axel37
commented
1 year ago I recently had the need for a similar field :
- Autocompletion : As the user types, autocompleted list of entities appears
- Store a text representation, not a reference : The stored value is the entity's
__toString() - Allow new entries : Since we're not storing a reference, allow user to submit an unknown value
+ Some requirements asking for ability to configure said field :
- Strict / Non-strict : Whether typing an unknown value is allowed
- Single / Multiple : Whether multiple choices are allowed
- Text representation format : Allow configuring the format of the textual representation (going beyond
__toString(): in my implementation, we're using ExpressionLanguage)
weaverryan
carsonbot
Right now you are required to make your own autocomplete endpoint when using a TextType field (as per documentation and in practice). In many cases all you want is just the data to be stuck into the text field - in my case, it's a company name. So you can reuse the same entity lookup code, just return the same data for the
valuethat is returned fortextin this case.I have a table where I import on daily basis the registry of all active companies for my country, it's used as a dictionary for autocomplete to speed up the lookup and reduce mistakes by users, I can also pre-fill some other fields in the form by doing some JS (like pre-fill company address, registration data, etc), but it also allows entering anything into the field (an international company for example) - I do not need strict entity validation on the backend, nor do I even want to link to that dictionary table - I am creating an actual proper company record from the form that's being filled in.