Multiple Columns

7 Jun 20235 minutes to read

The Autocomplete adds support for selecting multiple columns in the dropdown list. This multiple column options can be enabled and customized through the MultiColumnSettings property.

In AutoComplete Multiple Column search is based on searchColumnIndices property which allows user to search text for any number of fields in the suggestion list without modifying the selected text format.

In AutoComplete Multiple Column searched value is updated to autocomplete input box based on stringFormat property which specifies column indices values to updated.

Name	Description
multiColumnSettings.enable	Allow list of data to be displayed in several columns.
multiColumnSettings.showHeader	Allow header text to be displayed in corresponding columns.
multiColumnSettings.stringFormat	Specifies the format for displaying a selected value and columns to be searched.
multiColumnSettings.columns	Field and Header Text collections can be defined and customized through this field.
multiColumnSettings.columns.field	Field to be mapped from the dataSource to the columns in Autocomplete suggestion list.
multiColumnSettings.columns.headerText	Get or set a value that indicates to display the title of that particular column.
multiColumnSettings.columns.cssClass	Field to be mapped for to add user defined CSS class for the specific column.
multiColumnSettings.columns.type	Get or set the data type for a individual column.
multiColumnSettings.columns.filterType	Get or set the search filter type for the column.
multiColumnSettings.columns.headerTextAlign	Used to align or position the header value in the column.
multiColumnSettings.columns.textAlign	Used to align or position all the values in a column.

Example

HTML

<input type="text" id="autocomplete" />
        
        <script type="text/javascript">
        
                /* Local Data */
                var carList = [
            { "EmployeeID": 1, "FirstName": "Nancy" ,"City": "Seattle" },
            { "EmployeeID": 10, "FirstName": "Laura",  "City": "Seattle" },
            { "EmployeeID": 11,  "FirstName": "Janet",  "City": "Kirkland" },
            { "EmployeeID": 12,  "FirstName": "Michael", "City": "London" },
            { "EmployeeID": 13,  "FirstName": "Steven",  "City": "London"},
            { "EmployeeID": 14,  "FirstName": "Andrew","City": "Tacoma" },
            { "EmployeeID": 15,  "FirstName": "Robert", "City": "London" },
            { "EmployeeID": 16,  "FirstName": "Margaret",  "City": "Redmond" },
            { "EmployeeID": 17,  "FirstName": "Steven",  "City": "London" },
            { "EmployeeID": 18,  "FirstName": "Michael",  "City": "London" },
            { "EmployeeID": 19,  "FirstName": "Robert",  "City": "London"}, ];
        
                $('#autocomplete').ejAutocomplete({ 
                    dataSource: carList, 
                    width: 400, 
                    multiColumnSettings:{
                        enable:true,
                        showHeader:true,
                        stringFormat:"{0}",
                        searchColumnIndices:[0,1,2],
                        columns:[
							{"field": "EmployeeID" , "headerText":"EmployeeID"},
							{"field": "FirstName" , "headerText":"FirstName"},
							{"field": "City" , "headerText":"City"}
						]                        
                    } });
        
        </script>

NOTE

Here stringFormat is “{0} ({1}) ({2})” so the search will be based on column indices 0, 1 and 2. When using MultiColumnSettings in AutoComplete, the value will be returned in string format based on the multiple columns. You can retrieve any specific field like text or key field through e.item in the select event.

Live demo