.. _AutoCompleteEngine:

Auto-Complete Engine
--------------------

Several widgets of TopBraid's user interface are using auto-complete to select assets.
Users start typing the first few characters of a name and the system suggests matching instances of a given class.
You can find examples of this in the *Quick Search* fields above the :ref:`ClassHierarchyPanel` or :ref:`TaxonomyConceptsPanel` and on various input fields of the :ref:`FormPanel`.

Developers can also access the same functionality, using the API function ``tbs.autoComplete`` and the SPARQL property function (magic property) ``tbs:autoComplete``.

.. note::
   The auto-complete index is a dedicated in-memory data structure in TopBraid that is based on
   the display labels of all instances of a given class.
   It uses ``rdfs:label`` and its sub-properties such as ``skos:prefLabel``.

.. warning::
   Auto-complete index only works correctly if the label statements (triples) are in the same graph
   as the ``rdf:type`` statements.

If you encounter problems with the auto-complete, such as slowness, see the 
:ref:`ProductConfigurationParametersAdminPage` which has configuration parameters to switch the index off (in case it needs too much memory) or to limit the complexity (to avoid worst-case scenarios that take up too many server resources).

**See Also**

* :ref:`AutoCompleteConfigurationSection`
* :ref:`AutoCompleteManagementAdminPage`

**Further Reading on TopBraid**

* :ref:`introduction`