Auto-complete

Purpose

The HTML5 input list attribute and the datalist element add auto-complete functionality to specific text input fields by dynamically displaying a list of words that match the user’s input. Because some browsers do not support this functionality natively, this polyfill emulates the same functionality using generic HTML and WAI-ARIA. Browsers that do not support the input list attribute and the datalist element natively ignore the auto-complete functionality and therefore, the text input field behaves like it normally does.

Benefits

• In cases where a browser doesn't support the attribute and element, the polyfill is automatically loaded.
• This polyfill ensures that the auto-complete functionality is added to the text input field and the necessary information is exposed to assistive technologies by adding WAI-ARIA.

Example code

<label for="city">City</label>
<input type="text" id="city" name="city" list="suggestions" />
<datalist id="suggestions">
	<!--[if lte IE 9]><select><![endif]-->
	<option label="" value="Calgary"></option>
	<option label="" value="Edmonton"></option>
	<option label="" value="Iqualuit"></option>
	<option label="" value="Ottawa"></option>
	<option label="" value="Montreal"></option>
	<option label="" value="St. John"></option>
	<option label="" value="St. John's"></option>
	<option label="" value="Toronto"></option>
	<option label="" value="Vancouver"></option>
	<option label="" value="Whitehorse"></option>
	<option label="" value="Winnipeg"></option>
	<option label="" value="Yellowknife"></option>
	<!--[if lte IE 9]></select><![endif]-->
</datalist>

Working example