In my app I am using angular.js and jquery ui autocomplete. I had the same problem that is discussed HERE The accepted answer there works great for me and is exactly what I nee
This is how you can do it:
app.factory('autoCompleteDataService', ['$http', function($http) {
return {
getSource: function() {
return function(request, response) {
$http.get(url).success(function(data) {
response(data);
});
}
}
}
}]);
However, if you want to download the entire data first and allow the autocomplete widget to search the data on the client side, this is an example how you can do it:
app.directive('autoComplete', function(autoCompleteDataService, $http) {
return {
restrict : 'A',
link : function(scope, elem, attr, ctrl) {
autoCompleteDataService.getData(function(err, data) {
if (err) {
console.log("Could not retrieve data.");
return;
}
elem.autocomplete({
minLength: 0,
source: data,
focus: function( event, ui ) {
elem.val( ui.item.label );
return false;
},
select: function( event, ui ) {
elem.val( ui.item.label );
return false;
}
})
.data( "ui-autocomplete" )._renderItem = function( ul, item ) {
return $( "- " )
.append( "" + item.label + "" )
.appendTo( ul );
};
});
}
};
});
app.factory('autoCompleteDataService', ['$http', '$rootScope', function($http, $scope) {
return {
getData: function(callback) {
if ($scope.data) {
return callback(null, $scope.data);
}
$http.get('URL')
.success(function(data) {
$scope.data = data;
return callback(null, data);
})
.error(function(data) {
return callback(true, null);
});
}
}
}]);