As the Jquery UI (jUI) library matures it become more and more appealing as a replacement for the YUI JS libraries*. We're already using an older version of the jUI tabs widget. Currently we use YUI for: - staff client toolbar buttons. -- Some of these are buttons only cosmetically. Others are buttons which trigger menus, including one example of a "split button," (in the MARC editor). - autocomplete (patron search, a couple other examples I think) - menus (staff client nav "More" menu, OPAC lists menu, etc.) jUI now includes an autocomplete feature, so work on this could proceed right away. The latest version of jUI (1.8.6 as of 2010-12-09) includes a button widget, but this works only with the latest version of jQuery, which means we must wait for Bug 5184 to be resolved before we can replace the YUI toolbars. The same should probably be said for replacing menus. jUI doesn't include a menu widget, but the latest version includes a position utility which would make rolling our own a little easier. Alternatively, jUI version 1.9 promises to have a built-in menu widget but I'm not sure of its features. * Note that this bug specifically aims to replace only the JS libraries, not the YUI CSS framework.
I have a git branch available with my progress: ip-bug-5481-jquery-ui-2010-12-09 at http://gitorious.org/koha-dev/koha-dev
Demo of patron search autocomplete: http://screencast.com/t/LsxNxqZCbuN This implementation changes two aspects of the search: 1. The search form is populated with the patron's card number instead of first and last name. Searching by first and last name could potentially return more than one result. Card number is unambiguous. 2. The search form is submitted automatically when the user selects an entry. I would appreciate comments about these two changes if anyone disagrees with them.
Another change: the jQueryUI autocomplete widget lets you specify a minimum number of characters the user must type before the search is initiated. In my example the number is set to 3. Does that sound reasonable?
Updates to autocomplete are now committed to my development branch. Patron search autocomplete seems to be working across browsers. Patron attribute autocomplete on overdue.pl is working across browsers with the exception of IE8 (the only IE I've tested in). In IE8 the autocomplete is broken on cloned input fields.
sounds sensible to me
*** Bug 7179 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 7182 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
http://gitorious.org/koha-dev/koha-dev/commits/ip-bug-5481-tt-jquery-ui-2011-04-12
Owen, all linked bugs are closed by now - are you finished here? :)
All linked bugs are closed - I am being brave and close this. Feel free to reopen :)