We've found several examples of pre-populating selected option for Select2, however none of them we could find deal with formatted list and selection options. We have a JS fiddle at / that illustrates the issue. In that fiddle, you can type and L or whatever into the select search and the data is returned, the list is formatted, and if you select something, the selection is formatted.

However if you click the button in that JS Fiddle which is intended to simulate pre-population per the data is returned (you can unment the console.log to see it), but the formatted selection shows undefined for the intended values. Does anyone know of a way to get the formatted values for pre-populated data to display correctly?

// Set up the Select2 control
$('#mySelect2').select2({
    ajax: {
        url: '/api/students'
    }
});

// Fetch the preselected item, and add to the control
var studentSelect = $('#mySelect2');
$.ajax({
    type: 'GET',
    url: '/api/students/s/' + studentId
}).then(function (data) {
    // create the option and append to Select2
    var option = new Option(data.full_name, data.id, true, true); //**** DOES IT MATTER WHAT IS PASSED HERE BECAUSE WE ARE NOT DISPLAY THE OPTION TEXT?? ***
    studentSelect.append(option).trigger('change');

    // manually trigger the `select2:select` event
    studentSelect.trigger({
        type: 'select2:select',
        params: {
            data: data //**** THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO SUPPORT FORMATTED SELECTIONS, SO HOW CAN THIS BE DONE? ***
        }
    });
});

We've found several examples of pre-populating selected option for Select2, however none of them we could find deal with formatted list and selection options. We have a JS fiddle at https://jsfiddle/gpsx62de/26/ that illustrates the issue. In that fiddle, you can type and L or whatever into the select search and the data is returned, the list is formatted, and if you select something, the selection is formatted.

However if you click the button in that JS Fiddle which is intended to simulate pre-population per https://select2/programmatic-control/add-select-clear-items#preselecting-options-in-an-remotely-sourced-ajax-select2 the data is returned (you can unment the console.log to see it), but the formatted selection shows undefined for the intended values. Does anyone know of a way to get the formatted values for pre-populated data to display correctly?

// Set up the Select2 control
$('#mySelect2').select2({
    ajax: {
        url: '/api/students'
    }
});

// Fetch the preselected item, and add to the control
var studentSelect = $('#mySelect2');
$.ajax({
    type: 'GET',
    url: '/api/students/s/' + studentId
}).then(function (data) {
    // create the option and append to Select2
    var option = new Option(data.full_name, data.id, true, true); //**** DOES IT MATTER WHAT IS PASSED HERE BECAUSE WE ARE NOT DISPLAY THE OPTION TEXT?? ***
    studentSelect.append(option).trigger('change');

    // manually trigger the `select2:select` event
    studentSelect.trigger({
        type: 'select2:select',
        params: {
            data: data //**** THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO SUPPORT FORMATTED SELECTIONS, SO HOW CAN THIS BE DONE? ***
        }
    });
});

• javascript
• jquery
• ajax
• jquery-select2

• Hello there, I check the fiddle, are you sure you are using the correct URL? It seems like the source really does not exist. – Shan Surat Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 0:50
• It returns data for me. Do you see the console log output? – D Durham Commented Jul 27, 2020 at 3:09

2 Answers 2

The problem is in format_selection function. The format of the object it receives depends on how it was created. When you use new Option(text, value) it receives only the properties of this Option object, not your original object containing all user info.

A workaround is to check of either possible values in the fuction:

function format_selection(obj) {
let name = obj.name || obj.element.text;
let email = obj.email || obj.element.email;
return $(`<div><b>${name}</b></div><div>(${email})</div>`);
}

For this to work you should append the de property on you Option object:

    var option = new Option(data.name, data.id, true, true);
    option.email = data.email;
    $('#sel').append(option).trigger('change');

The problem, in https://jsfiddle/gpsx62de/26/ is with the

function format_selection(obj) {
  // Just add this to see the obj
  console.log(obj);
  return $(`<div><b>${obj.text}</b></div><div>(${obj.id})</div>`);
}

The obj object just contains the Option class data, so:

id: "1",
selected: true,
text: "Leanne Graham",
title: ""

So you have to find a way to pass "data.email" to the "format_selection" method

EDIT

This could be a solution

$('#btn').on('click', function() {
  $.ajax({
    type: 'GET',
    url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode./users/1'
  })
  .then(function(data) {
    console.log(data)
    // create the option and append to Select2
    $('#sel').append($('<option />')  // Create new <option> element
      .val(data.id)                   // Set value
      .text(data.name)                // Set textContent
      .prop('selected', true)
      .attr('data-name', data.name)   // Don't know why the .data(key, value) isn't working...
      .attr('data-email', data.email))
      .trigger('change');
  }); //then
}); //click

And

function format_selection(obj) {
  return $(`<div><b>${obj.element.dataset.name}</b></div><div>(${obj.element.dataset.email})</div>`);
}

This is the fiddle https://jsfiddle/947jngtu/