I encountered the same problem, I made some patching to the jquery-dropkick-1.0.0 script to solve this problem. I added a forceSyncWithSelect method to the dropkick object.
Here's a list of changes I made:
add support for tag
add autoWidth settings to leave width to css
add method for open, close, forceSyncWithSelect and isDropkicked
keep default tabindex 0
add optgroup class option with the data-dkgroupclass attribute on optgroup element
fix forceSyncWithSelect method if value appear multiple of time, take the first occurrence only
toggle on click on the menu selection
prevent IE from closing the menu on scroll bar interaction (a blur event is launched on scroll bar interaction, this behavior is so wrong)
You may not want all those change but you can make a diff patch and take what you need (would be glad if you let the change log or add the source of it into the header, I want to propose those changes to Jamie Lottering, but I need to make a git hub account to do so.
/**
* DropKick
*
* Highly customizable lists
* https://github.com/JamieLottering/DropKick
*
* © 2011 Jamie Lottering
*
*
* Patch:
* - 2012-03-30 godboutj, add support for tag
* - 2012-03-30 godboutj, add autoWidth settings to leave width to css
* - 2012-05-25 godboutj, add method for open, close, forceSyncWithSelect and isDropkicked
* - 2012-05-25 godboutj, keep default tabindex 0
* - 2012-08-09 godboutj, add optgroup class option with the data-dkgroupclass attribute on optgroup element
* - 2012-08-15 godboutj, fix forceSyncWithSelect method if value appear multiple of time, take the first occurrence only
* - 2012-09-07 godboutj, toggle on click on the menu selection
* - 2012-09-25 godboutj, prevent IE from closing the menu on scroll bar interaction (a blur event is launched on scroll bar interaction, this behavior is so wrong)
*/
(function ($, window, document)
{
var ie6 = false;
// Help prevent flashes of unstyled content
if ($.browser.msie && $.browser.version.substr(0, 1) < 7)
{
ie6 = true;
} else
{
document.documentElement.className = document.documentElement.className + ' dk_fouc';
}
var
// Public methods exposed to $.fn.dropkick()
methods = {},
// Cache every element that gets dropkicked
lists = [],
// Convenience keys for keyboard navigation
keyMap = {
'left': 37,
'up': 38,
'right': 39,
'down': 40,
'enter': 13
},
// HTML template for the dropdowns
dropdownTemplate = [
''
].join(''),
// HTML template for dropdown options
optionTemplate = '{{ text }} ',
optionGroupTemplate = '{{ text }}
',
// Some nice default values
defaults = {
startSpeed: 1000, // I recommend a high value here, I feel it makes the changes less noticeable to the user
theme: false,
change: false,
autoWidth: true
},
// Make sure we only bind keydown on the document once
keysBound = false
;
// Called by using $('foo').dropkick();
methods.init = function (settings)
{
settings = $.extend({}, defaults, settings);
return this.each(function ()
{
var
// The current element
$select = $(this),
// Store a reference to the originally selected element
$original = $select.find(':selected').first(),
// Save all of the and elements
$options = $select.children('option,optgroup'),
// We store lots of great stuff using jQuery data
data = $select.data('dropkick') || {},
// This gets applied to the 'dk_container' element
id = $select.attr('id') || $select.attr('name'),
// This gets updated to be equal to the longest element
width = settings.width || $select.outerWidth(),
// Keep tabindex, even default value
tabindex = ($select.attr('tabindex') != null && $select.attr('tabindex') != undefined) ? $select.attr('tabindex') : '',
// The completed dk_container element
$dk = false,
theme
;
// Dont do anything if we've already setup dropkick on this element
if (data.id)
{
return $select;
}
else
{
data.settings = settings;
data.tabindex = tabindex;
data.id = id;
data.$original = $original;
data.$select = $select;
data.value = _notBlank($select.val()) || _notBlank($original.attr('value'));
data.label = $original.text();
data.options = $options;
}
// Build the dropdown HTML
$dk = _build(dropdownTemplate, data);
// Make the dropdown fixed width if desired
if (settings.autoWidth)
{
$dk.find('.dk_toggle').css({
'width': width + 'px'
});
}
// Hide the list and place our new one in front of it
$select.before($dk);
// Update the reference to $dk
$dk = $('#dk_container_' + id).fadeIn(settings.startSpeed);
// Save the current theme
theme = settings.theme ? settings.theme : 'default';
$dk.addClass('dk_theme_' + theme);
data.theme = theme;
// Save the updated $dk reference into our data object
data.$dk = $dk;
// Save the dropkick data onto the element
$select.data('dropkick', data);
// Do the same for the dropdown, but add a few helpers
$dk.data('dropkick', data);
lists[lists.length] = $select;
// Focus events
$dk.bind('focus.dropkick', function (e)
{
$dk.addClass('dk_focus');
}).bind('blur.dropkick', function (e)
{
// Prevent IE from closing the menu on focus loose,
// this make the menu close all the time when using the scroll bar
if (!$.browser.msie)
{
$dk.removeClass('dk_open');
}
