Fixed #872 - forceSelection for AutoComplete

src/components/autocomplete/AutoComplete.d.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ declare class AutoComplete extends Vue {
     appendTo?: string;
     inputStyle?: any;
     inputClass?: string;
+    forceSelection?: boolean;
     $emit(eventName: 'item-select', e: {originalEvent: Event, value: any}): this;
     $emit(eventName: 'item-unselect', e: {originalEvent: Event, value: any}): this;
     $emit(eventName: 'dropdown-click', e: {originalEvent: Event, query: string}): this;

src/components/autocomplete/AutoComplete.vue

@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 <template>
     <span ref="container" :class="containerClass" aria-haspopup="listbox" :aria-owns="listId" :aria-expanded="overlayVisible" :style="style">
-        <input ref="input" :class="inputFieldClass" :style="inputStyle" v-bind="$attrs" :value="inputValue" @input="onInput" @focus="onFocus" @blur="onBlur" @keydown="onKeyDown" type="text" autoComplete="off" v-if="!multiple"
-            role="searchbox" aria-autocomplete="list" :aria-controls="listId">
+        <input ref="input" :class="inputFieldClass" :style="inputStyle" v-bind="$attrs" :value="inputValue" @input="onInput" @focus="onFocus" @blur="onBlur" @keydown="onKeyDown" @change="onChange" 
+            type="text" autoComplete="off" v-if="!multiple" role="searchbox" aria-autocomplete="list" :aria-controls="listId">
         <ul ref="multiContainer" :class="multiContainerClass" v-if="multiple" @click="onMultiContainerClick">
             <li v-for="(item, i) of modelValue" :key="i" class="p-autocomplete-token">
                 <span class="p-autocomplete-token-label">{{getItemContent(item)}}</span>
                 <span class="p-autocomplete-token-icon pi pi-times-circle" @click="removeItem($event, i)"></span>
             </li>
             <li class="p-autocomplete-input-token">
-                <input ref="input" type="text" autoComplete="off" v-bind="$attrs" @input="onInput" @focus="onFocus" @blur="onBlur" @keydown="onKeyDown"
+                <input ref="input" type="text" autoComplete="off" v-bind="$attrs" @input="onInput" @focus="onFocus" @blur="onBlur" @keydown="onKeyDown"  @change="onChange" 
                     role="searchbox" aria-autocomplete="list" :aria-controls="listId">
             </li>
         </ul>
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ export default {
             type: String,
             default: null
         },
+        forceSelection: {
+            type: Boolean,
+            default: false
+        },
         inputClass: null,
         inputStyle: null,
         class: null,
@@ -403,6 +407,30 @@ export default {
                 }
             }
         },
+        onChange(event) {
+            if (this.forceSelection) {
+                let valid = false;
+                let inputValue = event.target.value.trim();
+                
+                if (this.suggestions)  {
+                    for (let item of this.suggestions) {
+                        let itemValue = this.field ? ObjectUtils.resolveFieldData(item, this.field) : item;
+                        if (itemValue && inputValue === itemValue.trim()) {
+                            valid = true;
+                            this.selectItem(event, item);
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
+                if (!valid) {
+                    this.$refs.input.value = '';
+                    this.inputTextValue = '';
+                    this.$emit('clear');
+                    this.$emit('update:modelValue', null);
+                }
+            }
+        },
         isSelected(val) {
             let selected = false;
             if (this.modelValue && this.modelValue.length) {

src/views/autocomplete/AutoCompleteDemo.vue

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
                 <h5>Basic</h5>
                 <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry1" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" field="name" />
 
-                <h5>Dropdown and Templating</h5>
-                <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name">
+                <h5>Dropdown, Templating and Force Selection</h5>
+                <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name" forceSelection>
                     <template #item="slotProps">
                         <div class="country-item">
                             <img src="../../assets/images/flag_placeholder.png" :class="'flag flag-' + slotProps.item.code.toLowerCase()" />

src/views/autocomplete/AutoCompleteDoc.vue

@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@ export default {
 <pre v-code><code>
 &lt;AutoComplete field="label" v-model="selectedCountry" :suggestions="filteredCountriesBasic" @complete="searchCountryBasic($event)" /&gt;
 
+</code></pre>
+
+                <h5>Force Selection</h5>
+                <p>ForceSelection mode validates the manual input to check whether it also exists in the suggestions list, if not the input value is cleared
+                to make sure the value passed to the model is always one of the suggestions. Simply enable <i>forceSelection</i> to enforce that input is always from the suggestion list.</p>
+<pre v-code><code>
+&lt;AutoComplete forceSelection v-model="brand" :suggestions="filteredBrands" @complete="searchBrand($event)" /&gt;
+
 </code></pre>
 
 				<h5>Templating</h5>
@@ -158,6 +166,13 @@ export default {
                                 <td>string</td>
                                 <td>null</td>
                                 <td>Style class of the input field.</td>
+                            </tr>
+                            <tr>
+                                <td>forceSelection</td>
+                                <td>boolean</td>
+                                <td>false</td>
+                                <td>When present, autocomplete clears the manual input if it does not match of the suggestions to force only
+                                accepting values from the suggestions.</td>
                             </tr>
 						</tbody>
 					</table>
@@ -270,8 +285,8 @@ export default {
 &lt;h5&gt;Basic&lt;/h5&gt;
 &lt;AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry1" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" field="name" /&gt;
 
-&lt;h5&gt;Dropdown and Templating&lt;/h5&gt;
-&lt;AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name"&gt;
+&lt;h5&gt;Dropdown, Templating and Force Selection&lt;/h5&gt;
+&lt;AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name" forceSelection&gt;
     &lt;template #item="slotProps"&gt;
         &lt;div class="country-item"&gt;
             &lt;img src="../../assets/images/flag_placeholder.png" :class="'flag flag-' + slotProps.item.code.toLowerCase()" /&gt;
@@ -343,8 +358,8 @@ export default {
                 <h5>Basic</h5>
                 <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry1" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" field="name" />
 
-                <h5>Dropdown and Templating</h5>
-                <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name">
+                <h5>Dropdown, Templating and Force Selection</h5>
+                <AutoComplete v-model="selectedCountry2" :suggestions="filteredCountries" @complete="searchCountry($event)" :dropdown="true" field="name" forceSelection>
                     <template #item="slotProps">
                         <div class="country-item">
                             <img src="https://www.primefaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/placeholder.png" />