This is now the official home for the TypeWatch jquery plugin.

TypeWatch calls a function when a user has changed the text within a textbox or textarea and after the user has stopped typing for a specified amount of time.

Note* This is not the OnChange event, instead the function is called after the user has finished typing (or if the user stopped typing for # amount of milliseconds) even if the textbox continues to have focus.

This can be used in conjunction with an AutoComplete implementation, so instead of firing an AJAX call every 500 ms, you can fire it once when they’ve stopped typing.

Example:

// callback: The function to call
// wait: The number of milliseconds to wait after the the last key press before firing the callback
// highlight: Highlights the element when it receives focus
// captureLength: Minimum # of characters necessary to fire the callback

var options = {
    callback: function(){ alert("changed search text"); },
    wait: 750,
    highlight: true,
    captureLength: 2
}

$("#search").typeWatch( options );

When working with INPUT TEXT element the ENTER key will fire the callback function.

Works with multiple elements:

$(".textbox").typeWatch( options );