Dataset API

[jharding]

We should expose an API for getting suggestions programmatically. Need to put some thought into what this API would look like exactly.

[blackxored]

$el = $('.dropdown-results');
resultsView = new DropdownView($el);

resultsView.populateResults({});
resultsView.refresh();
// or resultsView.render();

results = resultsView.results; //=> [Array of Datum]?

What do you think?

[jharding]

I wouldn't want to add anything to the global namespace. With that in mind, this is sort of what I'm thinking:

var dataset = $.typeahead.Dataset({ /* options */ });

dataset.getSuggestions('my query', function(err, suggestions) {
  // render suggestions wherever you'd like...
});

[blackxored]

I was doing something similar earlier today with UI autocomplete (more customizable at the moment, don't blame me). The API looks nice.
Ideally typeahead should support:

1. Hot-swapping of data sources in runtime, now I can't remember if you can filter by datum name, but it would be useful nevertheless.
2. Programmatic retrieval of suggestions as in your example.
3. A facet-like search (as in DocumentCloud's VisualSearch) [chore]
4. More exposed events we can tap in.
5. Either support for hotkey triggering (as Twitter does with #, @, etc) or a facade about all 4 above which does the same without pain.

What do you think?

Best Regards,

Adrian Perez
http://www.adrianperez.org
Twitter: @blackxored | Skype: blackxored | Google Voice: (559) 744 3201

Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig)

On Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 1:43 AM, Jake Harding wrote:

I wouldn't want to add anything to the global namespace. With that in mind, this is sort of what I'm thinking:
var dataset = $.typeahead.Dataset({ /* options */ }); dataset.getSuggestions('my query', function(err, suggestions) { // render suggestions wherever you'd like... });

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub (#95 (comment)).

[brianmhunt]

Sorry I am not familiar with the code base, but could one have local in a datum take a function that is called whenever the query is activated? This seems most intuitive to me.

Alternatively having datum take another argument, such as computed?

[jharding]

Just to make sure I'm clear, are you suggesting something like:

$('.typeahead').typeahead({
  local: function(query) {
    // return data
  }
});

That could work – I'd have to think about it some more though to make sure it'd fit into how things are currently implemented.

[brianmhunt]

Yes, exactly. Or a computed field that only takes a function, and local only taking an array.

Personally I like a single argument, such as local, that figures out what to do based on the argument type, But I thought to suggest the alternative, in case it suits the intended design better – notably since remote and local could be passed as one argument and similarly distinguished by type (remote always being a string, local always an array). This is not as future-proof as specifying an explicit type e.g. a computed argument that looks like this:

$('.typeahead').typeahead({
  computed: function(query) {   /* return data */  },
});

or if you are thinking of an asynchronous version (which would be the javascriptish way ☕),

$('.typeahead').typeahead({
  async_computed: function(query, callback) {   /* callback(data) */  },
});

[jharding]

From #15 (comment)

Considering the dataset component and its dependencies account for probably less than half of the source code, we'll probably want to generate something like typeahead_dataset.js so devs like yourself can take advantage of this functionality without having to load all of the code for the UI components.

[bchristopher]

As is the case where the API allows the download of a sizable data file and that the data needed is already in local storage, my vote would be for query something like this:

$('.twitter-typeahead').typeahead('customQuery', 'query goes here', keysToSearch: "values", "customKey1", "tokens", template: customTemplate, function($e) ) {

returnedObjects = $e.dataset;
renderedTemplate = $e.renderedTemplate

}

[gemshare-jonathan]

Hi @jharding, I have an use case that I want to run by you - I want to use 2 (maybe 3) datasets, 1 calling my backend (remote, url with beforeSend), another to call a 3rd party API that is not as simple as remote with an url - for example, Google Places's radarSearch.

Would this use case be supported once Dataset API is in? And when would Dataset API be available?

Thanks

[jharding]

You should be able to do that now. Unless I'm missing something, I don't see why you would need the dataset API.

[gemshare-jonathan]

thanks for quick reply, how do I wire up against Google Places (without dataset API that calls a function similar to Bootstrap typeahead's source).

[jharding]

I'm not familiar with the Google Places API, but you'll probably want to do something like:

$('.typeahead').typeahead({
  remote: {
    url: 'http://googleplaces.com/search?q=%QUERY',
    filter: function(resp) {
      // transform response to be typeahead.js compatible
    }
  }
});