Yahoo! UI Library

autocomplete  3.3.0pr1

Yahoo! UI Library > autocomplete > AutoCompleteBase
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Class AutoCompleteBase

Extension that provides core autocomplete logic (but no UI implementation) for a text input field or textarea.

The AutoCompleteBase class provides events and attributes that abstract away core autocomplete logic and configuration, but does not provide a widget implementation or suggestion UI. For a prepackaged autocomplete widget, see AutoCompleteList.

This extension cannot be instantiated directly, since it doesn't provide an actual implementation. It's intended to be mixed into a Y.Base-based class or widget.

Y.Widget-based example: 

YUI().use('autocomplete-base', 'widget', function (Y) {
  var MyAC = Y.Base.create('myAC', Y.Widget, [Y.AutoCompleteBase], {
    // Custom prototype methods and properties.
  }, {
    // Custom static methods and properties.
  });
 
  // Custom implementation code.
});

Y.Base-based example: 

YUI().use('autocomplete-base', function (Y) {
  var MyAC = Y.Base.create('myAC', Y.Base, [Y.AutoCompleteBase], {
    initializer: function () {
      this._bindUIACBase();
      this._syncUIACBase();
    },
 
    // Custom prototype methods and properties.
  }, {
    // Custom static methods and properties.
  });
 
  // Custom implementation code.
});

Methods

_afterValueChange

protected void _afterValueChange ( e )
Handles change events for the value attribute.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade>

_bindUIACBase

protected void _bindUIACBase ( )
Attaches event listeners and behaviors.

_createArraySource

protected Object _createArraySource ( source )
Creates a DataSource-like object that simply returns the specified array as a response. See the source attribute for more details.
Parameters:
source <Array>
Returns: Object
DataSource-like object.

_createJSONPSource

protected Object _createJSONPSource ( source )
Creates a DataSource-like object that uses the specified JSONPRequest instance as a source. See the source attribute for more details.
Parameters:
source <JSONPRequest>
Returns: Object
DataSource-like object.

_createObjectSource

protected Object _createObjectSource ( source )
Creates a DataSource-like object that looks up queries as properties on the specified object, and returns the found value (if any) as a response. See the source attribute for more details.
Parameters:
source <Object>
Returns: Object
DataSource-like object.

_createStringSource

protected Object _createStringSource ( source )
Creates a DataSource-like object that calls the specified JSONP URL or executes the specified YQL query for results. If the string starts with "select ", "use ", or "set " (case-insensitive), it's assumed to be a YQL query; otherwise, it's assumed to be a URL (which may be absolute or relative). See the source attribute for more details.
Parameters:
source <String> JSONP URL or YQL query.
Returns: Object
DataSource-like object.

_createYQLSource

protected Object _createYQLSource ( source )
Creates a DataSource-like object that uses the specified YQL query string to create a YQL-based source. See the source attribute for details. If no resultListLocator is defined, this method will set a best-guess locator that might work for many typical YQL queries.
Parameters:
source <String> YQL query.
Returns: Object
DataSource-like object.

_defaultYQLLocator

protected Array _defaultYQLLocator ( response )
Default resultListLocator used when a string-based YQL source is set and the implementer hasn't already specified one.
Parameters:
response <Object> YQL response object.

_defClearFn

protected void _defClearFn ( )
Default clear event handler. Sets the results property to an empty array and query to null.

_defQueryFn

protected void _defQueryFn ( e )
Default query event handler. Sets the query property and sends a request to the source if one is configured.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade>

_defResultsFn

protected void _defResultsFn ( e )
Default results event handler. Sets the results property to the latest results.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade>

_destructorACBase

protected void _destructorACBase ( )
Detaches AutoCompleteBase event listeners.

_functionValidator

protected void _functionValidator ( value )
Returns true if value is either a function or null.
Parameters:
value <Function|null> Value to validate.

_getObjectValue

protected mixed _getObjectValue ( obj , path )
Faster and safer alternative to Y.Object.getValue(). Doesn't bother casting the path to an array (since we already know it's an array) and doesn't throw an error if a value in the middle of the object hierarchy is neither undefined nor an object.
Parameters:
obj <Object>
path <Array>
Returns: mixed
Located value, or undefined if the value was not found at the specified path.

