Regular <select> input is nice, but quite limited. For example, it is hard to use this control on a large set of options. To provide a solution, I have implemented drop down list based on a text input filed but with a dynamic list of options that gets filtered as you type.
xxxxxxxxxx<div class="w2ui-field"> <label>List:</label> <div> <input type="list"> <span class="legend">Cannot type any text, but only items from the list</span> </div></div><div style="height: 10px"></div><div class="w2ui-field"> <label>Combo:</label> <div> <input type="combo"> <span class="legend">You can type any text</span> </div></div><div style="height: 20px"></div><script>$(function () { var people = ['George Washington', 'John Adams', 'Thomas Jefferson', 'James Buchanan', 'James Madison', 'Abraham Lincoln', 'James Monroe', 'Andrew Johnson', 'John Adams', 'Ulysses Grant', 'Andrew Jackson', 'Rutherford Hayes', 'Martin Van Buren', 'James Garfield', 'William Harrison', 'Chester Arthur', 'John Tyler', 'Grover Cleveland', 'James Polk', 'Benjamin Harrison', 'Zachary Taylor', 'Grover Cleveland', 'Millard Fillmore', 'William McKinley', 'Franklin Pierce', 'Theodore Roosevelt', 'John Kennedy', 'William Howard', 'Lyndon Johnson', 'Woodrow Wilson', 'Richard Nixon', 'Warren Harding', 'Gerald Ford', 'Calvin Coolidge', 'James Carter', 'Herbert Hoover', 'Ronald Reagan', 'Franklin Roosevelt', 'George Bush', 'Harry Truman', 'William Clinton', 'Dwight Eisenhower', 'George W. Bush', 'Barack Obama']; $('input[type=list]').w2field('list', { items: people }); $('input[type=combo]').w2field('combo', { items: people });});</script>xxxxxxxxxxoptions = { items : [], // array of item objects, can be a function selected : {}, // selected object url : null, // url to pull data from (can support similar format as w2grid) method : null, // default comes from w2utils.settings.dataType postData : {}, // additional data to submit to URL minLength : 1, // min search length to trigger reload from URL cacheMax : 250, // number of items to cache if retrieved from URL maxDropHeight : 350, // max height for drop down menu maxDropWidth : null, // max width for drop down menu match : 'begins', // ['contains', 'is', 'begins', 'ends'] silent : true, // indicates if to display error tag icon : null, // icon class for selected item iconStyle : '', // icon style for selected item onSearch : null, // when search needs to be performed onRequest : null, // when request is submitted onLoad : null, // when data is received onError : null, // when data fails to load due to server error or other failure modes onIconClick : null, // when icon is clicked renderDrop : null, // render function for drop down item compare : null, // compare functtion while searching filter : true, // filter as user types prefix : '', // prefix for control suffix : '', // suffix for control msgNoItems : '', // message when nothing found, can be a function openOnFocus : false, // if to show overlay onclick or when typing markSearch : false, // indicated if to mark search string in the drop down recId : null, // map retrieved data from url to id, can be string or function recText : null, // map retrieved data from url to text, can be string or function};xxxxxxxxxxoptions = { id : '', // unique id text : '', // item text icon : '', // icon class if any img : '', // image class if any disabled : false, // indicates if disabled hidden : false, // indicates if hidden count : null // count to display on the right};xxxxxxxxxx$('input[type=combo]').data('selected', { id: 1, text: 'Some text'}).change();// or$('input[type=combo]').w2field().set({ id: 1, text: 'Some text'});xxxxxxxxxx$('input[type=combo]').data('selected', { id: 1, text: 'Some text'}).data('w2field').refresh();