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Auto-complete Web Fields using XML-HTTP

Wielding control over the latest in XML-HTTP technologies, Boyle Software is happy to announce the successful implementation of "auto-complete web fields" for several of our client projects in Q2 2005.

"It's great technology, very dynamic for the end user," according to Dan Boyle, President of Boyle Software. As the user types in a web browser, character-by-character is sent to the web server in real time; the web server does queries against a server-side database, feeds the results back to the browser, which then presents filtered pulldown menu options -- all in real time.

Chris Mitchell, Project Manager for one of our Columbia House teams, explains "for example, one intranet tool we've deployed has several places that require a user to choose one of thousands of items. Allowing users to input free text would likely mean bad or duplicate data, and putting thousands of choices into an HTML dropdown widget is too cumbersome. Instead, we chose to create an auto-complete widget using XML-HTTP and JavaScript. When a user starts typing into the text box a dynamic dropdown appears showing ten choices from the database starting with the letters entered. As the user types, the choices change almost instantaneously."

Chris continues, "this is accomplished through key down events causing dynamic XML-HTTP calls against a database and dynamic HTML DIV layers to display the retrieved values. As soon as the desired value shows in the dropdown, the user can choose the complete word without typing the entire word. If the user enters a new value, not in the database, the dropdown choices disappear and we can either accept the new value or reject it depending on the need of the particular data field."

Boyle Software is in good company. Google and Yahoo are probably the most well-known and visible early adopters of this auto-complete technology using XML-HTTP.

About Columbia House

The Columbia House Music Club was first launched in 1955. Over the past 50 years, Columbia House has grown to become the world's largest direct marketer of not only music, but DVDs and videos.

Throughout the company's rich history, an enthusiastic embrace of emerging technology has become an enduring corporate trademark. From cassettes and CDs to videos and DVDs, Columbia House has created a club that has consistently met the public's demand for the latest advancement in entertainment products.

http://www.columbiahouse.com/

About Boyle Software Inc.

Boyle Software is a privately-held, custom programming and database development company, specializing in harnessing the power of high-end, heavy-transaction SQL database engines. Established in 1988, Boyle Software works for small, as well as large Fortune 1000, companies to help them control, manage, understand and leverage their data.

http://www.boylesoftware.com/
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