jQuery UI Autocomplete Width Not Set Correctly

Question

I have implemented a jQuery UI Autocomplete box, and rather than being the width of the textbox, the dropdown options are expanding to fill the remaining width of the page.

Have a look at this example to see it for yourself: http://jsbin.com/ojoxa4

I have tried setting the width of the list immediately after creating it, like so:

$('.ui-autocomplete:last').css('width',
                               $('#currentControlID').width()
                              );

This appears to do nothing.

I have also tried setting the width using on-page styles:

ui-autocomplete { width: 500px; }

This DOES work, amazingly, however it would mean that all autocompletes on a page would have to be the same width, which is not ideal.

Is there a way to set the width of each menu individually? Or better, can anyone explain why the widths are not working correctly for me?

Answer 1

I use this drop-in solution:

jQuery.ui.autocomplete.prototype._resizeMenu = function () {
  var ul = this.menu.element;
  ul.outerWidth(this.element.outerWidth());
}

That's basically @madcapnmckay's solution, but that doesn't need to change the original source.