_jsonpFormatter

protected String _jsonpFormatter ( url , proxy , query )
URL formatter passed to JSONPRequest instances.
Parameters:
url <String>
proxy <String>
query <String>
Returns: String
Formatted URL

_onInputValueChange

protected void _onInputValueChange ( e )
Handles valueChange events on the input node and fires a query event when the input value meets the configured criteria.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade>

_onResponse

protected void _onResponse ( e )
Handles source responses and fires the results event.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade>

_parseResponse

protected void _parseResponse ( query , response , data )
Parses result responses, performs filtering and highlighting, and fires the results event.
Parameters:
query <String> Query that generated these results.
response <Object> Response containing results.
data <Object> Raw response data.

_parseValue

protected String|null _parseValue ( value )

Returns the query portion of the specified input value, or null if there is no suitable query within the input value.

If a query delimiter is defined, the query will be the last delimited part of of the string.

Parameters:
value <String> Input value from which to extract the query.
Returns: String|null
query

_setLocator

protected Function|null _setLocator ( locator )
Setter for locator attributes.
Parameters:
locator <Function|String|null>

_setRequestTemplate

protected Function|null _setRequestTemplate ( template )
Setter for the requestTemplate attribute.
Parameters:
template <Function|String|null>

_setResultFilters

protected Array _setResultFilters ( filters )
Setter for the resultFilters attribute.
Parameters:
filters <Array|Function|String|null> null, a filter function, an array of filter functions, or a string or array of strings representing the names of methods on Y.AutoCompleteFilters.
Returns: Array
Array of filter functions (empty if filters is null).

_setResultHighlighter

protected Function|null _setResultHighlighter ( highlighter )
Setter for the resultHighlighter attribute.
Parameters:
highlighter <Function|String|null> null, a highlighter function, or a string representing the name of a method on Y.AutoCompleteHighlighters.

_setSource

protected DataSource|Object _setSource ( source )
Setter for the source attribute. Returns a DataSource or a DataSource-like object depending on the type of source.
Parameters:
source <Array|DataSource|Object|String> AutoComplete source. See the source attribute for details.

_sourceSuccess

protected void _sourceSuccess ( data , request )
Shared success callback for non-DataSource sources.
Parameters:
data <mixed> Response data.
request <Object> Request object.

_syncBrowserAutocomplete

protected void _syncBrowserAutocomplete ( )
Synchronizes the UI state of the allowBrowserAutocomplete attribute.

_syncUIACBase

protected void _syncUIACBase ( )
Synchronizes the UI state of the inputNode.

_updateValue

protected void _updateValue ( newVal )

Updates the query portion of the value attribute.

If a query delimiter is defined, the last delimited portion of the input value will be replaced with the specified value.

Parameters:
newVal <String> New value.

sendRequest

void sendRequest ( query , requestTemplate )

Sends a request to the configured source. If no source is configured, this method won't do anything.

Usually there's no reason to call this method manually; it will be called automatically when user input causes a query event to be fired. The only time you'll need to call this method manually is if you want to force a request to be sent when no user input has occurred.

Parameters:
query <String> (optional) Query to send. If specified, the query attribute will be set to this query. If not specified, the current value of the query attribute will be used.
requestTemplate <Function> (optional) Request template function. If not specified, the current value of the requestTemplate attribute will be used.
Chainable: This method is chainable.

Events

allowBrowserAutocompleteChange

allowBrowserAutocompleteChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'allowBrowserAutocomplete' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

clear

clear ( e )
Fires after the query has been completely cleared or no longer meets the minimum query length requirement.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade> Event facade with the following additional properties:
prevVal (String)
Value of the query before it was cleared.
Preventable: This event is preventable by method e.preventDefault(). The default function executed by this event is _defClearFn.

