jQuery UI -> autocomplete -> ON select -> ui item is undefined

Question

I have an autocompleter on my page that fetches and displays the data correctly.... when it stops working properly is on select event....

$("#fld_search1").catcomplete({
        delay: 50,
        minLength: 2,
        open: function(e, ui){
            if(searching) return;
            //console.log($(this).data('catcomplete'));
            var acData = $(this).data('catcomplete');
           var styledTerm = '<strong>%s</strong>'.replace('%s', acData.term);


            acData.menu
                .element
                .find('li a')
                .each(function() {
                    var me = $(this);
                    me.html( me.text().replace(acData.term, styledTerm) );
                });
            //return match.replace(new RegExp("("+keywords+")", "gi"),'<i>$1</i>');
        },
        select: function(event, ui) {
            var I = ui.item;
            top.console.log(ui);
            $("#fld_search1" ).catcomplete("close");

            $('#fld_search1').val(I.name);
            window.location = '/podjetje/'+I.value+'.html';
            //$('#frm_company_id').val(I.value);
            return false;
        },
        source: function( request, response ) {


            search_term = request.term;

            if ( search_term in cache ) {
                response( cache[ tesearch_termrm ] );
                return;
            }


            var suggest_url = "/companies/find_company.json";


            $.ajax({
                url: suggest_url,
                dataType: "json",
                type : "POST",
                data: {
                    owner: request.term
                },
                success: function( data ) {
                    response( $.map( data, function( item ) {
                        var alabel = item.label.replace(
                                new RegExp('(' +
                                    $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term) +
                                    ')'), 
                            "<b>$1</b>" );
                        return {
                            value: item.value,
                            label: item.label,
                            name: item.name,
                            category: item.category
                        }
                    }));
                }
            });


        }
    });

so it doesn't get the ui object...

if I do top.console.log(ui) I get an object with one property->item... that is undefined... so if I log the I value I get undefined... how is this possible?

this is in 1.9.1

if I change it and use 1.9.2 the menu ALWAYS closes on mouseover... if I use autoFocus, it doesn't even open!

Solution

Today I had the same problem with the undefined ui.item property. After some debugging I found the solution. The jQuery UI team changed the Autocomplete with categories example code a little. When you view the examples source code you'll see:

<script>
    $.widget( "custom.catcomplete", $.ui.autocomplete, {
        _renderMenu: function( ul, items ) {
            var that = this,
                currentCategory = "";
            $.each( items, function( index, item ) {
                if ( item.category != currentCategory ) {
                    ul.append( "<li class='ui-autocomplete-category'>" + item.category + "</li>" );
                    currentCategory = item.category;
                }
                that._renderItemData( ul, item );
            });
        }
    });
    </script>

The line with that._renderItemData( ul, item ); used to be (in pre 1.9 versions) that._renderItem( ul, item );. See also: bug #8560. But this isn't mentioned in the 1.9 Upgrade Guide.

So I changed my plugin to use the _renderItemData(...,...) function and that solved the problem.

Hope this helps!