Twitter-style autocomplete in textarea

Question

I am looking for a Javascript autocomplete implementation which includes the following:

• Can be used in a HTML textarea
• Allows for typing regular text without invoking autocomplete
• Detects the @ character and starts autocomplete when it is typed
• Loads list of options through AJAX

I believe that this is similar to what Twitter is doing when tagging in a tweet, but I can't find a nice, reusable implementation.
A solution with jQuery would be perfect.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Another plugin which provides similar functionality:

AutoSuggest

You can use it with custom triggers or you can use it without any triggers. Works with input fields, textareas and contenteditables. And jQuery is not a dependency.

Answer 2

Try this:

(function($){
    
        $.widget("ui.tagging", {
            // default options
            options: {
                source: [],
                maxItemDisplay: 3,
                autosize: true,
                animateResize: false,
                animateDuration: 50
            },
            _create: function() {
                var self = this;
                
                this.activeSearch = false;
                this.searchTerm = "";
                this.beginFrom = 0;
    
                this.wrapper = $("<div>")
                    .addClass("ui-tagging-wrap");
                
                this.highlight = $("<div></div>");
                
                this.highlightWrapper = $("<span></span>")
                    .addClass("ui-corner-all");
    
                this.highlightContainer = $("<div>")
                    .addClass("ui-tagging-highlight")
                    .append(this.highlight);
    
                this.meta = $("<input>")
                    .attr("type", "hidden")
                    .addClass("ui-tagging-meta");
    
                this.container = $("<div></div>")
                    .width(this.element.width())
                    .insertBefore(this.element)
                    .addClass("ui-tagging")
                    .append(
                        this.highlightContainer, 
                        this.element.wrap(this.wrapper).parent(), 
                        this.meta
                    );
                
                var initialHeight = this.element.height();
                
                this.element.height(this.element.css('lineHeight'));
                
                this.element.keypress(function(e) {
                    // activate on @
                    if (e.which == 64 && !self.activeSearch) {
                        self.activeSearch = true;
                        self.beginFrom = e.target.selectionStart + 1;
                    }
                    // deactivate on space
                    if (e.which == 32 && self.activeSearch) {
                        self.activeSearch = false;
                    }
                }).bind("expand keyup keydown change", function(e) {
                    var cur = self.highlight.find("span"),
                        val = self.element.val(),
                        prevHeight = self.element.height(),
                        rowHeight = self.element.css('lineHeight'),
                        newHeight = 0;
                    cur.each(function(i) {
                        var s = $(this);
                        val = val.replace(s.text(), $("<div>").append(s).html());
                    });
                    self.highlight.html(val);
                    newHeight = self.element.height(rowHeight)[0].scrollHeight;
                    self.element.height(prevHeight);
                    if (newHeight < initialHeight) {
                        newHeight = initialHeight;
                    }
                    if (!$.browser.mozilla) {
                        if (self.element.css('paddingBottom') || self.element.css('paddingTop')) {
                            var padInt =
                                parseInt(self.element.css('paddingBottom').replace('px', '')) + 
                                parseInt(self.element.css('paddingTop').replace('px', ''));
                            newHeight -= padInt;
                        }
                    }
                    self.options.animateResize ?
                        self.element.stop(true, true).animate({
                                height: newHeight
                            }, self.options.animateDuration) : 
                        self.element.height(newHeight);
                    
                    var widget = self.element.autocomplete("widget");
                        widget.position({
                            my: "left top",
                            at: "left bottom",
                            of: self.container
                        }).width(self.container.width()-4);
                    
                }).autocomplete({
                    minLength: 0,
                    delay: 0,
                    maxDisplay: this.options.maxItemDisplay,
                    open: function(event, ui) {
                        var widget = $(this).autocomplete("widget");
                        widget.position({
                            my: "left top",
                            at: "left bottom",
                            of: self.container
                        }).width(self.container.width()-4);
                    },
                    source: function(request, response) {
                        if (self.activeSearch) {
                            self.searchTerm = request.term.substring(self.beginFrom); 
                            if (request.term.substring(self.beginFrom - 1, self.beginFrom) != "@") {
                                self.activeSearch = false;
                                self.beginFrom = 0;
                                self.searchTerm = "";
                            }
                            if (self.searchTerm != "") {
                                
                                if ($.type(self.options.source) == "function") {
                                    self.options.source(request, response);                   
                                } else {
                                    var re = new RegExp("^" + escape(self.searchTerm) + ".+", "i");
                                    var matches = [];
                                    $.each(self.options.source, function() {
                                        if (this.label.match(re)) {
                                            matches.push(this);
                                        }
                                    });
                                    response(matches);
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    },
                    focus: function() {
                        // prevent value inserted on focus
                        return false;
                    },
                    select: function(event, ui) {
                        self.activeSearch = false;
                        //console.log("@"+searchTerm, ui.item.label);
                        this.value = this.value.replace("@" + self.searchTerm, ui.item.label) + ' ';
                        self.highlight.html(
                            self.highlight.html()
                                .replace("@" + self.searchTerm,
                                         $("<div>").append(
                                             self.highlightWrapper
                                                 .text(ui.item.label)
                                                 .clone()
                                         ).html()+' ')
                        );
                            
                        self.meta.val((self.meta.val() + " @[" + ui.item.value + ":]").trim());
                        return false;
                    }
                });
    
            }
        });

body, html {
        font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;
    }
    
    .ui-tagging {
        position: relative;
        border: 1px solid #B4BBCD;
        height: auto;
    }
    
    .ui-tagging .ui-tagging-highlight {
        position: absolute;
        padding: 5px;
        overflow: hidden;
    }
    .ui-tagging .ui-tagging-highlight div {
        color: transparent;
        font-size: 13px;
        line-height: 18px;
        white-space: pre-wrap;
    }
    
    .ui-tagging .ui-tagging-wrap {
        position: relative;
        padding: 5px;
        overflow: hidden;
        zoom: 1;
        border: 0;
    }
    
    .ui-tagging div > span {
        background-color: #D8DFEA;
        font-weight: normal !important;
    }
    
    .ui-tagging textarea {
        display: block;
        font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;
        background: transparent;
        border-width: 0;
        font-size: 13px;
        height: 18px;
        outline: none;
        resize: none;
        vertical-align: top;
        width: 100%;
        line-height: 18px;
        overflow: hidden;
    }
    
    .ui-autocomplete {
        font-size: 13px;
        background-color: white;
        border: 1px solid black;
        margin-bottom: -5px;
        width: 0;
    }

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<textarea></textarea>

http://jsfiddle.net/mekwall/mcWnL/52/ This link will help you

Answer 3

I've created a Meteor package for this purpose. Meteor's data model allows for fast multi-rule searching with custom rendered lists. If you're not using Meteor for your web app, (I believe) you unfortunately won't find anything this awesome for autocompletion.

Autocompleting users with @, where online users are shown in green:

In the same line, autocompleting something else with metadata and bootstrap icons:

Fork, pull, and improve:

https://github.com/mizzao/meteor-autocomplete

Answer 4

This small extension seems to be the closest at least in presentation to what was asked. Since it's small, it can be easily understood and modified. http://lookapanda.github.io/jquery-hashtags/