Twitter-style autocomplete in textarea
JavascriptJqueryHtmlAjaxTwitterJavascript Problem Overview
I am looking for a Javascript autocomplete implementation which includes the following:
- Can be used in a HTML textarea
- Allows for typing regular text without invoking autocomplete
- Detects the
@character and starts autocomplete when it is typed - Loads list of options through AJAX
I believe that this is similar to what Twitter is doing when tagging in a tweet, but I can't find a nice, reusable implementation.
A solution with jQuery would be perfect.
Thanks.
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
Another great library which solves this problem At.js (deprecated)
They are now suggesting the Tribute library
Solution 2 - Javascript
I'm sure your problem is long since solved, but jquery-textcomplete looks like it would do the job.
Solution 3 - Javascript
Have you tried this
GITHUB: https://github.com/podio/jquery-mentions-input
DEMO/CONFIG: http://podio.github.io/jquery-mentions-input/
It is pretty simple to implement.
Solution 4 - Javascript
Try this:
(function($){
$.widget("ui.tagging", {
// default options
options: {
source: [],
maxItemDisplay: 3,
autosize: true,
animateResize: false,
animateDuration: 50
},
_create: function() {
var self = this;
this.activeSearch = false;
this.searchTerm = "";
this.beginFrom = 0;
this.wrapper = $("<div>")
.addClass("ui-tagging-wrap");
this.highlight = $("<div></div>");
this.highlightWrapper = $("<span></span>")
.addClass("ui-corner-all");
this.highlightContainer = $("<div>")
.addClass("ui-tagging-highlight")
.append(this.highlight);
this.meta = $("<input>")
.attr("type", "hidden")
.addClass("ui-tagging-meta");
this.container = $("<div></div>")
.width(this.element.width())
.insertBefore(this.element)
.addClass("ui-tagging")
.append(
this.highlightContainer,
this.element.wrap(this.wrapper).parent(),
this.meta
);
var initialHeight = this.element.height();
this.element.height(this.element.css('lineHeight'));
this.element.keypress(function(e) {
// activate on @
if (e.which == 64 && !self.activeSearch) {
self.activeSearch = true;
self.beginFrom = e.target.selectionStart + 1;
}
// deactivate on space
if (e.which == 32 && self.activeSearch) {
self.activeSearch = false;
}
}).bind("expand keyup keydown change", function(e) {
var cur = self.highlight.find("span"),
val = self.element.val(),
prevHeight = self.element.height(),
rowHeight = self.element.css('lineHeight'),
newHeight = 0;
cur.each(function(i) {
var s = $(this);
val = val.replace(s.text(), $("<div>").append(s).html());
});
self.highlight.html(val);
newHeight = self.element.height(rowHeight)[0].scrollHeight;
self.element.height(prevHeight);
if (newHeight < initialHeight) {
newHeight = initialHeight;
}
if (!$.browser.mozilla) {
if (self.element.css('paddingBottom') || self.element.css('paddingTop')) {
var padInt =
parseInt(self.element.css('paddingBottom').replace('px', '')) +
parseInt(self.element.css('paddingTop').replace('px', ''));
newHeight -= padInt;
}
}
self.options.animateResize ?
