give me some idea of how many records you're looking at retrieving? There are ways to do this but the question is if it's a good idea or not.

I would say it would be around 150 - 300 records.

For a list that small I'd just query the database once at page load and store the values in memory.

Ok, can you help with that. That part I already understand.

@AkilaPalanimuthu,

Thank you for the link. That worked out great. I have just a few small questions to ask though before closing this post.

1.) How can I use a Stored Procedure instead of an SQL Statement as below?

    [WebMethod]
    public static List<string> GetAutoCompleteData(string username)
    {
        List<string> result = new List<string>();

        using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["CMDB"].ConnectionString))
        {
            using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select DISTINCT product_name from ProductNumbers where product_name LIKE '%'+@SearchText+'%'", conn))
            {
                conn.Open();
                cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@SearchText", username);

                SqlDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();

                while (dr.Read())
                {
                    result.Add(dr["product_name"].ToString());
                }

                return result;
            }
        }
    }

Select allOpen in new window

2.) Is there a way to have another value get populated based on the selected value from the AutoComplete list? So for example. I have a textbox called Product Number that is getting retrieved using autocomplete. Once a user selects a value from autocomplete I then need to populate the value related to the selected autocomplete value to be returned to a label control. The values in the database are related I jsut don't know how to return the other value based on the selected value from the autocomplete.

I would be MORE than willing to create another ticket if you think you can assist me with that.