Autocomplete from external source for dexterity field

fmacias64 · March 21, 2018, 7:02pm

Hi !

How can i configure an ajax autocompletion from an external source for a dexterity field ( in Plone 5)
(let's say the external source is: json output from php-mysql)

Any help / link would be apreciated

espenmn · March 21, 2018, 9:18pm

PS: This is not something I have done

I am not really sure what you need help to (do), but I think this is what you should do.

First you need to define a vocabulary. I would start by making a 'normal' vocabulary, like described here https://github.com/plone/plone.formwidget.autocomplete/tree/master/plone/formwidget/autocomplete

and when you got that working, modify the vocabulary

then you need to read the Json data (and construct the vocabulary). Does the data change all the time ( = you have to change the vocabulary 'again'). Maybe you have to decide what to do if the external source goes down ?

Reading the Json data is quite easy, maybe you can use something from here:

github.com

espenmn/Gabriel/blob/master/medialog.gabriel/medialog/gabriel/browser/views.py#L63-L65


f = urllib.urlopen(graph_url)
jsonfile=f.read()
year_data=json.loads(jsonfile)

dieter · March 21, 2018, 9:44pm

A vocabulary is static (it gets all its values on creation). Should that not be flexible enough, there is a generalization (called "Source") which allows for dynamic value determination,. Not sure, whether form.formwidget.autocomplete requires a vocabulary.

fmacias64 · March 21, 2018, 10:19pm

Thank you Espen !
The data does come from a changing database
The idea is to help data entry assistants with an autocomplete list where they can choose a valid option from the database. Let's say the name of a company , or individual of interest.

fmacias64 · March 21, 2018, 10:20pm

Thank you Dieter !
i'm going to check that option

espenmn · March 21, 2018, 10:39pm

I never understood how to make it 'not static', but some of the vocabularies seem to work correct 'anyway', for example I have one that uses the image scale sizes, and I think it works correct after adding more image scales:

github.com

espenmn/medialog.leadimagesize/blob/master/medialog/leadimagesize/vocabulary.py

from zope.interface import directlyProvides
from zope.schema.vocabulary import SimpleVocabulary, SimpleTerm
from zope.schema.interfaces import IVocabularyFactory
from plone import api

from zope.i18nmessageid import MessageFactory

_ = MessageFactory('medialog.leadimagesize')

def format_size(size):
    return "".join(size).split(' ')[0]


def LeadImageSizeVocabulary(context):
    sizes = []
    terms = []
        
    try:
        #Plone 5
        sizes = api.portal.get_registry_record('plone.allowed_sizes')

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dieter · March 22, 2018, 8:25am

The naming (and maybe the realization as well) in zope.schema related to the vocabulary option of the Choice field is not optimal. It allows as values either a vocabulary, a Source[Binder] or the ZA-registered name for a corresponding factory.

The LeadImpageSizeVocabulary in your example is not itself a "vocabulary" but a "vocabulary factory" (i.e. calling it results in a "vocabulary"). It constructs the real vocabulary (a SimpleVocabulary) at its end. The factory can return vocabularies with varying terms, either based on different contexts or because a database has changed.

You use a "Source[Binder]" instead of a simple vocabulary when the number of potential values is so large that it becomes unfeasible to handle them as a "unit". Examples are "selecting a user" (with a huge user base) , "selecting an object", etc.

espenmn · March 22, 2018, 10:18am

thanks for explaining, things are a bit clearer now