self.element.stop(true, true).animate({
height: newHeight
}, self.options.animateDuration) :
self.element.height(newHeight);
var widget = self.element.autocomplete("widget");
widget.position({
my: "left top",
at: "left bottom",
of: self.container
}).width(self.container.width()-4);
}).autocomplete({
minLength: 0,
delay: 0,
maxDisplay: this.options.maxItemDisplay,
open: function(event, ui) {
var widget = $(this).autocomplete("widget");
widget.position({
my: "left top",
at: "left bottom",
of: self.container
}).width(self.container.width()-4);
},
source: function(request, response) {
if (self.activeSearch) {
self.searchTerm = request.term.substring(self.beginFrom);
if (request.term.substring(self.beginFrom - 1, self.beginFrom) != "@") {
self.activeSearch = false;
self.beginFrom = 0;
self.searchTerm = "";
}
if (self.searchTerm != "") {
if ($.type(self.options.source) == "function") {
self.options.source(request, response);
} else {
var re = new RegExp("^" + escape(self.searchTerm) + ".+", "i");
var matches = [];
$.each(self.options.source, function() {
if (this.label.match(re)) {
matches.push(this);
}
});
response(matches);
}
}
}
},
focus: function() {
// prevent value inserted on focus
return false;
},
select: function(event, ui) {
self.activeSearch = false;
//console.log("@"+searchTerm, ui.item.label);
this.value = this.value.replace("@" + self.searchTerm, ui.item.label) + ' ';
self.highlight.html(
self.highlight.html()
.replace("@" + self.searchTerm,
$("<div>").append(
self.highlightWrapper
.text(ui.item.label)
.clone()
).html()+' ')
);
self.meta.val((self.meta.val() + " @[" + ui.item.value + ":]").trim());
return false;
}
});
}
});
body, html {
font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;
}
.ui-tagging {
position: relative;
border: 1px solid #B4BBCD;
height: auto;
}
.ui-tagging .ui-tagging-highlight {
position: absolute;
padding: 5px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.ui-tagging .ui-tagging-highlight div {
color: transparent;
font-size: 13px;
line-height: 18px;
white-space: pre-wrap;
}
.ui-tagging .ui-tagging-wrap {
position: relative;
padding: 5px;
overflow: hidden;
zoom: 1;
border: 0;
}
.ui-tagging div > span {
background-color: #D8DFEA;
font-weight: normal !important;
}
.ui-tagging textarea {
display: block;
font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;
background: transparent;
border-width: 0;
font-size: 13px;
height: 18px;
outline: none;
resize: none;
vertical-align: top;
width: 100%;
line-height: 18px;
overflow: hidden;
}
.ui-autocomplete {
font-size: 13px;
background-color: white;
border: 1px solid black;
margin-bottom: -5px;
width: 0;
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<textarea></textarea>
http://jsfiddle.net/mekwall/mcWnL/52/ This link will help you
Solution 5 - Javascript
I've created a Meteor package for this purpose. Meteor's data model allows for fast multi-rule searching with custom rendered lists. If you're not using Meteor for your web app, (I believe) you unfortunately won't find anything this awesome for autocompletion.
Autocompleting users with @, where online users are shown in green:
In the same line, autocompleting something else with metadata and bootstrap icons:
Fork, pull, and improve:
Solution 6 - Javascript
I could not find any solution that matched my requirements perfectly, so I ended up with the following:
I use the jQuery keypress() event to check for the user pressing the @ character.
If this is the case, a modal dialog is shown using jQuery UI. This dialog contains an autocomplete text field (many options can be used here, but I recommmend jQuery Tokeninput)
When the user selects an option in the dialog, a tag is added to the text field and the dialog is closed.
This is not the most elegant solution, but it works and it does not require extra keypresses compared to my original design.
Edit
So basically, we have our large text box where the user can enter text. He should be able to "tag" a user (this just means inserting #<userid> in the text). I attach to the jQuery keyup event and detect the @ character using (e.which == 64) to show a modal with a text field for selecting the users to tag.
The meat of the solution is simply this modal dialog with a jQuery Tokeninput text box. As the user types here, the list of users is loaded through AJAX. See the examples on the website for how to use it properly. When the user closes the dialog, I insert the selected IDs into the large text box.
Solution 7 - Javascript
Recently i had to face this problem and this is how i nailed down...
- Get the string index at the cursor position in the textarea by using selectionStart
- slice the string from index 0 to the cursor position
- Insert it into a span (since span has multiple border boxes)
- Get the dimensions of the border box using element.getClientRects() relative to the view port. (here is the MDN Reference)
- Calculate the top and left and feed it to the dropdown
This works in all latest browsers. haven't tested at old ones
Here is Working bin
Solution 8 - Javascript
Another plugin which provides similar functionality:
You can use it with custom triggers or you can use it without any triggers. Works with input fields, textareas and contenteditables. And jQuery is not a dependency.
Solution 9 - Javascript
This small extension seems to be the closest at least in presentation to what was asked. Since it's small, it can be easily understood and modified. http://lookapanda.github.io/jquery-hashtags/
Solution 10 - Javascript
THIS should work. With regards to the @ kicking off the search, just add (dynamically or not) the symbol to the beginning of each possible search term.