ASP.Net MVC Jquery UI Autocomplete - list not showing up when I debug

Question

I have implemented an autocomplete in my app for zip codes. I am debugging in Firebug and I see in my console that the action is performing and I get a list of zip codes in the list of results, but the actual list is not displaying when I debug.

Here's the action in my Customers controller:

//the autocomplete request sends a parameter 'term' that contains the filter
public ActionResult FindZipCode(string term)
{
    string[] zipCodes = customerRepository.FindFilteredZipCodes(term);

    //return raw text, one result on each line
    return Content(string.Join("\n", zipCodes));
}

Here's the markup (abbreviated)

<% using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Customers")) {%>
<input type="text" value="" name="ZipCodeID" id="ZipCodeID" />
<% } %>

and here's the order I load my scripts:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery-1.4.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery.ui.core.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery.ui.widget.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery.ui.position.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery.ui.autocomplete.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#ZipCodeID").autocomplete({ source: '<%= Url.Action("FindZipCode", "Customers") %>'});
    });
</script>

Anything obvious that I'm missing? Like I say the script is grabbing the list of zip codes, they just won't display on my page when I test.

EDIT: I added an image that shows what I see in firebug - it appears that I get my zip codes back, but just won't display the dropdown.

I also updated my text box so that it's inside of the ui-widget div like so:

<div class="ui-widget">
    <input type="text" name="ZipCodeID" id="ZipCodeID" />
</div>

and this is the script that I'm using:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#ZipCodeID").autocomplete('<%= Url.Action("FindZipCode", "Customers") %>');
    });
</script>

Answer 1

I was able to get the autocomplete suggestions working using the following code:

Controller:

public JsonResult FindZipCode(string term)
    {
        VetClinicDataContext db = new VetClinicDataContext();

        var zipCodes = from c in db.ZipCodes
                       where c.ZipCodeNum.ToString().StartsWith(term)
                       select new { value = c.ZipCodeID, label = c.ZipCodeNum};

        return this.Json(zipCodes, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

Markup:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#ZipCodeID").autocomplete({
                  source: '<%= Url.Action("FindZipCode", "Customers") %>',
        });
    });
</script>

<div class="ui-widget"><input type="text" name="ZipCodeID" id="ZipCodeID" /></div>

Answer 2

I had huge problems with autocomplete few months ago when first setting it up. For instance, the simple default wireup like you do it never worked for me. I had to specify everything and also attach the result function to it.

This works 100% but it might not be suitable for you. But I hope it helps. Put both in document.ready() function.

$("#products").autocomplete('<%:Url.Action("GetProducts", "Product") %>', {
    dataType: 'json',
    parse: function (data) {
        var rows = new Array(data.length), j;
        for (j = 0; j < data.length; j++) {
            rows[j] = { data: data[j], value: data[j].Title, result: data[j].Title };

        }
        return rows;
    },
    formatItem: function (row, y, n) {
        return row.PrettyId + ' - ' + row.Title + ' (' + row.Price + ' €)';
    },
    width: 820,
    minChars: 0,
    max: 0,
    delay: 50,
    cacheLength: 10,
    selectFirst: true,
    selectOnly: true,
    mustMatch: true,
    resultsClass: "autocompleteResults"
});
$("#products").result(function (event, data, formatted) {
    if (data) {

        var item = $("#item_" + data.PrettyId),
                    edititem = $("#edititem_" + data.PrettyId),
                    currentQuantity;
        // etc...
    }
});

Answer 3

Try returning JSON from your controller action:

public ActionResult FindZipCode(string term)
{
    string[] zipCodes = customerRepository.FindFilteredZipCodes(term);
    return Json(new { suggestions = zipCodes }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Also don't forget to include the default CSS or you might not see the suggestions div appear.