JQuery UI Autocomplete not reaching ActionResult C# MVC

Question

I have read many posts with the same issue, but none help, so apologies for the duplicate question :( Ive followed the simple sample on the JQueryUI site by hard coding values and the autocomplete works, but I need it to come from my Database.

View:

@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Position, new { @type = "text", @id = "jobtitle", @name = "jobtitle", @placeholder = "Job Title" })

JS:

EDIT : I added an alert on success, and the alert is being called, but there is no data(ie No data being pulled from DB)

<script>
$(function () {
            $("#jobtitle").autocomplete({
                source: function (request, response) {
                    $.ajax({
                        url: '@Url.Action("JobsAutoFill", "Account")',
                        data: {
                            Prefix: request.term
                        },
                        success: function (data) {
                            alert(data);
                            response(data);
                        }
                    });
                },
                minLength: 1
            });

            //$("#jobtitle").autocomplete({
            //    source: "/Account/JobsAutoFill/"
            //});
        });
</script>

And I have added the Links required :

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.12.1/jquery-ui.js"></script>

Below is my ActionResult(Actually a JsonResult) & Function to pull the list of Jobs:

    public List<Jobs> GetAllJobs()
    {
        List<Jobs> JobsList = new List<Jobs>();

        using (RBotEntities EF = new RBotEntities())
        {
            var JobsListQuery = (from ED in EF.EmploymentDetails
                                   select new
                                   {
                                       ED.pkiEmploymentDetailID,
                                       ED.Position
                                   });

            foreach (var item in JobsListQuery)
            {
                JobsList.Add(new Jobs
                {
                    Id = item.pkiEmploymentDetailID,
                    Name = item.Position
                });
            }
        }

        return JobsList;
    }

public JsonResult JobsAutoFill(string Prefix)
        {
            //Note : you can bind same list from database  


            List<Jobs> ObjList = new List<Jobs>();

            ObjList = GetAllJobs();

            //Searching records from list using LINQ query  


            var JobNames = (from N in ObjList
                            where N.Name.StartsWith(Prefix)
                            select new { N.Name });
            return Json(JobNames, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        }

Am I missing something or doing something wrong ?

I appreciate any help, thanks!

Answer 1

I got it working!

First thing that was causing an issue was that I needed to add [AllowAnonymous] above my ActionResult.

Secondly, I changed my Ajax call to this:

$(function () {
    $("#jobtitle").autocomplete({
        source: function (request, response) {
            $.ajax({
                url: '@Url.Action("JobsAutoFill", "Account")',
                data: {
                    Prefix: request.term
                },
                success: function (data) {
                    response($.map(data, function (obj) {
                        return {
                            label: obj.Name,
                            value: obj.Name
                        };
                    }));
                }
            });
        },
        minLength: 1
    });
});

Below is my ActionResult. I added a change that would sort out the case sensitivity:

[AllowAnonymous]
public JsonResult JobsAutoFill(string Prefix)
{
    //Note : you can bind same list from database  


    List<Jobs> ObjList = new List<Jobs>();

    ObjList = GetAllJobs();

    //Searching records from list using LINQ query  


    var JobNames = (from N in ObjList
                    where N.Name.ToLower().StartsWith(Prefix.ToLower())
                    select new { N.Name });
    return Json(JobNames, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Answer 2

You shouldn't make it AllowAnonymous if it doesnt have to be have public access. And secondly change your query for better performance:

var JobNames = (from N in ObjList
                where N.Name.ToLower().StartsWith(Prefix.ToLower())
                select N.Name);

Obviously you need to return a string array. But your code is returning an object array which has a single string property.

And change your script code acccording to updates:

success: function (data) {
                    response($.map(data, function (obj) {
                        return {
                            label: obj,
                            value: obj
                        };
                    }));
                }

Answer 3

Dont Change allow to anonymous change your ajax call like that pass your parameter in query string this will hit your back end function. hope this will help you

$(function () {
$("#jobtitle").autocomplete({
    source: function (request, response) {
        $.ajax({
            url: '@Url.Action("JobsAutoFill", "Account")?Prefix='+$("#jobtitle").val(),
            data: {
                Prefix: request.term
            },
            success: function (data) {
                response($.map(data, function (obj) {
                    return {
                        label: obj.Name,
                        value: obj.Name
                    };
                }));
            }
        });
    },
    minLength: 1
});

});