Adding search and insert in text input

[Phil Hughes]

I have a table with a text area. I want to be able to insert a clickable reference to a a record in another table while entering/editing the text. Ideally, I should be able to search the table I want to reference to find the entry I want to point to. I am sure I can do this with AJAX but, well, AJAX is not my forte.

Here is a more detailed description -- not what I am doing but easier to explain.

Let's say the table I want to reference is colors and the table I am editing describes cars. I want to be able to enter text such as "This car is <blue>" where blue would be a a clickable reference into the color table. Clearly easy if the color table is short but what I will reference will eventually have thousands of records. Thus, the need for the search.

Clues and/or examples appreciated. Thanks.

[Ron Chatterjee]

Read the cookbook for web2py. I believe its chapter 4

[黄祥]

i think you can use represent on this 

e.g.

for reference link :

db.employee.bank.represent = lambda bank, field: \

A(bank.bank, _title=T("eBanking"), _target="_blank", _href="%s" % bank.ebanking) if bank else ''

for colored value

db.product.status.represent = lambda status, field: SPAN(product_status[status], _class = 'text-success' if status == 'Sold' else 'text-warning' if status == 'Hold' else 'text-error')

best regards,

stifan