Which Event is best for google suggest type AJAX stuff

[jdbolt]

I have a search field which fetches results and populates a div on the fly.

I was wondering which event type would be best for this. At th emoment I have onkeyup, but if the user is typing a long word, it can be quite slow as it perfroms the search on every key stroke.

I was wondering what event shall I use to minimize the number of calls to the AJAX engine, but still have the search resutls returned quickly and on the fly

This demo does it quite well:

http://script.aculo.us/demos/ajax/autocompleter

Thanks!

 

[jemminger]

i believe google uses on keyup too, but they set a timer for it to make the ajax call after Nms. if another keystroke is made before the timeout, it is cancelled and replaced with the new one. this way you only perform the call when the user has paused sufficiently long enough

-jeff

http://www.jeffemminger.com

try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); } finally { rtfm(); }
i like your sleeves...they're real big

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

You can also introduce a threshold number of characters before searching begins. If the user types "a", there's little point going off and doing a search on that string, so only search when you hit, say, 2, 3, or 4 characters in length.

Hope this helps,
Dan


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[jdbolt]

How would I cancel the previous event? Using cancelBubble or something similar?