Input field for Tags separated by comma

Question

I am working on a web application that allows users to post content by tags but the thing is, how would I make a nice block around a tag if its separated by a comma and the text field value would still be the same only the view to the user would differ.

An example would be such as YouTube or StackOverflow, for now I don't need it to check a database or anything.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Something similar like Stack Overflow does:

• Allows alphanumeric and +-.# (and trims whitespaces!)
• Convert to lowercase
• Create automatically the Tag Box on focusOut Enter , (add more | delimited keyCodes)
• Delete Tag Box on click (with confirmation)

$(function(){ // DOM ready

  // ::: TAGS BOX

  $("#tags input").on({
    focusout : function() {
      var txt = this.value.replace(/[^a-z0-9\+\-\.\#]/ig,''); // allowed characters
      if(txt) $("<span/>", {text:txt.toLowerCase(), insertBefore:this});
      this.value = "";
    },
    keyup : function(ev) {
      // if: comma|enter (delimit more keyCodes with | pipe)
      if(/(188|13)/.test(ev.which)) $(this).focusout(); 
    }
  });
  $('#tags').on('click', 'span', function() {
    if(confirm("Remove "+ $(this).text() +"?")) $(this).remove(); 
  });

});

#tags{
  float:left;
  border:1px solid #ccc;
  padding:5px;
  font-family:Arial;
}
#tags > span{
  cursor:pointer;
  display:block;
  float:left;
  color:#fff;
  background:#789;
  padding:5px;
  padding-right:25px;
  margin:4px;
}
#tags > span:hover{
  opacity:0.7;
}
#tags > span:after{
 position:absolute;
 content:"×";
 border:1px solid;
 padding:2px 5px;
 margin-left:3px;
 font-size:11px;
}
#tags > input{
  background:#eee;
  border:0;
  margin:4px;
  padding:7px;
  width:auto;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div id="tags">
  <span>php</span>
  <span>c++</span>
  <span>jquery</span>
  <input type="text" value="" placeholder="Add a tag" />
</div>

Answer 2

You don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel here. A number of libraries/plugins for this purpose already exist, one of which is Guillermo Rauch's TextboxList. You can find a demonstration here. It already has autocomplete support and a pretty extensive API, which is what the major hurdles in any implementation of this are going to be.

The original implementation used MooTools, but you can find a jQuery version by golive here.