django-jet/docs/autocomplete.rst

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Autocomplete
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By default Django JET renders all possible choices for select inputs. This behavior may be unwanted if number of
available options is rather big. In this case Django JET allows you to load these options dynamically through AJAX.

In order to achieve this functionality all you have to do is:

* Specify which model fields should be searchable by AJAX queries. Add this static method to all models which you want to be searchable with AJAX:

.. code:: python

    @staticmethod
    def autocomplete_search_fields():
        return 'field1', 'field2'

Example from Django JET demo site:

.. code:: python

    class Address(models.Model):
        name = models.CharField(_('name'), max_length=255)
        city = models.ForeignKey(City, verbose_name=_('city'), related_name='addresses')
        zip = models.IntegerField(_('zip/postal code'))

        class Meta:
            verbose_name = _('address')
            verbose_name_plural = _('addresses')
            unique_together = ('name', 'city')

        def __str__(self):
            return self.name

        @staticmethod
        def autocomplete_search_fields():
            return 'name', 'city__name'

* Use custom AJAX filter class ``jet.filters.RelatedFieldAjaxListFilter`` if you have any foreign key list filters:

.. code:: python

    from jet.filters import RelatedFieldAjaxListFilter

    class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
        list_filter = (
            ...
            ('address', RelatedFieldAjaxListFilter),
        )

* Now all your admin select boxes will perform AJAX queries to load available options while you type.

.. note::
    This work for both ForeignKey and ManyToManyField fields.