Autocompletion frustrations

[eluser]Aken[/eluser]
Well the 500 error is quite obviously your main problem, so that should help.

If you pass it a string, it must be in query string format for it to be used properly. I've tested this for multiple versions of jQuery going back to 1.3.0. If you pass it a single word value, it will act as the key of a key => value pair, IF it passes through (which it doesn't if it's through POST, at least according to my tests - only GET).

This is all for $.ajax() requests by themselves. Maybe autocomplete somehow changes the request, I don't know (based on your code, I don't see how it can). The only way I can see this "working" for you in the past is if the autocompletes used their own wrapper for the ajax request, and created the keys on their own. But the way you're doing it is not standard, so it's my suggestion that you use an object like I exampled. Nothing I can see - documentation or practical testing - creates a "terms" key in the request.