Lookup and search as you type combo

Tezread · Nov 23, 2006

I have a perfectly functioning search tool with the standard type, click submit and results are displayed. I am making use of the FULLTEXT procedure at present.
I was wondering if it is possible to have a function whereby as you type in a textbox/ listbox the words start to appear. This can be demonstrated easily in MS Access with the combo box I believe.

Here is my current setup:

 if ($search == "general") {$sql= "SELECT * FROM qualityquestsite WHERE MATCH (content) AGAINST ('" . stripslashes (str_replace ("&quot;", "\"", ($_POST['search']))) . "' IN BOOLEAN MODE)"; 

$result = mysql_query($sql, $connection) or die(mysql_error()); 
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) { 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { 

// begin output here: 
echo '
<TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=2>
<TR> <TH COLSPAN=2 BGCOLOR="#99CCFF"></TH> </TR>

<TR> <TD WIDTH=500><a href="' . $row['search_url'] . '">' . $row['search_title'] . '</a></TD> <TD WIDTH=250>' . $row['search_section'] .'</TD> </TR>

</TR>

</TABLE>';

Kudose · Nov 23, 2006

http://www.brandspankingnew.net/specials/ajax_autosuggest/ajax_autosuggest_autocomplete.html

Tezread · Dec 4, 2006

thanks Kudose. this looks like what I am after. only trouble is i'm not sure how to populate the array by accessing a MySQL table. Have you used the example in this context?

Tezread · Dec 4, 2006

this is the code as it stands...

<?php

/*
note:
this is just a static test version using a hard-coded countries array.
normally you would be populating the array out of a database

the returned xml has the following structure
<results>
	<rs>foo</rs>
	<rs>bar</rs>
</results>
*/

$aCountries = array(
	"Afghanistan",
	"Albania",
	"Algeria",
	"Andorra",
	"Angola",
	"Antigua and Barbuda",
	"Argentina",
	"Armenia",
	"Australia",
	"Austria",
	"Azerbaijan",
	"Bahamas",
	"Bahrain",
	"Bangladesh",
	"Barbados",
	"Belarus",
	"Belgium",
	"Belize",
	"Benin",
	"Bhutan",
	"Bolivia",
	"Bosnia and Herzegovina",
	"Botswana",
	"Brazil",
	"Brunei",
	"Bulgaria",
	"Burkina Faso",
	"Burundi",
	"Cambodia",
	"Cameroon",
	"Canada",
	"Cape Verde",
	"Central African Republic",
	"Chad",
	"Chile",
	"China",
	"Colombia",
	"Comoros",
	"Congo (Brazzaville)",
	"Congo, Democratic Republic of the",
	"Costa Rica",
	"Côte d'Ivoire",
	"Croatia",
	"Cuba",
	"Cyprus",
	"Czech Republic",
	"Denmark",
	"Djibouti",
	"Dominica",
	"Dominican Republic",
	"East Timor",
	"Ecuador",
	"Egypt",
	"El Salvador",
	"Equatorial Guinea",
	"Eritrea",
	"Estonia",
	"Ethiopia",
	"Fiji",
	"Finland",
	"France",
	"Gabon",
	"Gambia, The",
	"Georgia",
	"Germany",
	"Ghana",
	"Greece",
	"Grenada",
	"Guatemala",
	"Guinea",
	"Guinea-Bissau",
	"Guyana",
	"Haiti",
	"Honduras",
	"Hungary",
	"Iceland",
	"India",
	"Indonesia",
	"Iran",
	"Iraq",
	"Ireland",
	"Israel",
	"Italy",
	"Jamaica",
	"Japan",
	"Jordan",
	"Kazakhstan",
	"Kenya",
	"Kiribati",
	"Korea, North",
	"Korea, South",
	"Kuwait",
	"Kyrgyzstan",
	"Laos",
	"Latvia",
	"Lebanon",
	"Lesotho",
	"Liberia",
	"Libya",
	"Liechtenstein",
	"Lithuania",
	"Luxembourg",
	"Macedonia",
	"Madagascar",
	"Malawi",
	"Malaysia",
	"Maldives",
	"Mali",
	"Malta",
	"Marshall Islands",
	"Mauritania",
	"Mauritius",
	"Mexico",
	"Micronesia",
	"Moldova",
	"Monaco",
	"Mongolia",
	"Morocco",
	"Mozambique",
	"Myanmar",
	"Namibia",
	"Nauru",
	"Nepal",
	"Netherlands",
	"New Zealand",
	"Nicaragua",
	"Niger",
	"Nigeria",
	"Norway",
	"Oman",
	"Pakistan",
	"Palau",
	"Panama",
	"Papua New Guinea",
	"Paraguay",
	"Peru",
	"Philippines",
	"Poland",
	"Portugal",
	"Qatar",
	"Romania",
	"Russia",
	"Rwanda",
	"Saint Kitts and Nevis",
	"Saint Lucia",
	"Saint Vincent and The Grenadines",
	"Samoa",
	"San Marino",
	"Sao Tome and Principe",
	"Saudi Arabia",
	"Senegal",
	"Serbia and Montenegro",
	"Seychelles",
	"Sierra Leone",
	"Singapore",
	"Slovakia",
	"Slovenia",
	"Solomon Islands",
	"Somalia",
	"South Africa",
	"Spain",
	"Sri Lanka",
	"Sudan",
	"Suriname",
	"Swaziland",
	"Sweden",
	"Switzerland",
	"Syria",
	"Taiwan",
	"Tajikistan",
	"Tanzania",
	"Thailand",
	"Togo",
	"Tonga",
	"Trinidad and Tobago",
	"Tunisia",
	"Turkey",
	"Turkmenistan",
	"Tuvalu",
	"Uganda",
	"Ukraine",
	"United Arab Emirates",
	"United Kingdom",
	"United States",
	"Uruguay",
	"Uzbekistan",
	"Vanuatu",
	"Vatican City",
	"Venezuela",
	"Vietnam",
	"Western Sahara",
	"Yemen",
	"Zambia",
	"Zimbabwe"
);


