* autocomplete under Rails 3.1

Requirements: Get coffee-script installed (refer above)

Ref: http://babinho.net/2011/05/autocomplete-fields-in-rails-3-1-with-jquery-ui/

To use this I had to download jquery-ui (http://jqueryui.com/download) and select Autocomplete

** Example application with autocomplete

Start a new project
: $ rails new autocomplete
: $ cd autocomplete

Create some models
: $ rails g scaffold user name:string email:string
: $ rails g scaffold post title:string body:text user_id:integer
: $ rake db:create
: $ rake db:migrate   

Make a few users in db/seeds.rb for the autocomplete example
: User.create(:name => "Michael Pope")
: User.create(:name => "John Pope")
: User.create(:name => "John Smith")

Run seed
: $ rake db:seed

Add jquery-ui to application.js (Note: It's now part of the pipeline)
: //= require jquery
: //= require jquery-ui
: //= require jquery_ujs
: //= require_tree .

Unzip jquery and copy your theme across.
: $ cp -Rv jquery-ui/css/ui-lightness/* <my app>/app/assets/stylsheets
: $ cd <my app>/app/assets/stylsheets
: $ ln -s jquery-ui-1.8.16.custom.css jquery-ui.css

Edit application.css
:  *= require_self
:  *= require jquery-ui
:  *= require_tree . 

Create autocomplete controller
: $ rails g controller autocomplete

Add the following to autocomplete_controller.rb
: class AutocompleteController < ApplicationController
:   def users
:     if params[:term]
:       like  = "%".concat(params[:term].concat("%"))
:       users = User.where("name like ?", like)
:     else
:       users = User.all
:     end
:     list = users.map {|u| Hash[id: u.id, label: u.name, name: u.name]}
:     render json: list            
:   end
: end

Setup some links in posts_controller.rb
: class PostsController < InheritedResources::Base
:   def user_name=(name)
:     user= User.find_by_name(name)
:     if user           
:       self.user_id = user.id
:     else              
:       errors[:user_name] << "Invalid name entered"
:     end               
:   end                 
:                       
:   def user_name       
:     User.find(user_id).name if user_id
:   end                 
: end

Edit post.rb to link post to users
: class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
:   belongs_to :user
:   attr_accessor :user_name
:   
:   def user_name
:     user.name if user_id
:   end
: end

Now add to the posts form (app/views/posts/_form.html.haml)
: .field
:    = f.label :user_name
:    = f.text_field :user_name
:    = f.hidden_field :user_id

autocomplete.js.coffee
: $(document).ready ->
:         $('#post_user_name').autocomplete
:                 source: "/autocomplete/users"
:                 select: (event,ui) -> $("#post_user_id").val(ui.item.id)

Add route to routes.rb
:  match '/autocomplete/users' => "autocomplete#users"

Start your server
: $ rails s

Go to http://localhost:3000/posts/new

Start typing 'Michael' into the User name field