How do I do a Quicksearch or autocomplete on a selectbox populated from a database?

Question

I have a select box populated a from a database and would like to do a quicksearch or a autocomplete to search the elements inside the select box. Below is my code:

    <?
           print("<table>");
        print("<tr>");
            print("<td>");
            //print("<div id='searchable-form' >");  //
            print("<div id='searchable'>Search: <input type='text' id='searchFILE' size='33' autocomplete='off' /></div>");
            print("<select name='lktyp' id='lktypSearch' size='10' >");
            //Create new SQL object
            $db = new NSC_SQL($db2config);
            $db->from($bllcust1,"BCUST#,BNAME");
            $db->order("BCUST#");
            $db->select();
            $results = $db->fetchAssoc();
            $db->dspSQL();
            foreach($results as $row)
            {
                $bcust = trim($row['BCUST#']);
                $bname = trim($row['BNAME']);
                print("<option value='$bcust'>$bcust ~ $bname</option>");
            }
            print("</select>");
            print("</div>");
            print("</td>");
        print("</tr>");
        print("<tr>");
            print("<td colspan='2' align='center'>");
            //print("<input type='submit' name='search' value='Search'>");
            print("<input type='button' value='Select' onclick='lkp();'>");
            print("<input type='button' name='cancel' value='Cancel' onClick='parent.$.fancybox.close();'>");
            print("</td>");
        print("</tr>");
    print("</table>");

?>

Answer 1

The simplest way would be to implement Jquery autocomplete . I won't do the code for you but if you find it difficult create a new question posting some of the code you tried and someone will help.

Answer 2

Two nice alternatives to jQuery autocomplete which was already mentioned are Chosen and Select2 . Both of these require jQuery or another supported JS framework. jQuery autocomplete and Select2 have great support for remote datasets.