inputNodeChange

inputNodeChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'inputNode' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

maxResultsChange

maxResultsChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'maxResults' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

minQueryLengthChange

minQueryLengthChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'minQueryLength' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

query

query ( e )
Fires when the contents of the input field have changed and the input value meets the criteria necessary to generate an autocomplete query.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade> Event facade with the following additional properties:
inputValue (String)
Full contents of the text input field or textarea that generated the query.
query (String)
Autocomplete query. This is the string that will be used to request completion results. It may or may not be the same as inputValue.
Preventable: This event is preventable by method e.preventDefault(). The default function executed by this event is _defQueryFn.

queryChange

queryChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'query' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

queryDelayChange

queryDelayChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'queryDelay' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

queryDelimiterChange

queryDelimiterChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'queryDelimiter' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

requestTemplateChange

requestTemplateChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'requestTemplate' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

resultFiltersChange

resultFiltersChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'resultFilters' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

resultFormatterChange

resultFormatterChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'resultFormatter' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

resultHighlighterChange

resultHighlighterChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'resultHighlighter' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

resultListLocatorChange

resultListLocatorChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'resultListLocator' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

results

results ( e )
Fires after query results are received from the source. If source has been set, this event will not fire.
Parameters:
e <EventFacade> Event facade with the following additional properties:
data (Array|Object)
Raw, unfiltered result data (if available).
query (String)
Query that generated these results.
results (Array)
Array of filtered, formatted, and highlighted results. Each item in the array is an object with the following properties:
display (Node|HTMLElement|String)
Formatted result HTML suitable for display to the user.
raw (mixed)
Raw, unformatted result in whatever form it was provided by the source.
text (String)
Plain text version of the result, suitable for being inserted into the value of a text input field or textarea when the result is selected by a user.
Preventable: This event is preventable by method e.preventDefault(). The default function executed by this event is _defResultsFn.

resultsChange

resultsChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'results' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

resultTextLocatorChange

resultTextLocatorChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'resultTextLocator' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

sourceChange

sourceChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'source' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

tokenInputChange

tokenInputChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'tokenInput' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

valueChange

valueChange ( event )
Fires when the value for the configuration attribute 'value' is changed. You can listen for the event using the on method if you wish to be notified before the attribute's value has changed, or using the after method if you wish to be notified after the attribute's value has changed.
Parameters:
event <Event.Facade> An Event Facade object with the following attribute specific properties added:
prevVal
The value of the attribute, prior to it being set
newVal
The value the attribute is to be set to
attrName
The name of the attribute being set
subAttrName
If setting a property within the attribute's value, the name of the sub-attribute property being set

Configuration Attributes

allowBrowserAutocomplete - Boolean

Whether or not to enable the browser's built-in autocomplete functionality for input fields.
Default Value: false

inputNode - writeonce Node|HTMLElement|String

Node to monitor for changes, which will generate query events when appropriate. May be either an input field or a textarea.

maxResults - Number

Maximum number of results to return. A value of 0 or less will allow an unlimited number of results.
Default Value: 0

minQueryLength - Number

Minimum number of characters that must be entered before a query event will be fired. A value of 0 allows empty queries; a negative value will effectively disable all query events.
Default Value: 1

query - String|null

Current query, or null if there is no current query.

The query might not be the same as the current value of the input node, both for timing reasons (due to queryDelay) and because when one or more queryDelimiter separators are in use, only the last portion of the delimited input string will be used as the query value.

Default Value: null

queryDelay - Number

Number of milliseconds to delay after input before triggering a query event. If new input occurs before this delay is over, the previous input event will be ignored and a new delay will begin.

This can be useful both to throttle queries to a remote data source and to avoid distracting the user by showing them less relevant results before they've paused their typing.

Default Value: 100

queryDelimiter - String|null

Query delimiter string. When a delimiter is configured, the input value will be split on the delimiter, and only the last portion will be used in autocomplete queries and updated when the query attribute is modified.
Default Value: null

requestTemplate - Function|String|null

Source request template. This can be a function that accepts a query as a parameter and returns a request string, or it can be a string containing the placeholder "{query}", which will be replaced with the actual URI-encoded query.

While requestTemplate may be set to either a function or a string, it will always be returned as a function that accepts a query argument and returns a string.

