Auto populate Dropdown with jQuery AJAX in Laravel 8

With autopopulate dropdowns, a user is restricted to select an option from the available options based on the selection of its previous selection.

In this tutorial, I show how you can autopopulate dropdown with MySQL database data using jQuery AJAX in Laravel 8.

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Contents

1. Database Configuration
2. Table structure
3. Model
4. Controller
5. Route
6. View
7. Demo
8. Conclusion

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1. Database Configuration

Open .env file.

Specify the host, database name, username, and password.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=tutorial
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

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2. Table structure

• Create departments and employees table using migration and add some records.

php artisan make:migration create_departments_table
php artisan make:migration create_employees_table

• Now, navigate to database/migrations/ folder from the project root.
• Find a PHP file that ends with create_departments_table and open it.
• Define the table structure in the up() method.

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('departments', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

• Similarly, find a PHP file that ends with create_employees_table and open it.
• Define the table structure in the up() method.

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('employees', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('username');
        $table->string('name');
        $table->string('email');
        $table->integer('department');
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

• Run the migration –

php artisan migrate

• The table is been created and I added some records in it.

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3. Model

Create 2 Models –

Departments –

php artisan make:model Departments

• Specify mass assignable Model attributes – name using the $fillable property.

Completed Code

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Departments extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    protected $fillable = [
       'name'
    ];
}

Employees –

php artisan make:model Employees

• Specify mass assignable Model attributes – username, name, email, and department using the $fillable property.

Completed Code

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Employees extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    protected $fillable = [
       'username','name','email','department'
    ];
}

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4. Controller

Create a DepartmentsController controller.

php artisan make:controller DepartmentsController

Create 2 methods –

• index() – Fetch all records from the departments table and assign to $departments['data'].

Load index view and pass $departments.

• getEmployees() – This method is use to handle AJAX request.

Fetch records from the employees table where department = $departmentid and assign to $empData['data'].

Return $empData in JSON format.

Completed Code

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Departments;
use App\Models\Employees;

class DepartmentsController extends Controller {

   public function index(){

     // Fetch departments
     $departments['data'] = Departments::orderby("name","asc")
         ->select('id','name')
         ->get();

     // Load index view
     return view('index')->with("departments",$departments);
   }

   // Fetch records
   public function getEmployees($departmentid=0){

     // Fetch Employees by Departmentid
     $empData['data'] = Employees::orderby("name","asc")
        ->select('id','name')
        ->where('department',$departmentid)
        ->get();

     return response()->json($empData);

   }
}

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5. Route

• Open routes/web.php file.
• Define 2 routes –
  • / – Load index view.
  • /getEmployees/{id} – This is use to send AJAX GET request to fetch department employees list.

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\DepartmentsController;

Route::get('/', [DepartmentsController::class, 'index']);
Route::get('/getEmployees/{id}', [DepartmentsController::class, 'getEmployees']);

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6. View

Create a new index.blade.php file in resources/views/ folder.

HTML –

Create two <select > elements –

• The first <select > element is for departments. Loop on the $departments['data'] to add <option>.
• The second <select > element is for employees. Data is loaded in this dropdown based on the department selection using jQuery AJAX.

jQuery –

Define on change event on the first dropdown.

Read selected value and assign to id variable. Empty the second dropdown except the first <option>.

Send AJAX GET request to 'getEmployees/' and also pass id value, set dataType: 'json'.

On successful callback check response length. If length is greater than 0 then loop on the response.

Create options and append in #sel_emp.

Completed Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <title>Auto populate Dropdown with jQuery AJAX in Laravel 8</title>
</head>
<body>

   <!-- Department Dropdown -->
   Department : <select id='sel_depart' name='sel_depart'>
      <option value='0'>-- Select department --</option>

      <!-- Read Departments -->
      @foreach($departments['data'] as $department)
        <option value='{{ $department->id }}'>{{ $department->name }}</option>
      @endforeach

   </select>

   <br><br>
   <!-- Department Employees Dropdown -->
   Employee : <select id='sel_emp' name='sel_emp'>
     <option value='0'>-- Select Employee --</option>
   </select>

   <!-- Script -->
   <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.6.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
   <script type='text/javascript'>
   $(document).ready(function(){

      // Department Change
      $('#sel_depart').change(function(){

         // Department id
         var id = $(this).val();

         // Empty the dropdown
         $('#sel_emp').find('option').not(':first').remove();

         // AJAX request 
         $.ajax({
           url: 'getEmployees/'+id,
           type: 'get',
           dataType: 'json',
           success: function(response){

             var len = 0;
             if(response['data'] != null){
                len = response['data'].length;
             }

             if(len > 0){
                // Read data and create <option >
                for(var i=0; i<len; i++){

                   var id = response['data'][i].id;
                   var name = response['data'][i].name;

                   var option = "<option value='"+id+"'>"+name+"</option>";

                   $("#sel_emp").append(option); 
                }
             }

           }
         });
      });
   });
   </script>
</body>
</html>

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7. Demo

View Demo

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8. Conclusion

If on your page there is more than one dropdown that you want to autopopulate then follow the same steps to load data.

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