A jQuery-based replacement for select boxes

Selectator

Selectator is a jQuery-based replacement for select boxes. It supports searching, custom renderers, remote data (ajax), search delay, minimum search length, selection remove/clear and placeholders. It affects the original select box directly, which is used as the data container.

Usage

include in head:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="fm.selectator.jquery.css"/>
<script src="jquery-1.11.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="fm.selectator.jquery.js"></script>

to activate replacement:

$('#selectBox').selectator();

If you don't wan't to meddle with scripting, there is an alternative to activate replacement, by using inline markup.

<select multiple class="selectator" data-selectator-keep-open="true">

if you want to change settings:

$('#selectBox').selectator({
    prefix: 'selectator_',             // CSS class prefix
    height: 'auto',                    // Auto or element
    useDimmer: false,                  // Dims the screen when option list is visible
    useSearch: true,                   // If false, the search boxes are removed and 
                                       //   `showAllOptionsOnFocus` is forced to true
    showAllOptionsOnFocus: false,      // Show the dropdown immediately when the control receives focus
    selectFirstOptionOnSearch: true,   // Selects the topmost option on every search
    keepOpen: false,                   // If true, then the dropdown will not close when 
                                       //   selecting options, but stay open until losing focus
    submitCallback: function(value){}, // Callback function when enter is pressed and 
                                       //   no option is active in multi select box
    placeholder: '',                   // Placeholder text for the select, can also be 
                                       //   set on select element
    load: function(search, callback){  // Callback function when using remote data
        callback(results);
    },
    delay: 0,                          // The amount of milleseconds to wait for doing a search
    minSearchLength: 0,                // Mininum length of search string required for searching
    valueField: 'value',               // The name of the property to use as the "value"
                                       //   (not needed when custom rendering functions are defined)
    textField: 'text',                 // The name of the property to use as the "text"
                                       //   (not needed when custom rendering functions are defined)
    searchFields: ['value', 'test'],   // The fields to search in
    render: {
        selected_item: function (_item, escape) {
            var html = '';
            if (typeof _item.left !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_left"><img src="' + escape(_item.left) + '"></div>';
            if (typeof _item.right !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_right">' + escape(_item.right) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_title">' + ((typeof _item.text !== 'undefined') ? escape(_item.text) : '') + '</div>';
            if (typeof _item.subtitle !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_subtitle">' + escape(_item.subtitle) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'selected_item_remove">X</div>';
            return html;
        },
        option: function (_item, escape) {
            var html = '';
            if (typeof _item.left !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_left"><img src="' + escape(_item.left) + '"></div>';
            if (typeof _item.right !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_right">' + escape(_item.right) + '</div>';
            html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_title">' + ((typeof _item.text !== 'undefined') ? escape(_item.text) : '') + '</div>';
            if (typeof _item.subtitle !== 'undefined') 
                html += '<div class="' + self.options.prefix + 'option_subtitle">' + escape(_item.subtitle) + '</div>';
            return html;
        }
    },
    labels: {
        search: 'Search...'            // Placeholder text in search box in single select box
    }
});

Extra attributes for option tags

By using data-left, data-right, data-subtitle or any other attributes you can extend the information made available to the renderers.
The default ones left, right and subtitle can be styled through css, and are named prefix_title, prefix_left, prefix_right and prefix_subtitle.
The class attributes from the original option and optgroup elements are also added to the genererated elements

<select id="selectBox">
    <!-- Normal option tag -->
    <option value="1">This is the title</option>
    <!-- Extended option tag -->
    <option value="2" data-left="This is the left section" data-right="This is the right section" data-subtitle="This is the section under the title">This is the title</option>
</select>

It will be displayed something like this this:

CSS classes

Here is a list of all the css classes

DOM Structure

• dimmer
• element: containing the single|multiple class and the options-visible|options-hidden class
  • textlength
  • selected_items
    • selected_item
      • selected_item_left
      • selected_item_right
      • selected_item_title
      • selected_item_subtitle
      • selected_item_remove
    • selected_item...
  • input
  • options
    • group_header
    • group
      • option: containing the active class
        • option_left
        • option_right
        • option_title
        • option_subtitle
      • option...
    • option: containing the active class
      • option_left
      • option_right
      • option_title
      • option_subtitle
    • option...

jQuery methods

Method usage

$('#selectBox').selectator('refresh');

or

$('#selectBox').selectator('destroy');

Browser compatibility

• IE 8+
• Chrome 2+
• Firefox 3.5+
• Safari 4+
• Opera 11+

Internationalization

Selectator supports language by setting labels through the plugin options.

Author

QODIO

GitHub