Default Value: null

resultFilters - Array

Array of local result filter functions. If provided, each filter will be called with two arguments when results are received: the query and an array of results (as returned by the resultLocator, if one is set).

Each filter is expected to return a filtered or modified version of the results, which will then be passed on to subsequent filters, then the resultHighlighter function (if set), then the resultFormatter function (if set), and finally to subscribers to the results event.

If no source is set, result filters will not be called.

Default Value: []

resultFormatter - Function|null

Function which will be used to format results. If provided, this function will be called with four arguments after results have been received and filtered: the query, an array of raw results, an array of highlighted results, and an array of plain text results. The formatter is expected to return a modified copy of the results array with any desired custom formatting applied.

If no source is set, the formatter will not be called.

resultHighlighter - Function|null

Function which will be used to highlight results. If provided, this function will be called with two arguments after results have been received and filtered: the query and an array of filtered results. The highlighter is expected to return a modified version of the results array with the query highlighted in some form.

If no source is set, the highlighter will not be called.

resultListLocator - Function|String|null

Locator that should be used to extract an array of results from a non-array response.

By default, no locator is applied, and all responses are assumed to be arrays by default. If all responses are already arrays, you don't need to define a locator.

The locator may be either a function (which will receive the raw response as an argument and must return an array) or a string representing an object path, such as "foo.bar.baz" (which would return the value of result.foo.bar.baz if the response is an object).

While resultListLocator may be set to either a function or a string, it will always be returned as a function that accepts a response argument and returns an array.

results - Array

Current results, or an empty array if there are no results.
Default Value: []

resultTextLocator - Function|String|null

Locator that should be used to extract a plain text string from a non-string result item. The resulting text value will be fed to any defined filters, and will typically also be the value that ends up being inserted into an input field or textarea when the user of an autocomplete implementation selects a result.

By default, no locator is applied, and all results are assumed to be plain text strings. If all results are already plain text strings, you don't need to define a locator.

The locator may be either a function (which will receive the raw result as an argument and must return a string) or a string representing an object path, such as "foo.bar.baz" (which would return the value of result.foo.bar.baz if the result is an object).

While resultTextLocator may be set to either a function or a string, it will always be returned as a function that accepts a result argument and returns a string.

source - Array|DataSource|Object|String|null

Source for autocomplete results. The following source types are supported:

Array

Example: ['first result', 'second result', 'etc']

The full array will be provided to any configured filters for each query. This is an easy way to create a fully client-side autocomplete implementation.

DataSource

A DataSource instance or other object that provides a DataSource-like sendRequest method. See the DataSource documentation for details.

Object

Example: {foo: ['foo result 1', 'foo result 2'], bar: ['bar result']}

An object will be treated as a query hashmap. If a property on the object matches the current query, the value of that property will be used as the response.

The response is assumed to be an array of results by default. If the response is not an array, provide a resultListLocator to process the response and return an array.

String (JSONP URL)

Example: 'http://example.com/search?q={query}&callback={callback}'

If a URL is provided, it will be used to make a JSONP request. The {query} placeholder will be replaced with the current query, and the {callback} placeholder will be replaced with an internally-generated JSONP callback name. Both placeholders must appear in the URL, or the request will fail.

The response is assumed to be an array of results by default. If the response is not an array, provide a resultListLocator to process the response and return an array.

The jsonp module must be loaded in order for URL sources to work. If the jsonp module is not already loaded, it will be loaded on demand if possible.

String (YQL query)

Example: 'select * from search.suggest where query="{query}"'

If a YQL query is provided, it will be used to make a YQL request. The {query} placeholder will be replaced with the current autocomplete query. This placeholder must appear in the YQL query, or the request will fail.

The yql module must be loaded in order for YQL sources to work. If the yql module is not already loaded, it will be loaded on demand if possible.

As an alternative to providing a source, you could also simply listen for query events and handle them any way you see fit. Providing a source is optional, but will usually be simpler.

tokenInput - Plugin.TokenInput

If the inputNode specified at instantiation time has a node-tokeninput plugin attached to it, this attribute will be a reference to the Y.Plugin.TokenInput instance.

value - String

Current value of the input node.
Default Value: ''
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