In the example above, when a user types a character in the input field, a function called "showHint()" is executed.
The function is triggered by the onkeyup event.
Here is the HTML code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>The XMLHttpRequest Object</h1>
<h3>Start typing a name in the input field below:</h3>
<form action="">
First name: <input type="text" id="txt1" onkeyup="showHint(this.value)">
</form>
<p>Suggestions: <span id="txtHint"></span></p>
<script>
function showHint(str) {
var xhttp;
if (str.length == 0) {
document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML = "";
return;
}
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML = this.responseText;
}
};
xhttp.open("GET", "gethint.asp?q="+str, true);
xhttp.send();
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Code explanation:
First, check if the input field is empty (str.length == 0). If it is, clear the content of the txtHint placeholder and exit the function.
However, if the input field is not empty, do the following:
-
Create an XMLHttpRequest object
-
Create the function to be executed when the server response is ready
-
Send the request off to an ASP file (gethint.asp) on the server
-
Notice that q parameter is added gethint.asp?q="+str
-
The str variable holds the content of the input field
The ASP File - "gethint.asp"
The ASP file checks an array of names, and returns the corresponding name(s) to the browser:
<%
response.expires=-1
dim a(30)
'Fill up array with names
a(1)="Anna"
a(2)="Brittany"
a(3)="Cinderella"
a(4)="Diana"
a(5)="Eva"
a(6)="Fiona"
a(7)="Gunda"
a(8)="Hege"
a(9)="Inga"
a(10)="Johanna"
a(11)="Kitty"
a(12)="Linda"
a(13)="Nina"
a(14)="Ophelia"
a(15)="Petunia"
a(16)="Amanda"
a(17)="Raquel"
a(18)="Cindy"
a(19)="Doris"
a(20)="Eve"
a(21)="Evita"
a(22)="Sunniva"
a(23)="Tove"
a(24)="Unni"
a(25)="Violet"
a(26)="Liza"
a(27)="Elizabeth"
a(28)="Ellen"
a(29)="Wenche"
a(30)="Vicky"
'get the q parameter from URL
q=ucase(request.querystring("q"))
'lookup all hints from array if length of q>0
if len(q)>0 then
hint=""
for i=1 to 30
if q=ucase(mid(a(i),1,len(q))) then
if hint="" then
hint=a(i)
else
hint=hint & " , " & a(i)
end if
end if
next
end if
'Output "no suggestion" if no hint were found
'or output the correct values
if hint="" then
response.write("no suggestion")
else
response.write(hint)
end if
%>