I am using jquery autocomplete which I am populating from a ruby on rails application and I am creating a custom autcomplete like so:

  $.widget( custom.code_complete, $.ui.autocomplete, {

    _renderMenu: function( ul, items ) {

            var self = this,

                currentCategory = ;

        $ul = ul;

            $.each( items, function( index, item ) {

                if ( item.category != currentCategory ) {

                    ul.append( <li class='ui-autocomplete-category'> + item.category + </li> );

                    currentCategory = item.category;

                }

                self._renderItem( ul, item );

            });

        }

    });



  $(#r-code).code_complete({

    source: URL,

    minLength: 2,

    select: function(event, ui) {

      $(.button-row).fadeIn();

      get_details(ui.item.url);

    }

  });

I am redirecting a user from another page to the page with the autocomplete form with a parameter in the URL which is a code used for the search, here is the JS to do the search:

function ac_search(code) {

  $(#r-code).val(code);

  $(#r-code).code_complete('search', code);

}

This performs the search perfectly and displays the drop down list of results. I am trying to have the script then select the first result in the list. I have tried doing it via a selector:

$(.ui-menu-item:first a).click();

This finds the correct element in the autocomplete list but when I try and simulate a click it gives this error:

TypeError: ui.item is null

Is it possible to programmatically click the first item in the autocomplete results list?

Cheers

Eef