[Web4lib] creating a dynamic search box

[Norwood, Randy]

I've done this in a couple of different applications. Basically, you use AJAX to capture each keystroke and send it to the remote server's database. For example, if you type "S," it might cause a query to be executed similar to "select top 10 words from wordIndex where words = 'S%' and those 10 results would populate the dynamically generated dropdown list. Then if you typed "h" it would send the query "select top 10 words from wordIndex where words = 'Sh%'" and so forth.

An important decision is how the "wordIndex" is created. It could be a keyword index of the field(s) of interest (say, book titles). It needs to be reasonably complete, but not so large that responsiveness is slowed.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Randy Norwood
Programmer/Analyst III
Texas Tech School of Law Library
E-mail: randy.norwood at ttu.edu
Office: 806-742-3990 x350

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Gerry
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:47 AM
To: John Fitzgibbon; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] creating a dynamic search box

I bookmarked this site recently that explains how to do it:
http://woork.blogspot.com/2008/03/php-components-autosuggest.html 
 
I haven't tried to implement the steps yet, so I can't say if it is
useful or not, but it's worth looking at.
 
 
_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_ .-:*'``'*:-.


>>> On 6/15/2009 at 11:25 AM, in message
<45751448A71EAC43962D93D2E8FD46070BF3D72361 at GCC-EXCHANGE07.galwaycoco.ie>,
John Fitzgibbon <jfitzgibbon at Galwaylibrary.ie> wrote:
Hi,

Google, Amazon and Ebay all use a dynamic search box. As you type
characters into the search box, words from a database which match what
has been typed appear as suggestions.

How is this achieved? I know it depends on JavaScript. When JavaScript
is disabled it stops working. It also needs a live connection to a
database. When working offline the dynamic search box stops working.

Are there any websites which discuss this feature in more detail?

Any help would be much appreciated.


Regards,

John



John Fitzgibbon



w: www.galwaylibrary.ie 

e: info at galwaylibrary.ie 

p: 00 353 91 562471

f: 00 353 91 565039


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