How to Customize Autocomplete Plugin Display with Bold Match Highlight?

Customizing Autocomplete Plugin Results' Display with Bold Match Highlight

In jQuery UI's Autocomplete plugin, highlighting search terms in drop-down results enhances user experience. This article explains how to customize this display to suit specific requirements.

Solution: Monkey-Patching

Monkey-patching, a technique to redefine internal library functions, provides a solution. Overriding the _renderItem function, which generates list items for suggestions, allows for custom rendering.

Here's the monkey-patching code that adds a bold highlight to the matching portion of results:

<code class="javascript">function monkeyPatchAutocomplete() {
  $.ui.autocomplete.prototype._renderItem = function(ul, item) {
    var re = new RegExp("^" + this.term);
    var t = item.label.replace(
      re,
      "<span style='font-weight:bold;color:Blue;'>" +
        this.term +
        "</span>"
    );
    return $(`<li></li>`)
      .data("item.autocomplete", item)
      .append(`<a>` + t + "</a>")
      .appendTo(ul);
  };
}</code>

Call this function in $(document).ready(..):

<code class="javascript">$(document).ready(function() {
  monkeyPatchAutocomplete();
});</code>

Considerations:

This hack approach has some limitations:

• Regex pattern is created for each rendered item, while it could be reused.
• Inline style is used instead of CSS class for formatting.

Despite these limitations, the technique effectively highlights matching terms in drop-down results, meeting the desired requirement.

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