Asp.Net Autocomplete set_contextKey "Object doesn't support this property or method"

Question

I am facing a problem while setting the context key from the client side using jquery and javascript. It is unable to find the function set_contextKey of AutoCompleteExtender of ASP.Net.

Here is my HTML for textbox and AutoCompleteExtender...

<asp:TextBox ID="txtProduct" runat="server" AutoPostBack="true" OnTextChanged="txtProduct_TextChanged" Width="181px" /><ajaxToolkit:AutoCompleteExtender
    ID="AutoCompleteExtender_txtProduct" BehaviorID="acExt" runat="server" TargetControlID="txtProduct"
    CompletionListCssClass="autocomplete_completionListElement" CompletionListItemCssClass="autocomplete_listItem"
    CompletionListHighlightedItemCssClass="autocomplete_highlightedListItem" MinimumPrefixLength="2"
    CompletionInterval="1000" ServicePath="~/WS/Service.svc" ServiceMethod="GetProductsByName"
    EnableCaching="true" DelimiterCharacters=";" UseContextKey="true" OnClientItemSelected="txtProduct_ClientItemSelected">
</ajaxToolkit:AutoCompleteExtender>

and the jquery on change of a dropdownlist is:

function ddlStore_onchange() {
    $('#acExt').set_contextKey($('#<%= ddlStore.ClientID %>').val());
}

It is throwing the error on set_contextKey function. Can anybody explain what I am doing wrong here...

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 07 '11 at 09:10

3

I found out that replacing the line

$('#acExt').set_contextKey($('#<%= ddlStore.ClientID %>').val());

with this line

$find('acExt').set_contextKey($('#<%= ddlStore.ClientID %>').val());

resolved the issue. Don't know why exactly, can anybody help on this ?

answered Apr 07 '11 at 09:10

Naveed Butt

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`$find` is of AJAX and it returns the whole component rather than a simple `Javascript` or `jquery` object, that is why, it is able to find the method `set_contextKey` using `$find` – Naveed Butt Apr 07 '11 at 19:48
The problem here is the # character, in jquery is used to make a reference to the id of the object. When you use the $find you dont need the # characer because is not jquery, just the BehaviorID used or defined in your auto complete control. – Juan Apr 22 '15 at 01:46

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 24 '12 at 12:29

So there are really 2 problems for why the first didn't work:

Using $find() from asp.net ajax toolkit extends objects and adds method properties like .set_contextKey. Using jquery selectors on the same objects will not work.
In addition, the #acExt selector implies client-side id tag "acExt". asp.net (< 4.0) will add a long prefix to the actual client side IDs.

If you want to select asp.net server tags in jQuery, use the property/endswith selector $([id$='serverID']) instead.

Asp.Net Autocomplete set_contextKey "Object doesn't support this property or method"

2 Answers2