Using autocomplete dropdown list item as new autocomplete search term

Using autocomplete dropdown list item as new autocomplete search term

I have an autocomplete box that uses a database for its source. If the
search term finds more than 20 item, I want to put a "more ..." as the
last item's label with the last displayed item as the "more ..." value. I
then want to allow the user to click on the "more ..." and have
autocomplete reload, using the last displayed item as the search term. I
have tried:
$(event.target).autocomplete("search", params);
where params is a variable containing the last displayed item. Doesn't work.
Any suggestions?