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I have a list of guests that I want to be able to use in the jQuery autocomplete but I can't seem to get the format correct. I'm using CakePHP 2.3.8 and have a list of guests sent from my controller to view. When I type into the text box, I get the following error 

//in reference to source of the elements to populate the autocomplete list
Property 'source' of object [object Object] is not a function

I searched for this error on here, but I couldn't find anything related to converting a PHP array while also accounting for the index number of that item. I have a PHP array in the format of

echo "<pre>"; print_r($guest_list); echo "</pre>"; 
//results in the following, where the index is the guest's ID
array(
    [1] => guest a,
    [2] => guest b,
    [3] => guest c
)

Keep in mind, the index refers to the guest's ID.

I used json_encode to convert the php $guests array which results in the following format

var guests = {"1":"guest a","2":"guest b","3":"guest c"};

I noticed in the documentation the source of the data is usually in a format like

var guests = [guest_a, guest_b, guest_c];

Keep in mind index refers to the guest's ID, so I need to use this number to make sure the correct guest is chosen, if there happens to be two guests with the same name

So, here's the javascript/jquery for the autocomplete box

var guests = <?php echo json_encode($guest_list); ?>;
$(function() {
    $( "#guests_autocomplete" ).autocomplete({
      source:  guests
    });
});

How can I properly format my guests array to work with autoComplete and still keep track of the guest's id?

share|improve this question

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote

use 

var guests = ["<?php echo  implode('","',$guest_list); ?>"];

instead of

var guests = <?php echo json_encode($guest_list); ?>;

and if guest names are unique you can use array_search to find id

share|improve this answer
    
It's saying unexpected identifier. However, there's another issue. It was my fault for not stating that guests are in Firstname, Lastname format. I guess I may have to re-structure it, or just remove the comma between the first and last name. –  user2443591 Sep 8 '13 at 18:35
    
you don't need to change format, so i changed the code to put name,lastame in quote. please use the new code –  Tufan Barış Yıldırım Sep 8 '13 at 19:05
    
Thanks, although this works I still need to keep track of the guests Id as I mentioned in the post. Can I somehow append a hidden field to this? Previously I used a select list and would send the guest's ID instead of their name upon form submission. Can I do the same with this? Upon form submission I need to send the guest's ID which is the index value of the array. I really appreciate your help –  user2443591 Sep 8 '13 at 19:10

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