Conversation
Greenfield Technology
HU
Last activity: 15 Nov 2025 7:00 EST
Constellation (25) Autocomplete for external systems
Hi,
Is there any way to have the OOTB autocomplete - either with the Single Page data reference, or single text property, datapage on property, pxAutocomplete approach - refresh/execute an API call on each keystroke? We have a requirement where we are querying an external system with a lots of records, so as we type in what we are looking for, we want to send a new request to a REST service after each new letter, or something similar. Like how you would expect the google maps search to work.
Right now what we see, is that after the initial click into the autocomplete, the parameterized datapage doesn't get called at all. I feel like this should work.
Novitates
IN
@Norbert HreskoYes, you can achieve this with Searchbox (Picklist) by configuring a data page behind the screens which hits an external system to fetch the list of records.
Linking the data type with external source can be done from App studio without writing a single line of code and the best part is that this configuration can be done within 5 min.
Attached is the implementation for your reference in V25. Feel free to check and let us know if you have any queries.
Happy coding !!!
Pegasystems Inc.
PL
@JayachandraSiddipetawould you be interested in turning your comment and attached doc into constellation 101 article?
Novitates
IN
@Kamil Janeczek Sure thing
Greenfield Technology
HU
@JayachandraSiddipeta Thank you for taking the time to look into this, but I feel like this is still not what I am after. I want an autocomplete, that what I type into it, that will go to a parameterized datapage, which in turn will call a REST Connector with that parameter, so I don't need to retrieve everything the REST service has, and then "run" the autocomplete on the full data set, but only retrieve data based on the parameter.
Also, this autogenerated connector and everything gets generated on the Data class. I already have my integration, with the Int class structure.
By following your document I wasn't able to recreate this behaviour. Am I missing something or was there some miscommunication from my side?
Thanks in advance!
Pegasystems Inc.
IN
Invoking a REST API call on every keystroke is not really a performant. By the time the next letter is keyed in, the result for the first key in is still in progress and it will degrade the overall experience for the users. And especially with an external system with lots of records this invoking of API on every key stroke will cause performance issues. I would recommend you to use "search and select" if the data is being fetched into Pega and displayed as reference fields. Regards
Shahi Naquash
Greenfield Technology
HU
Hi @NAQUS,
I understand that this would not be performant. We would do some additional logic in the background not to actually send on every single keyDown, but the point is, is it possible or not? Is there any solution if I specifically want to use autocomplete? I think something simple like this, should be possible regardless if it's performant or not.
Pegasystems Inc.
GB
@Norbert Hresko I believe you would have to build your own DX Component to do this. One where you can control the Server Side interactions you want. Constellation is not just UI, it is a complete design system, including changes to architecture. Unlike UI Kit which was server side heavy, much of constellation is client side, which is where the earlier comments around performance is important. The data is likely cached for that very same performance reason. I'm not aware of any way in the platform to configure this and its likely logic in the component itself.
You could try the less performant "reload once per interaction" on the data page, but even then, I don't believe the component is designed on key stroke. I've mostly seen "on blur" being the trigger event with our components.