Is there any way when I choose an option not to clear previously typed data in the input - jquery-autocomplete

Question

The problem is this:
In my programme at first the user gets options for a first name - so hopefully he likes something from the options and he chooses it -so far everything is OK!
But then when he types space he starts receiving options for second name and a if he likes something and chooses it - then the Autocomplete just erases the first name. Is there any way I can change that?
hello Rich thank you very much or your response - now i've decided to change my task and here is what I made when a user types for example I character i get all the first names that start with I- so far no problem! ANd when he types the white space and K for example I make request to my web service that gets the middle names that starts with K or the last names that start with K (one of them should start with K for Iwelina), so in this case for Iwelina Ive got RADULSKA KOSEWA and KOSEWA NEDEWA! For the source of autocomplete I concatenate iwelina with (radulska kosewa)and iwelina with (KOSEWA NEDEWA) so at the end I've got IWELINA IELINA RADULSKA KOSEWA and IWELINA KOSEWA NEDEWA!!! the only problem is that when i type Iwelina K i get only IWELINA KOSEWA NEDEWA!!!here is the code for autocomlete
$('#input').autocomplete({
source: function(request, response) {
var matcher = new RegExp( $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term, " "));
var data = $.grep( srcAutoComp, function(value) {
return matcher.test( value.label || value.value || value );
});
response(data);
}
});
if you know how i can change it I will be glad for the help

Answer 1

I don't understand how, when the user begines to type the second name, he's getting results that are only the last name. For example, if he types "Joh" and selects "John" from the options, and then continues to type "John Do", then how is it possible that your drop down gives him results for only the last name, like "Doe"?
At any rate, assuming this is truly happening, you could just combine all combinations of first and last names in your source data and that will show "John Doe" in the drop down when the user types "Joh" selects "John" and then continues to type "John Do".
Another way to do this is with a complicated change to the search and response events to search after a space if it is there, and recombine it with the first string after the search for the last name is complete. If you give me your source data, I could put something together for this.