Primefaces: Input Text / Overlay panel / Retain focus - jsf

Question

We have a p:inputText element that should display an overlay panel for various options. (Its a global search, so you can tick categories to search in)
Users usually click in the textbox, start typing and THEN look at the screen again
The Problem is: As soon as the overlay panel is shown, the textbox looses its focus.
<p:inputText id="searchItem"></p:inputText>
<p:overlayPanel id="gsOverlay" for="searchItem" my="left top"
at="left bottom" dynamic="true"
onShow="resizeGSOverlay();">
So i tried to fix this, by immediately focusing back on the "search" inputtext using
<p:overlayPanel id="gsOverlay" for="searchItem" my="left top"
at="left bottom" dynamic="true"
onShow="PrimeFaces.focus('globalSearchForm:searchItem'); resizeGSOverlay();">
However, there is a split second, where the inputfield lost focus, leading to searches missing the first charater.
Can i display the overlay panel, without having the inputtext loosing its focus? (Each component inside the overlay panel will focus back after clicking, that's fast enough - just the initial focus-back is to slow)

Answer 1

Just found the "holy grail":
Default for the overlayPanel is:
PrimeFaces.widget.OverlayPanel.prototype.applyFocus = function(){
this.jq.find(':not(:submit):not(:button):input:visible:enabled:first').focus();
}
so, I just put the following javascript AFTER including the primefaces resources, which will then override the default implementation:
<script type="text/javascript">
PrimeFaces.widget.OverlayPanel.prototype.applyFocus = function() {
if (this.id == "globalSearchForm:gsOverlay")
return;
else
this.jq.find(':not(:submit):not(:button):input:visible:enabled:first').focus();
}
</script>
So - No focus for any element within the overlay panel in question once it becomes visible. Works like a charm.
Update:
using the Proxy Pattern (http://api.jquery.com/Types/#Proxy_Pattern) seems a more reliable solution, as it avoids the need to duplicate the content of the original implementation, which might be different in one of the next Primefaces releases:
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var proxied = PrimeFaces.widget.OverlayPanel.prototype.applyFocus;
PrimeFaces.widget.OverlayPanel.prototype.applyFocus = function(){
if (this.id == "globalSearchForm:gsOverlay")
return;
return proxied.apply(this, arguments);
};
})();
</script>