$input = strtolower( $_GET['input'] );
$len = strlen($input);

$aResults = array();

if ($len)
{
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aCountries);$i++)
	{
		if (strtolower(substr($aCountries[$i],0,$len)) == $input)
			$aResults[] = $aCountries[$i];
	}
}

header("Content-Type: text/xml");

echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<results>";
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aResults);$i++)
		echo"	<rs>".$aResults[$i]."</rs>";
	echo "
</results>
	";

?>

stolzyboy · Dec 4, 2006

well, in your while loop as you have now, populate an array during that loop, instead of doing your normal display with tables, just create a string comma-delimited and create your array out of that

Tezread · Dec 4, 2006

how would I create a string delimited array? I'm trying to fetch jargon terms for a table called jargon?

Tezread · Dec 5, 2006

Update

I have looked at the manual and I think the explode function is appropriate for this instance. I tried this

$sql= "SELECT * FROM jargon";

$result = mysql_query($sql, $connection) or die(mysql_error()); 
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) { 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { 

// begin output here: 
	$aCountries = explode($',', $row['jargonterm']);

}

$input = strtolower( $_GET['input'] );
$len = strlen($input);

$aResults = array();

if ($len)
{
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aCountries);$i++)
	{
		if (strtolower(substr($aCountries[$i],0,$len)) == $input)
			$aResults[] = $aCountries[$i];
	}
}

header("Content-Type: text/xml");

echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<results>";
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aResults);$i++)
		echo"	<rs>".$aResults[$i]."</rs>";
	echo "
</results>
	";

but as I type in the textbox nothing happens. Their are no error messages either

stolzyboy · Dec 5, 2006

you need'nt use explode, you HAVE an array, just not the way you want it, look into http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.array.php just in your while or for loop, push your next result onto the end of the array, and that'll create an array for you

hth,
stolzyboy

Tezread · Dec 6, 2006

As usual i'm a little slow on the up take here. Im having trouble interpreting what you meant in terms of push the result onto the end of the array. Here is my lame effort which doesn't lookup when typing!

$sql= "SELECT * FROM jargon";

$result = mysql_query($sql, $connection) or die(mysql_error()); 
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) { 
while ($aCountries = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { 

// begin output here: 
	echo $aCountries['jargonterm'];

}

$input = strtolower( $_GET['input'] );
$len = strlen($input);

$aResults = array();

if ($len)
{
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aCountries);$i++)
	{
		if (strtolower(substr($aCountries[$i],0,$len)) == $input)
			$aResults[] = $aCountries[$i];
	}
}

header("Content-Type: text/xml");

echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<results>";
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aResults);$i++)
		echo"	<rs>".$aResults[$i]."</rs>";
	echo "
</results>
	";

?>

stolzyboy · Dec 6, 2006

just an example

<?
$query = "SELECT fieldname FROM tablename"; 
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{      

    $results_array = array(); 
    $results_array[] = $row['fieldname'];
}
?>

that'll give you a real array with your results from the table, by real array, i mean just like if you made one like ("first", "second", "third"), this is untested as well for syntax so you may have to tweak it a bit for semicolons, missing {}, etc...

