JavaScript/jQuery Autocomplete - Keyboard Support

An end user can use the following keys to interact with the UI component.

Key Action
↑ / ↓ Moves focus to the previous/following menu item.
Page Up / Page Down Moves focus to the first/last menu item.
Enter Selects focused menu item.
Esc Closes the drop-down menu.

You can implement a custom handler for a key using the registerKeyHandler(key, handler) method.

jQuery
JavaScript
function registerKeyHandlers () {
    const autocomplete = $("#autocompleteContainer").dxAutocomplete("instance");
    autocomplete.registerKeyHandler("backspace", function(e) {
        // The argument "e" contains information on the event
    });
    autocomplete.registerKeyHandler("space", function(e) {
        // ...
    });
}
Angular
TypeScript
import { ..., ViewChild, AfterViewInit } from '@angular/core';
import { DxAutocompleteModule, DxAutocompleteComponent } from 'devextreme-angular';
// ...
export class AppComponent implements AfterViewInit {
    @ViewChild(DxAutocompleteComponent, { static: false }) autocomplete: DxAutocompleteComponent;
    // Prior to Angular 8
    // @ViewChild(DxAutocompleteComponent) autocomplete: DxAutocompleteComponent;

    ngAfterViewInit () {
        this.autocomplete.instance.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.autocomplete.instance.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        // ...
        DxAutocompleteModule
    ],
    // ...
})
Vue
<template>
    <DxAutocomplete :ref="myAutocompleteRef" />
</template>
<script>
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css';

import DxAutocomplete from 'devextreme-vue/autocomplete';

const myAutocompleteRef = 'my-autocomplete';

export default {
    components: {
        DxAutocomplete
    },
    data() {
        return {
            myAutocompleteRef
        }
    },
    computed: {
        autocomplete: function() {
            return this.$refs[myAutocompleteRef].instance;
        }
    },
    mounted: function() {
        this.autocomplete.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.autocomplete.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}
</script>
React
App.js
import React from 'react';
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css';

import { Autocomplete } from 'devextreme-react/autocomplete';

class App extends React.Component {
    constructor(props) {
        super(props);

        this.autocompleteRef = React.createRef();
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <Autocomplete ref={this.autocompleteRef} />
        );
    }

    get autocomplete() {
        return this.autocompleteRef.current.instance;
    }

    componentDidMount() {
        this.autocomplete.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.autocomplete.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}

export default App;
See Also