# Scriptaculous autocompletion LIMIT and ajax vs. local **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 2, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271 "2006-06-02T02:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/1 "2006-06-02T02:37:24Z")
Hi, I am using scriptaculous ajax autocompletion (not local autocompletion). I have 2 questions: 1 - The database query being sent to the server always has LIMIT 10. I don’t want to have a limit, but I just can’t for the life of me find where this limit is set in the code. I did see “choices: 10” in controls.js but that’s for autocompleter.Local, which I don’t use, and changing it has no effect. Also, I can’t see setting the limit as being a part of the options array. How do I remove it? 2 - I am debating whether to use the ajax or local autocompletion. The autocomplete values are to be retrieved from a table with about 2000 values, that don’t change frequently at all. On one hand I don’t want to use ajax since it involves a lot of db queries, and on the other hand, with local, I don’t know if injecting about 2000 values (avg 10 bytes each) into the page is a good idea (or is it not a big deal?). Any advice? Feedback is very appreciated! Alon. ---
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/2 "2006-06-02T02:53:39Z")
On Fri, Jun 02, 2006 at 02:37:24AM +0200, Alon G. wrote: > 2 - I am debating whether to use the ajax or local autocompletion. The > autocomplete values are to be retrieved from a table with about 2000 > values, that don’t change frequently at all. On one hand I don’t want to > use ajax since it involves a lot of db queries, and on the other hand, > with local, I don’t know if injecting about 2000 values (avg 10 bytes > each) into the page is a good idea (or is it not a big deal?). Any > advice? If the data don’t change during the lifetime of the page input form, you’re only talking about 20k … which is probably less than one of the image files you’re probably using elsewhere 🙂 You could decide to minimise that 20k by using some sort of unique pruning/compression, and expand the list when it gets to the client end, but that sounds like too much hard work 🙂 Just enabling compression in yout HTTP server will probably achieve greater savings 🙂 -jim ---
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/3 "2006-06-02T03:06:46Z")
> If the data don’t change during the lifetime of the page input form, > you’re only talking about 20k … which is probably less than one of the > image files you’re probably using elsewhere 🙂 ah, good point! puts things in perspective 🙂 thanks Jim. appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/4 "2006-06-02T15:19:55Z")
Anybody knows the answer to the LIMIT question? ---
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/5 "2006-06-02T15:51:25Z")
On Jun 2, 2006, at 15:19, Alon G. wrote: > Anybody knows the answer to the LIMIT question? I guess you want: auto\_complete\_for :post, :title, :limit =\> 15, :order =\> ‘created\_at DESC’ For full generality the contract is you write an action with “auto\_complete\_for” prepended to the model and attribute names like this, given you want to autocomplete for :card, :back in the form: def auto\_complete\_for\_card\_back @words = Word.find( :all, :conditions =\> [‘word LIKE ?’, params[:card][:back] + ‘%’], :limit =\> 10, :order =\> ‘word ASC’ ) render :layout =\> false end and generate a list as view: \<% for word in @words %\> - \<%= word.word %\> \<% end %\> Does that help? – fxn ---
**Author:** ![alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@alon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scriptaculous-autocompletion-limit-and-ajax-vs-local/62271/6 "2006-06-02T16:12:29Z")
Xavier N. wrote: > Does that help? yes! thanks a lot, exactly what I was looking for. Alon.