PHP search functionality question.

Question

Hey all,
Hope everyone is doing great. I'm creating a PHP application with a search functionality that provides dropdown suggestions similar to Google. Currently, as I type the query, it sends the search query incrementally with each keystroke. For example: `query: t, query: te, query: tes, query: test`. It's working fine, but I'm wondering if there's a more efficient way to handle this.

Here is a screenshot for your reference.

[image.png]

Victor · Accepted Answer

Just add a 150ms delay before sending the request.

And check this out. It might be helpful:

https://ux.symfony.com/live-component

I'm using it in all my projects. No custom JS required.

If you want to make your own, at least you can find some approaches there.

Shazeb Hussaini · Answer

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I was thinking it's making too many requests. That's why I thought there must be a way to use sockets or something similar for continuous data streaming. But I'm new to this, so I don't know for sure. That's why I'm asking here for advice from experienced people.

Martijn Smit · Answer

Hi Shazeb,

This is how all auto complete components that I'm seen work. Why do you think it needs optimizing? If it's slow, maybe there's a database index optimization needed. 😊

Ostap 🇺🇦 Brehin · Answer

Maybe worth adding throttling or debouncing on the client so that it sends the request after a few characters have been typed rather than sending a request on each character. That's what I remember is a standard practice with those searches.


Also, you might want to find a JS library to easily display those search results, or use something like Alpine.js with Tailwind and DIY.

Go to Homepage	`g` `h`
Go to Done Todos	`g` `d`
Go to Questions	`g` `q`
Compose a New Todo	`n`
Go to Search	`/`
Show this dialog	`?`

PHP search functionality question.

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