Problems with 'selectedIndex' …

[stephanParticipant]

Hi again,

I appear to have a problem with using the ‘selectedIndex’ property of jqxComboBox. Please have a look at this fiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/fPzA7/8/

I do specify a ‘selectedIndex’ when creating the combo box, but apparently this does not have an effect. Is there some mistake in my code ?

Regards,
Stephan

[stephanParticipant]

Hi,
After some further experimentation it seems like the combo bxo totally looses the concept of a selected index when using the mode “autoComplete: true”. If I change the mdoe to “autoComplete: false” the “selectedIndex” will work just fine.

Actually even though the mode “autoComplete: true” is quite nice it does have some considerable drawbacks when trying to use it in an application where the combo box is used for representing a list:
* if you select something in the list it will not get shown as “selected element” in the list
* if you select something the list closes, next time you open it it show only one entry, ie. the one that you have selected (without marking it as selected)
* because of my second point it becomes difficult to actually open the list for the purpose of selecting a different element because you do not see your list of choices, you must first remove the text from the text input, which actually destroys your current selection
* opening the list to look for a choice, but then closing it again because you did not see it is near to impossible without loosing the current list selection

My conclusion: the way I see it the combo box with “autoComplete: true” can not be used for representing a dropdown list with a search field. Using the search field will kill your list selection which should not happen. I am now investigating the use of combo box in mode “autoComplete: false” and see how far this gets me. Sadly the VERY useful “filtering down” effect is now lost to me.

What I am wondering: if in a list of 100 entries I have 8 matches how do I get the the next match if I am using mode “autoComplete: false” ?

Regards,
Stephan

[Peter StoevKeymaster]

Hi,

The “selectedIndex” when “autoComplete” is set to true will not work. In that mode, when the user types something in the field, a filtered set of the data is displayed and the user can then choose from the filtered set of data.

Best Regards,
Peter Stoev

jQWidgets Team
http://www.jqwidgets.com

[stephanParticipant]

Hi Peter,

Yes, he can choose, but this actof coosing is not stored or processed or shown as a selection.

After lots of time spent on trying to make jqxComboBox work as a “drop down list with filtering” I have given up on this as a futile effort. For a list I must have a clear concept of “selected element”, which is shown to the user clearly as “selected element”, and where only an element of the list is accepted as valid input.

Sadly the “incremental search” feature of jqxDropDownList has a horrible usability from the point of view of a user. Sinde there is no visualisation you never know how many letters you managed to chain. 9 times out of 10 the next letter you type starts a enw search instead of adding it to the current search word. With a looong timer (20 seconds) you never know what letters have already been typed and how to maybe remove a msityped letter (because nothing about the letters and the match is shown). Also there is no concept of how to advance to the next match of the search (especially bad when using ‘content’ search mode). Of course the immens advantages of having a real filtering feature are not available at all.

I am now at a loss about how to implement a “drop down list with filtering” using jQWidgets …. My current way forward is to use “select2” instead and stick to themes where a light grey/white colored control does not look wrong. Basically what missing is an optional filtering input for the jqxDropDownList, which when opening the list starts out empty and has the focus, so that initially when opening the list you see all entries.

Regards,
Stephan

[Author]

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