$dk.removeClass('dk_focus');
});
setTimeout(function ()
{
$select.hide();
}, 0);
});
};
// Allows dynamic theme changes
methods.theme = function (newTheme)
{
var
$select = $(this),
list = $select.data('dropkick'),
$dk = list.$dk,
oldtheme = 'dk_theme_' + list.theme
;
$dk.removeClass(oldtheme).addClass('dk_theme_' + newTheme);
list.theme = newTheme;
};
// Force Value sync
methods.forceSyncWithSelect = function ()
{
var
$select = $(this),
$dk = $select.data('dropkick').$dk,
$current = $dk.find("li [data-dk-dropdown-value='" + $select.val() + "']").first()
;
_updateFields($current, $dk, true);
};
// Reset all value, and the dropdown label
function _updateFields(option, $dk, reset)
{
var value, label, data;
value = option.attr('data-dk-dropdown-value');
label = option.text();
data = $dk.data('dropkick');
$select = data.$select;
$select.val(value);
$dk.find('.dk_label').text(label);
reset = reset || false;
if (data.settings.change && !reset)
{
data.settings.change.call($select, value, label);
}
}
// Set the currently selected option
function _setCurrent($current, $dk)
{
$dk.find('.dk_option_current').removeClass('dk_option_current');
$current.addClass('dk_option_current');
_setScrollPos($dk, $current);
}
function _setScrollPos($dk, anchor)
{
var height = anchor.prevAll('li').outerHeight() * anchor.prevAll('li').length;
$dk.find('.dk_options_inner').animate({ scrollTop: height + 'px' }, 0);
}
// Is dropdown openned function
function _isDropdownOpenned($dk)
{
return $dk.hasClass('dk_open');
}
// Close a dropdown
function _closeDropdown($dk)
{
$dk.removeClass('dk_open');
}
// Open a dropdown
function _openDropdown($dk)
{
var data = $dk.data('dropkick');
$dk.find('.dk_options').css({ top: $dk.find('.dk_toggle').outerHeight() - 1 });
if (!$dk.hasClass('dk_open'))
{
$dk.addClass('dk_open');
}
}
// Toggle dropdown
function _toggleOpenCloseDropDown($dk)
{
if (_isDropdownOpenned($dk))
{
_closeDropdown($dk);
}
else
{
_openDropdown($dk);
}
}
/**
* Turn the dropdownTemplate into a jQuery object and fill in the variables.
*/
function _build(tpl, view)
{
var
// Template for the dropdown
template = tpl,
// Holder of the dropdowns options
options = [],
$dk
;
template = template.replace('{{ id }}', view.id);
template = template.replace('{{ label }}', view.label);
template = template.replace('{{ tabindex }}', view.tabindex);
if (view.options && view.options.length)
{
for (var i = 0, l = view.options.length; i < l; i++)
{
var
$option = $(view.options[i]),
current = 'dk_option_current',
oTemplate = optionTemplate,
gTemplate = optionGroupTemplate
;
if ($option.is('optgroup'))
{
gTemplate = gTemplate.replace('{{ text }}', $option.attr('label'));
if ($option.attr('data-dkgroupclass') != undefined)
{
gTemplate = gTemplate.replace('{{ dataclass }}', $option.attr('data-dkgroupclass'));
}
// Support only one level as per W3C standard
$option.children('option').each(
function (index, element)
{
oTemplate = optionTemplate,
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ value }}', $(element).val());
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ current }}', (_notBlank($(element).val()) === view.value) ? current : '');
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ text }}', $(element).text());
gTemplate += oTemplate;
}
);
options[options.length] = gTemplate;
}
else
{
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ value }}', $option.val());
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ current }}', (_notBlank($option.val()) === view.value) ? current : '');
oTemplate = oTemplate.replace('{{ text }}', $option.text());
options[options.length] = oTemplate;
}
}
}
$dk = $(template);
$dk.find('.dk_options_inner').html(options.join(''));
return $dk;
}
function _notBlank(text)
{
return ($.trim(text).length > 0) ? text : false;
}
$(function ()
{
// Handle click events on the dropdown toggler
$('.dk_toggle').live('click', function (e)
{
var $dk = $(this).parents('.dk_container').first();
_toggleOpenCloseDropDown($dk);
if ("ontouchstart" in window)
{
$dk.addClass('dk_touch');
$dk.find('.dk_options_inner').addClass('scrollable vertical');
}
e.preventDefault();
return false;
});
// Handle click events on individual dropdown options
$('.dk_options a').live(($.browser.msie ? 'mousedown' : 'click'), function (e)
{
var
$option = $(this),
$dk = $option.parents('.dk_container').first(),
data = $dk.data('dropkick')
;
_closeDropdown($dk);
_updateFields($option, $dk);
_setCurrent($option.parent(), $dk);
e.preventDefault();
return false;
});
// Setup keyboard nav
$(document).bind('keydown.dk_nav', function (e)
{
var
// Look for an open dropdown...
$open = $('.dk_container.dk_open'),
// Look for a focused dropdown
$focused = $('.dk_container.dk_focus'),
// Will be either $open, $focused, or null
$dk = null
;
// If we have an open dropdown, key events should get sent to that one
if ($open.length)
{
$dk = $open;
} else if ($focused.length && !$open.length)
{
// But if we have no open dropdowns, use the focused dropdown instead
$dk = $focused;
}
if ($dk)
{
_handleKeyBoardNav(e, $dk);
}
});
});
})(jQuery, window, document);