jQuery combobox/autocomplete but editable

Question

I\'m using the jQuery Autocomplete but I need it to be editable. What I mean is that if a value isn\'t in the list, I need to capture the value they entered. Using the example

Answer 1

What I do myself when using the jQuery UI autocomplete combobox is to declare the combobox widget like this:

(function( $ ) {
    $.widget( "ui.combobox", {
        // default options
        options: {
            strict: false
        },
        _create: function() {
            var self = this,
                select = this.element.hide(),
                selected = select.children( ":selected" ),
                value = selected.val() ? selected.text() : "",
                strict = this.options.strict;

            var input = this.input = $( "" )
                .insertAfter( select )
                .val( value )
                .autocomplete({
                    delay: 0,
                    minLength: 0,
                    source: function( request, response ) {
                        var matcher = new RegExp( $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term), "i" );
                        response( select.children( "option" ).map(function() {
                            var text = $( this ).text();
                            if ( this.value && ( !request.term || matcher.test(text) ) )
                                return {
                                    label: text.replace(
                                        new RegExp(
                                            "(?![^&;]+;)(?!<[^<>]*)(" +
                                            $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term) +
                                            ")(?![^<>]*>)(?![^&;]+;)", "gi"
                                        ), "$1" ),
                                    value: text,
                                    option: this
                                };
                        }) );
                    },
                    select: function( event, ui ) {
                        ui.item.option.selected = true;
                        self._trigger( "selected", event, {
                            item: ui.item.option
                        });
                    },
                    autocomplete : function(value) {
                        this.element.val(value);
                        this.input.val(value);
                    },
                    change: function( event, ui ) {
                        if ( !ui.item ) {
                            var matcher = new RegExp( "^" + $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex( $(this).val() ) + "$", "i" ),
                                valid = false;
                            select.children( "option" ).each(function() {
                                if ( this.value.match( matcher ) ) {
                                    this.selected = valid = true;
                                    return false;
                                }
                            });
                            if ( !valid ) {
                                // if strict is true, then unmatched values are not allowed
                                if ( strict ) {
                                    // remove invalid value, as it didn't match anything
                                    $( this ).val( "" );
                                    select.val( "" );
                                }
                                return false;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                })
                .addClass( "ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-left" );

            input.data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = function( ul, item ) {
                return $( "
" )
                    .data( "item.autocomplete", item )
                    .append( "" + item.label + "" )
                    .appendTo( ul );
            };

            this.button = $( " " )
                .attr( "tabIndex", -1 )
                .attr( "title", "Show All Items" )
                .insertAfter( input )
                .button({
                    icons: {
                        primary: "ui-icon-triangle-1-s"
                    },
                    text: false
                })
                .removeClass( "ui-corner-all" )
                .addClass( "ui-corner-right ui-button-icon" )
                .click(function() {
                    // close if already visible
                    if ( input.autocomplete( "widget" ).is( ":visible" ) ) {
                        input.autocomplete( "close" );
                        return;
                    }

                    // pass empty string as value to search for, displaying all results
                    input.autocomplete( "search", "" );
                    input.focus();
                });
        }
    });
})( jQuery );

That would make it accept other options as valid values, and you'll just have to use:

$("#combobox").combobox({
    strict: true
});

To make it work as default just in case you need it.