aw2.0 Ltd

A jQuery plugin which allows partial autocomplete features on a textarea element based on a trigger character.

Usage

$("#myTextArea").lookup({ data: { "#" : ["a", "b", "c"] } });

Once the plugin is applied to a textarea element, the trigger character, in this case '#', will open a menu which changes with further characters to create a selection of matching phrases.

• The UP and DOWN arrows can be used to highlight an option from the menu.
• The RETURN, TAB and SPACE (if enabled) keys can be used to select an option from the menu.
• The ESC key is used to cancel a lookup and close the menu.
• The MOUSE can also be used to make a selection.

Default function

No options are required other than the data options you wish searched and the trigger character for that dataset.

$("#myTextArea").lookup({
 data: { "@" : ["bananas", "apples", "pears"] }
});

Adding options

Options are available if you wish to change the trigger character, add additional trigger characters for different datasets, or set the amount of results shown (default: 4)

$("#myTextArea").lookup({
 data: { 
  ">" : ["car", "bus", "plane", "bicycle", "train"], 
  "#" : [ "cycle", "drive", "fly", "run", "walk"] 
 },
 limit : "5"
});

Options

data	an array of strings which will be searched during the lookup (required).
limit	the maximum matching strings to be displayed during a lookup (default: 4).
spaceSelection	allow the space character to make a selection of the current lookup (default: true).

Testing

The compatibility I have managed to test is below, covering some of the latest browser versions:

Firefox 4	Safari 5.0.2	Chrome 10.0.648.204	Internet Explorer 8
			(with current exception of mouse selection)