The recent ADF 11gR1 PS1 release introduced a component we have been waiting for: the inputText with AutoSuggest. An inputText component that will present suggested values to the user depending on whatever text the user has already entered. The implementation in ADF of the functionality that got AJAX started, based on the original Google Suggest feature:

The auto suggest mechanism in ADF is not so much a new input component as it is a behavior (component) that can be added to inputText components. By adding the properly configured autoSuggest to an inputText, it is turned into an inputText with autoSuggest:

<af:inputText label="Country" value="#{item.country}"
              columns="20" id="it5">
  <af:autoSuggestBehavior suggestedItems="#{countrySuggester.getCountries}"/>
</af:inputText>

Here we have added the autoSuggestBehavior to an inputText that is used for entering a country. Of course we could have used a dropdown component, combobox or list of values. However, the auto suggest is somewhat more light weight and elegant especially when our collection of countries is far from complete, and we only have a limited number of suggestions to offer – and we certainly would not want to suggest that the user can only choose from the values we are proposing.

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