Caching data in autocompleteextender

Question

I would like to know how does autocompleteextender retrieve data using webservice. Does it re-call webservice each time new letter is typed or the webservice is called once on control load, and then the subset is parsed on each letter change using the given match.

Thanks

Answer 1

The AutoCompleteExtender has a setting called EnableCaching that is default on. When leaving this on, it is caching the searches, and if a search is done previously, it does not call the web service but retrieves the list from clent side cache.

Answer 2

I am pretty sure it hits the web service repeatedly.

As an aside: I would consider using the jquery autocomplete plugin and and an asp.net handler instead.

This has an API for client side caching, and much better control over the CSS emitted.