How to use ajax with autocomplete in jquery?

What are some systematic approaches to using jQuery with Django?

• Every time the question about doing Ajax with Django comes up the answer is "just use your favorite JS framework". Unfortunately  this answer isn't very helpful. My favorite JS framework is jQuery, but after using it in Django applications for 2 years I still feel something is missing. jQuery is simply too low-level to be a complete answer. Whenever you try to "just use it" you end up with a horrible mess of JS code once (if) the project grows big enough. So what I'm looking for is: 1. A higher-level Ajax framework for Django based on jQuery 2. Miscellaneous bits that address specific tasks like django-ajax-validation  3. Good patterns to be followed, for example universal answers to questions like:  - How to pass urls to js code while keeping js separate from html templates?  - How to use localized strings in javascript?  - When it's better to render UI on the server and when on the client?  - etc. 4. Any other advice or experience on the matter.

• Answer:

  I think it's not so much that jQuery is "too low level", it's more that it's a nice utility library that will not function as a framework for you. As such, it's not surprising that you're finding that you have to hook up the handlers yourself and you inject choice variables in your Django templates. Having used both Pylons and Django with jQuery, I'd say that you're actually worse off w/ Django because it likes to make sure you use its templates and its ORM and its formsets. Most of the time, I'm finding myself fighting with Django in trying to get things done beyond its rigid structure, esp. when complex JS is involved. That said, this is not a problem with jQuery, Django, or this combination; the divide between client and server, with different languages, will always be a bit messy. This is why node.js is so promising; you can build models, write out templates in the language on both sides. Google Web Toolkit will do the same, but in Java on both sides. Alternatively, you can build out the entire model and template in client-side Javascript with frameworks like Google closure and JavascriptMVC; your server side will then just act as a transport layer between your AJAX returns and database. Sorry I didn't really answer your question, as I realized that most of my answers were either "none exist" or "don't use it".