CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondjangosearchdjango-modelsdjango-forms
Alfarhan Zahedi
Alfarhan Zahedi

Reputation: 160

Live Search in Django

I am working on a Django application that requires the implementation of live search i.e. filtering and displaying the search result every time the form input is changed.

For example:

Consider I wanted to search my database for books when a book "name" is provided. Now, I want to suggest books which has a "name" similar to the "name" provided as input.

And, I want these suggestions to be live - every time the input field for "name" is changed, my application should provide new and more accurate suggestions.

How should I go about doing that?

I have two solutions in mind.

Solution - 1

Use jQuery and do AJAX calls to fetch new suggestions, every time the content of the input field for "name" is changed.

Solution - 2

Fetch all the books available in the database and store it in a JS array and then use this array to provide suggestions.



I think solution - 2 would not be feasible for large databases as we will not able to create arrays of such large sizes.

So, solution - 1 is the only option left for large databases.

Or are there any other ways to implement this "live search" option ?

If yes, then what are they?

else, what are the ways in which I can optimize solution - 1 ?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 5952

Answers (1)

PhoebeB
PhoebeB

Reputation: 8570

For small data 100s of records, maybe 1000s if they are not too big, approach 2 is okay.

For larger data, approach 1 is better: Have a look at the typeahead library: https://twitter.github.io/typeahead.js/ - you can create an api using http://www.django-rest-framework.org/

For large data I use elasticsearch to mirror the data from the models. This library is a good way to get started: https://github.com/jaddison/django-simple-elasticsearch

Upvotes: 2

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