How to remove an autocomplete once added to an element?

Question

After I add a autocomplete to an element like:

commObj=$("#communityName").autocomplete("auto_commName_backend.php",
                {'onItemSelect': handleItemSelect}, {'extraParams': 'ndo' + ndo});

Is there a way I could disable it or remove the autocomplete for the element dynamically?

I am using modified jquery autocomplete plugin from Dylan Verheul. http://www.pengoworks.com/workshop/jquery/autocomplete_docs.txt

Answer 1

You can remove the autocomplete behaviour by using following line of code:

if (jQuery(control).data('autocomplete')) {
  jQuery(control).autocomplete("destroy");
  jQuery(control).removeData('autocomplete');
}

Answer 2

The easiest and safest way I found is:

$(control).autocomplete({source: []});

Alternatively, as mentioned before this also works:

$(control).autocomplete("destroy");

If you are sure your control has an autocomplete handler set.