jQuery autocomplete _renderItem issue with multiple inputs to trigger autocomplete

Question

Quick explaination: I have 3 inputs first_name, last_name and contact_number. They all have the class name autocomplete. e.g.

<input type="input" name="first_name" id="first_name" class="autocomplete">
<input type="input" name="last_name" id="last_name" class="autocomplete">
<input type="input" name="contact_number" id="contact_number" class="autocomplete">

I use the autocomplete class as a selector for initiating the jQuery UI autocomplete function (see code below) such that filling in any of these will result in an ajax search using all 3 inputs. Because I use all 3 fields to do the search the result has to be in a specific place (not under each input as is normally the case) so I use a div with a table inside which in turn displays the results. This is possible by overriding the internal _renderItem function (see code below).

This all works perfectly fine, however, only for the very first input in the form e.g. first_name. The other inputs all show up the dropdown li list below their respective inputs. It seems the _renderItem override is ignored for subsequent inputs. I have tried swapping around the inputs and whichever is first works correctly and the others don't. Any suggestions as to how I could fix the behaviour?

    $(document).ready(function() {
        $(".autocomplete").autocomplete({
            search: function(event, ui) {
                $("#autocompleteoutput table tbody").empty();
                $("#autocompleteoutput").css("display", "inline");
            },
            source: function(request, response) {
                jQuery.ajax({
                    url: "'.site_url('reservations/search_customer').'",
                    type: "post",
                    dataType: "json",
                    data: {
                        first_name: $("#first_name").val(),
                        last_name: $("#last_name").val(),
                        contact_number: $("#contact_number").val(),
                        '.$this->security->get_csrf_token_name().' : "'.$this->security->get_csrf_hash().'"
                    },
                    success: function(data) {
                        response(jQuery.map(data, function(item) {
                            return {
                                diner_id: item.diner_id,
                                first_name: item.first_name,
                                last_name: item.last_name,
                                dialing_code: item.dialing_code,
                                country_id: item.country_id,
                                contact_number: item.contact_number,
                                email: item.email
                            }
                        }))
                    }
                })
            }
        })
        .data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = function( ul, item ) {
            return $( "<tr class=\"customerselect\" data-dinerid=\"" + item.diner_id + "\" data-fname=\"" + item.first_name + "\" data-lname=\"" + item.last_name + "\" data-countryid=\"" + item.country_id + "\" data-num=\"" + item.contact_number + "\" data-email=\"" + item.email + "\"></tr>" )
                .data( "item.autocomplete", item )
                .append( "<td><span class=\"icon-user\">" + item.first_name + " " + item.last_name + "</span></td>")
                .append( "<td><span class=\"icon-phone\">(+" + item.dialing_code + ") " + item.contact_number + "</span></td>" )
                .append( "<td><span class=\"icon-mail\">" + item.email + "</span></td>" )
                .appendTo($("#autocompleteoutput table tbody"));
        };
    });

Answer 1

The .data("autocomplete") here returned only the first element's autocomplete data. Try using this method separately for each input after assigning the autocomplete control.

I mean like this

 function myRenderFunc(ul,item){
     // code for the _renderItem method
 }

 $(".autocomplete").autocomplete({
        //your autocomplete code
 })

 $('#first_name').data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = myRenderFunc;
 $('#last_name').data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = myRenderFunc;
 $('#contact_number').data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = myRenderFunc;

I tried this right now and it worked for me. Should work for you too.

Answer 2

This works for me too, especially if the input element generated dynamically :

$('.autocomplete').each(function() {
    $(this).data('uiAutocomplete')._renderItem = function (ul, item) {
          // render item code
    };
});