I have a search field that triggers an autocomplete search while typing. I have it trigger on keyup. This works perfectly in most browsers, but in Firefox on Android, this does not work. It seems like the keyup event is not triggered while typing. This only happens if word suggestions is turned on in the Android keyboard settings.

I see on Google search that the autocomplete search works there for the same setup, so it is obviously possible to do. I wonder how? Is it a special event I need to listen to for this to work?

Additionally I have tried to listen to the events change, keydown and keypress, but none is triggered.

HTML:

<input type="text" id="searchField" 
 autocomplete="off" spellcheck="false" autocorrect="off" />

jQuery event binding:

  $('#searchField').keyup(function (e) {
    var searchValue = $(this).val();
    searchApi._executeAutocomplete(searchValue);
  });

Note:
Sometimes, the key event is triggered, which is typically hitting a key that is not resulting in the process of forming a word. The most obvious here is Enter, which always triggers. Another is Space, which triggers because no word contain a space since space is the definition of a word completed. Backspace triggers if the the last character deleted was not within a word. This means it triggers if you just deleted the last remaining letter of a word (so it is the start of the field, or cursor following a space), but not if you deleted some characters at the end of a word where the cursor is still immediately following a letter. Basically, the key event is not triggered if the key press results in some kind of word suggestion from the keyboard app.

As a side note, I can say that everything works fine in Chrome on the same device.

I have a search field that triggers an autocomplete search while typing. I have it trigger on keyup. This works perfectly in most browsers, but in Firefox on Android, this does not work. It seems like the keyup event is not triggered while typing. This only happens if word suggestions is turned on in the Android keyboard settings.

I see on Google search that the autocomplete search works there for the same setup, so it is obviously possible to do. I wonder how? Is it a special event I need to listen to for this to work?

Additionally I have tried to listen to the events change, keydown and keypress, but none is triggered.

HTML:

<input type="text" id="searchField" 
 autocomplete="off" spellcheck="false" autocorrect="off" />

jQuery event binding:

  $('#searchField').keyup(function (e) {
    var searchValue = $(this).val();
    searchApi._executeAutocomplete(searchValue);
  });

Note:
Sometimes, the key event is triggered, which is typically hitting a key that is not resulting in the process of forming a word. The most obvious here is Enter, which always triggers. Another is Space, which triggers because no word contain a space since space is the definition of a word completed. Backspace triggers if the the last character deleted was not within a word. This means it triggers if you just deleted the last remaining letter of a word (so it is the start of the field, or cursor following a space), but not if you deleted some characters at the end of a word where the cursor is still immediately following a letter. Basically, the key event is not triggered if the key press results in some kind of word suggestion from the keyboard app.

As a side note, I can say that everything works fine in Chrome on the same device.

• javascript
• android
• jquery
• html
• firefox

• Have you tried keypress event? Just be aware of: <<Note: as the keypress event isn't covered by any official specification, the actual behavior encountered when using it may differ across browsers, browser versions, and platforms.>> – A. Wolff Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 10:51
• @roasted: I just tried that now, but it didn't do any different. – awe Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 11:09

3 Answers 3

You can use the input event instead, that worked for me in Firefox on Android. You could bind event handlers to both input and keyup events for backwards compatibility, but in most modern browsers this will fire both:

$('#searchField').bind('input keyup', function(e){
    var searchValue = $(this).val();
    searchApi._executeAutocomplete(searchValue);
});

Example here: http://jsfiddle.net/JQ928/3/

I found a solution in this answer to another question. The question was a basically "duplicate the text I write dynamically into another part of the page". The answer was including support for catching changes by non-keyboard actions, like pasting text using mouse. It was solved by starting a sniffer on focus in the text field that checks if the value has changed using setInterval(...). It clears the timer on blur.

This solved my problem which was basically that the key events didn't trigger, as well as the "paste by mouse" issue that I didn't realize was a problem until I found this answer...!

This works, but I'm not sure I am totally happy with this solution, because it uses a sniffer. I would be more happy with using some sort of event that is triggered on value change no matter what the cause of the change is. Using the change event would not work, as that is not triggered until focus leaves the field.

Trough the fact that Firefox on Android doesn't trigger key-events, but also triggers the input-event some kind of weird, (like if you press one key two events get triggerd, and it also triggers the input-event if you leave the input) I had to write my own event:

(function($){
var $event = $.event,
    $special = $event.special.fennecInput = {
        setup: function(){
            $(this).on('input',$special.handler);
        },
        teardown: function(){
            $(this).off('input',$spceial.handler);
        },
        handler: function(event) {
            var context = this,
                args = arguments,
                dispatch = function() {
                    event.type='fennecInput';
                    $event.dispatch.apply(context,args);
                };
            if($(context).val() != $(context).attr('data-fennecInput-oldval')){
                dispatch();
                $(context).attr('data-fennecInput-oldval',$(context).val());
            }
        }
    };
})(jQuery);

this event gets only triggered if an input-event happens that changes the value, so it doesn't execute events unnecessary.