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Ruby on Rails: AJAX Live Search using MySQL and Rails (See related posts)

source: http://weknowsnow.com/blog/techside.php?itemid=64

The following code will create a live search in your Ruby on Rails project using AJAX. This Web 2.0 stuff is neaaaato. Yes, I'm sure there are better ways to do this, post a comment if you have them. This works for me right now so I'm going with it. You'll have to reformat the code because I dont have time to do that under this Nucleus blog software. Enjoy and please leave a comment if you find this code helpful! Ruby on Rails makes writing code fun....

Tags: Web 2.0, AJAX, Ruby, Rails, Ruby on Rails, Javascript, Live, Search, Live Search

VIEWS -> yourcontroller -> search.rhtml
<%= start_form_tag({:action=> "search"}, { :onSubmit => "Element.show('spinner');" }) %>
<table>
<tr>
<td><label for="searchtext"><font size="1"><b>Live TR Search:</b></font></label></td>
<td><%= text_field_tag :searchtext %></td>
<td><img alt="spinner" id="spinner" src="http://dev.backcountrymaps.com/images/spinner.gif" style="display:none;" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
<%= end_form_tag%>

<%= observe_field(:searchtext,
                 :frequency => 0.5,
                 :update => :search_hits,
                 :loading => "Element.show('spinner')",
                 :complete => "Element.hide('spinner')",
                 :url => { :action => :live_search }) %>

<div id="search_hits"></div>

VIEWS -> yourcontroller -> live_search.rhtml
<% if @results.empty? %>
  '<%=h @phrase %>' not found!
<% else %>
  '<%=h @phrase %>' found <b><%= @number_match %></b> time(s)!
<% end %>

CONTROLLERS -> yourcontroller.rb
def live_search

    @phrase = request.raw_post || request.query_string
    a1 = "%"
    a2 = "%"
    @searchphrase = a1 + @phrase + a2
    @results = <b>YOURMODEL</b>.find(:all, :conditions => [ "<b>YOURTABLE</b> LIKE ?", @searchphrase])
   
    @number_match = @results.length
   
    render(:layout => false)
end


HINT: It would be very easy to step through @results with a for each loop and display any column from the database record using foreach_loopvar.dbcolumn_name.....
to ruby rails html form search ajax live spinner by jp on Mon Mar 13 02:14:45 -0500 2006

Comments on this post

coolbox posts on Jul 11, 2007 at 11:56
Hey,

I am trying to implement this...with difficulty. Could you please confirm to me how exactly i would change this line to apply to my application:

@results = YOURMODEL.find(:all, :conditions => [ "YOURTABLE LIKE ?", @searchphrase])


For example my MODEL is called: 'customer.rb'
&
my TABLE (In my database i pressume?!) is called: 'customers'

Would this result in the line of code being altered as so...

@results = customer.find(:all, :conditions => [ "customers LIKE ?", @searchphrase])


Hope i am not being too stupid here. I am just having issues making this work.

Cheers

Pete

coolbox posts on Jul 11, 2007 at 12:44
Ok i have the search working but it won't print the correct results. Before i type anything into the search box the screen will be blank as it should. When i begin typing 'Pete' .... a customer name that i know exists in the database table column, i receive the following response:

'Pete=' not found!

My first question is, why is there an "=" in the search query? I have checked my code over and over for a wrongly placed one but everything seems correct.

When i delete the search from the box, the label displayed is as follows:

'' found 2 time(s)!

This is correct as there are only two items in this particular table at this time, so i know something is right...i just can't work out whats wrong!

I would be very grateful of any help anyone could offer me.

Kind Regards
zzeroo posts on Jul 13, 2007 at 12:19
Hi Folks,

I run in this problem a few months, too. Please see @ http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/observe_field+-+Passing+Parameters.
There is shown the right way to handle params.

The trick is the parameter :with => '"querystring="' in your observer_field (note the equal sign beyond querystring). In Your controllers params[:querystring] shows then the right value without the wicked =

Sorry about my ugly english.
softsubash posts on Nov 02, 2007 at 06:52
Dear Friends,

I encountered the problem with the "=" symbol in searchstring, I did many trials and found the following :

as zzeroo mentioned we need to use the :with parameter but shouldn't use the "=" symbol.
my view contains :

<%= observe_field(:searchtext,
..............
:with => "searching")%>

and we can get this searchtext value in the controller as :

def live_search
@searchstring = params[:searching]
....
end

And finally the searchstring doesn't contain the "=" symbol.

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