Usage - freebase-suggest

Updated Nov 20, 2008 by daepark

Usage

Requires at least jquery-1.2.2.

freebaseSuggest() provides a way to attach Freebase suggestion behavior to a text input using the Freebase.com autocomplete service.

freebaseSuggest accepts an optional argument which is a dictionary that could overwrite one or more default settings as described below.

width	This is the width of the suggestion list and the flyout in pixels. Default is 275.
soft	Soft suggestion. If true, DO NOT auto-select first item in the suggestion list. Otherwise, select first item. Default is true.
suggest_new	To enable a suggest new option, set text to a non-null string. This is the string displayed for the suggest new option (eg, "Create new topic"). Default is null.
flyout	To enable flyout to show additional information for the currently highlighted item including a thumbnail and blurb. Default is true.
service_url	This the base url to all the api services like autocomplete, blurbs and thumbnails. Default is "http://www.freebase.com".
ac_path	The path to the autcomplete service. Default is "/api/service/search".
ac_param	A dictionary of query parameters to the autocomplete service. see http://code.google.com/p/freebase-suggest/wiki/FreebaseAPISearch
ac_qstr	This is the parameter name to be passed to the autocomplete service for the string to autocomplete on. Default is 'prefix'. The parameter value will be what the user typed in the input. see http://code.google.com/p/freebase-suggest/wiki/FreebaseAPISearch
blurb_path	The path to the blurb service for the description to be shown in the flyout. Default is "/api/trans/blurb".
blurb_param	The query parameters to the blurb service. Default is { maxlength: 300 }.
thumbnail_path	The path to the thumbnail service to be shown in the flyout. Default is "/api/trans/image_thumb".
thumbnail_param	The query paramters to the thumbnail service. Default is {}.
filter	Specify a filter function if you want to filter any of the items returned by ac_path service. The function is called with one argument representing an item from the ac_path result. The function should return TRUE to include the item or FALSE to exclude. Default is a function that returns TRUE. See fbs.filter
transform	Specify a transform function if you want to transform the default display of the suggest list item. See fbs.transform

In addition, freebaseSuggest will trigger the following events on behalf of the input it's attached to. They include:

fb-select	Triggered when something is selected from the suggestion list. The data object will contain id and name fields: { id: aString, name: aString }.
fb-select-new	Triggered when the suggest_new option is selected. The data object will only contain a name field: { name: aString }.

Example 1. Attach Freebase suggestion behavior to #myInput with default options and on 'fb-select', output the selected id to the console.

$('#myInput')
     .freebaseSuggest()
     .bind('fb-select', function(e, data) { console.log('suggest: ', data.id); })

Example 2. Soft suggestion on instances of '/film/film' with a suggest new option and output the various events to the console.

var options = {
     soft: true,
     suggest_new: 'Create new Film',
     ac_param: {
         type: '/film/film',
     }
};
$('#myInput')
     .freebaseSuggest(options)
     .bind('fb-select', function(e, data) { console.log('suggest: ', data.id); })
     .bind('fb-select-new', function(e, data) { console.log('suggest new: ', data.name); });