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I'm having some problems with hashes in Chrome (and Safari). I'm using the hash to store a search string and updating it as its entered. So I only add 1 entry to the history per search, I replace the current history entry as it's typed in.*

location.replace(location.href.slice(0, -location.href.split("#!")[1].length - 2) + searchHash);

This doesn't seem to work in Webkit, but I did manage to work around it with

history.back(1);
setTimeout(function () { location.hash = searchHash; }, 50);

Unfortunately Chrome will often change the URL itself based on my browsing history. So if I've searched for frog (/#!search/frog) before and now start searching for frisking (/#!search/frisking), Chrome will helpfully autocomplete /#!search/fr to /#!search/frog. Mostly this is just confusing for people who want to link to that particular search, but sometimes Chrome has launched a separate part of the site when it decided the search term looked like the hash for one of the other pages.

Chrome autocompleting stuff as I type is often very useful, but I just can't see the value of autocompleting URLs entered by JavaScript. Is there a way of preventing this? Am I doing something wrong here?

* I couldn't use location.hash as Fx decodes it.

Update: If I remove history.back(1), Chrome no longer autocompletes the hash (J. Steen's answer).

Community
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meloncholy
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1 Answers1

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Several sites I've seen this kind of tech implemented at, use a delay in the input so that the location is only updated after, say, the user has stopped typing for 500 milliseconds. That way, there is only the one history entry. The page and search result, meanwhile, is updated instantly as the user types via e.g. ajax.

http://www.prisjakt.nu is a swedish site that utilizes this strategy.

J. Steen
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  • Thanks for the idea. It doesn't work if someone types slowly of course, but it's probably good enough. Interestingly I found (after trying the site you suggested) that Chrome doesn't autocomplete URLs if I remove history.back(1) - seems like a bug to me. – meloncholy May 13 '11 at 16:57
  • Strange. But something to remember. =) – J. Steen May 20 '11 at 09:14
  • I was out of the office for a few days, but I've now done this and it does indeed seem good enough until Chrome (hopefully) gets fixed. :) Thanks again! – meloncholy May 24 '11 at 15:15