JQuery UI Autocomplete - Have the menu open when user clicks in the text box

Question

I'm using this JQuery autocomplete widget.

How can I make it automatically open the menu when the user clicks in the text box? I want the user to see all the options.

Answer 1

You need to trigger the search event manually and set the minLength option on the widget to zero:

$("input").autocomplete({
    minLength: 0,
    /* other options */
}).on("focus", function () {
    $(this).autocomplete("search", "");
});

Working example: http://jsfiddle.net/9JmVu/

Answer 2

I think I got it actually. If you set minLength to 0, and then trigger a search for "", it opens the menu.

      $(inputSelector).autocomplete(
              {
                  source: this.validConstructCodes,
                  minLength: 0,
                  autoFocus: true,
                  autoSelect: true
              });
      $(inputSelector).focus(function(event) {
        $(this).autocomplete( "search" , "" );
      });