Optimised search using Ajax and keypress

You can do something like this:

$('#searchString').keyup(function(e) {    clearTimeout($.data(this, 'timer'));    if (e.keyCode == 13)      search(true);    else      $(this).data('timer', setTimeout(search, 500));});function search(force) {    var existingString = $("#searchString").val();    if (!force && existingString.length < 3) return; //wasn't enter, not > 2 char    $.get('/Tracker/Search/' + existingString, function(data) {        $('div#results').html(data);        $('#results').show();    });}

What this does is perform a search (on keyup, better than keypress for these situations) after 500ms by storing a timer on the #searchString element's .data() collection. Every keyup it clears that timer, and if the key was enter, searches immediately, if it wasn't sets a another 500ms timeout before auto-searching.

See this older question:

How do I make my live jQuery search wait a second before performing the search?

What I would do is each key press use a setTimeout function with the desired delay. So that function will fire after that timeout. Each key press then delete the timer and set a new one, with clearTimeout();

See here for some examples, scrolling past all the adverts.

http://www.elated.com/articles/javascript-timers-with-settimeout-and-setinterval/