PubMed autocomplete should be called directly, not via server-side PHP script

[matthias-samwald]

The current solution is too sluggish, also it might eventually get the FindMeEvidence server banned from the NCBI API because of too many requests.

Re-implement as direct AJAX calls from the browser to the PubMed API.

[gpetz]

doing a cross-domain ajax requests with $.getJSON returns: ReferenceError: NSuggest_CreateData is not defined http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/portal/utils/autocomp.fcgi?dict=pm_related_queries_2&callback=jQuery19107535881639678947_1410267864034&q=diabet&_=1410267864035 because "As of jQuery 1.4, if the JSON file contains a syntax error, the request will usually fail silently."

doing a cross-domain ajax request with $.get returns: Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/portal/utils/autocomp.fcgi?dict=pm_related_queries_2&callback=?&q=diabet. This can be fixed by moving the resource to the same domain or enabling CORS. http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/portal/utils/autocomp.fcgi?dict=pm_related_queries_2&callback=?&q=diabet

what I don't get, why https://gist.github.com/gpetz/55050eaac9f5e183acd4 is working

[matthias-samwald]

Well I guess the error is still caused by the cliend-side, not the remote PubMed server, right?

[gpetz]

@ReferenceError: As the NCBI API doesn't return valid JSON, we can't do JSONP. (The same-origin policy prevents access to DOM on different sites!) The do that to stop anyone outside ncbi.nlm.nih.gov from accessing the data.

@Cross-Origin Request Blocked: Using a CORS proxy somehow works

@Gist Code: The 'return false;' (https://gist.github.com/gpetz/55050eaac9f5e183acd4#file-pubmed-L13) is somehow important.

[matthias-samwald]

"Working hack" sounds good enough for the time being, right?

[gpetz]

successfully tested it on mobile versions of Safari, Firefox and Chrome:

(fixed checkbox size issue in 3984e479a74b1140453e270bde1f9109f39689dc)