Tezread · Dec 7, 2006

appreciate the help and your patience stolzyboy. To be honest I think the problem may not be PHP related. I am still not getting any error messages nor results when I type in a jargont term. There is a Javascript aspect to this function - and if the list is hard coded like I show in the first thread there are no problems but im thinking maybe what im trying to do is just not possible.

<?php

/*
note:
this is just a static test version using a hard-coded countries array.
normally you would be populating the array out of a database

the returned xml has the following structure
<results>
	<rs>foo</rs>
	<rs>bar</rs>
</results>
*/
include("connect.php");
$query = "SELECT * FROM jargon"; 
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error()); 

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
{       

    $aCountries = array(); 
    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term']; 
} 


$input = strtolower( $_GET['input'] );
$len = strlen($input);

$aResults = array();

if ($len)
{
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aCountries);$i++)
	{
		if (strtolower(substr($aCountries[$i],0,$len)) == $input)
			$aResults[] = $aCountries[$i];
	}
}

header("Content-Type: text/xml");

echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<results>";
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aResults);$i++)
		echo"	<rs>".$aResults[$i]."</rs>";
	echo "
</results>
	";

?>

stolzyboy · Dec 8, 2006

is the array being populated??

what shows up if you do

print_r($aCountries);

and i'm pretty sure what you are doing can be done, or the search/ajax tool would be useless if you had to type in all the entries (in a dictionary-type app for example)

stolzyboy

Tezread · Dec 11, 2006

if i try

print_r($aCountries);

nothing shows up

cahva · Dec 11, 2006

BTW, this is wrong:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{       

    $aCountries = array();
    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term'];
}

$aCountries is now being reset on every row. Use:

$aCountries = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{       

    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term'];
}

But atleast it should have printed out the last item with print_r. Or even array() if it were empty. Did you print it out BEFORE the header? Something like this would suffice:

...
    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term'];
}
print_r($aCountries);
die();

Tezread · Dec 11, 2006

I have made the changes and put :

<?php
print_r($aCountries);
?>

at the very top of my code/HTML text so it is the first possible output- still no results and no error messages nor are there any terms listed when I begin to type in the box

Tezread · Dec 11, 2006

sorry disregard what i just tried- I meant I tried this and the same results:

?php

/*
note:
this is just a static test version using a hard-coded countries array.
normally you would be populating the array out of a database

the returned xml has the following structure
<results>
	<rs>foo</rs>
	<rs>bar</rs>
</results>
*/
include("connect.php");
$query = "SELECT * FROM jargon"; 
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error()); 

$aCountries = array(); 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
{        

    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term']; 
} 

print_r($aCountries); 
die();

$input = strtolower( $_GET['input'] );
$len = strlen($input);

$aResults = array();

if ($len)
{
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aCountries);$i++)
	{
		if (strtolower(substr($aCountries[$i],0,$len)) == $input)
			$aResults[] = $aCountries[$i];
	}
}

header("Content-Type: text/xml");

echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<results>";
	for ($i=0;$i<count($aResults);$i++)
		echo"	<rs>".$aResults[$i]."</rs>";
	echo "
</results>
	";

?>

stolzyboy · Dec 11, 2006

yeah, yeah, sue me, i forgot to initialize the array, i said it was untested...

anyway, tez, post your full code as it stands now!

stolzyboy

stolzyboy · Dec 11, 2006

ok, just saw your post... change this block

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
{         

    $aCountries[] = $row['jargon_term']; 
}

to this

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
{         

    echo $row['jargon_term'] . "<br>"; 
}

does that show your results??

stolzyboy

Tezread · Dec 11, 2006

if I force test.php to be the form action page (which really it isn't because test.php is just used to populate the array) then the result of the array is created. However this still does not mean that when you type in a term that the lookup activates.

http://www.mindseyemidlands.co.uk/notts_quality/info_resource/autosuggestv3.php

stolzyboy · Dec 11, 2006

well, i'm just trying to see if you are actually getting your results from the table... after that, you can worry about the creation of the array, if the array isn't being created, the lookup isn't going to work... and forgive me if i'm misunderstanding what you are asking or are trying to convey

stolzyboy

Lookup and search as you type combo

TTezread

KKudose

TTezread

TTezread

Sstolzyboy

TTezread

TTezread

Sstolzyboy

TTezread

Sstolzyboy

TTezread

Sstolzyboy

TTezread

Ccahva

TTezread

TTezread

Sstolzyboy

Sstolzyboy

TTezread

Sstolzyboy