ActionSupport NOT firing when field getting populated with Javascript

Question

My usecase is that I'm trying to populate a parent record using a lookup window - all constructed using Javascript. However, when the lookup field is populated, the onchange or the onblur event of actionsupport isn't firing. I will need to use this value that's populated in this window and then fire an action method to get some more values and re-render a section below. However, the onchange isn't firing at all. Any thoughts on how to do it?

<apex:pageBlockSectionitem >
   <apex:outputLabel value="Parent Name" style="width:20px; height:20px"/>
   <apex:outputPanel layout="inline" style="vertical-align:middle">
      <apex:actionRegion>
         <apex:inputText  value="{!acct.parentid}" id="targetId" >
            <apex:actionSupport event="onchange" 
               action="{!checkParent}" 
               rerender="pbs1"  />
         </apex:inputText>
      </apex:actionRegion>
      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <apex:inputText size="20" id="targetName" onFocus="this.blur()" value="{!parentName}" />
      <a  href="#" 
         onclick="openLookupPopup('{!$Component.targetName}', '{!$Component.targetId}'); 
         return false">
         <apex:image style="vertical-align:middle;width:24px; height:24px" 
            value="{!$Resource.lookup}" />
      </a>
   </apex:outputPanel>
</apex:pageBlockSectionitem>
</apex:pageblockSection>
<apex:pageblockSection id="pbs1" title="Family Information" columns="2" collapsible="false">
<script>
   var newWin=null;
   function openLookupPopup(name, id)
   {
       var url="/apex/LookupPopup?namefield=" + name + "&idfield=" + id ;
       newWin=window.open(url, 'Popup','height=500,width=600,left=100,top=100,resizable=no,scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,status=no');
       if (window.focus) 
       {
           newWin.focus();
       }

       return false;
   }

   function closeLookupPopup()
   {
      if (null!=newWin)
      {
         newWin.close();
      }  
   }

         function fillIn(name, id)
             {
            var winMain=window.opener;
              if (null==winMain)
                   {
                   winMain=window.parent.opener;
                }
          var  
            ele=
       winMain.document.getElementById('{!$CurrentPage.parameters.namefield}');
            ele.value=name;
            ele=
      winMain.document.getElementById('{!$CurrentPage.parameters.idfield}');
             ele.value=id;
             winMain.closeLookupPopup();
        }



</script>

Sorry I had to break up the lines to accommodate within the page. The code is working fine, it's just that I need to make the Onchange action fire after populating the lookup field so that I can perform the steps as stated above.

Please help.

---

Updated as of 11/24: 1:08pm CT: Per the suggestions provided here, I tried to manually fire the change event. However, id field in the parent page needs to fire for the change event. How do I do that from the lookup (child page). I'm using this code below, but targetId is the ID in the parent page and not child and I only have this value in the URL($CurrentPage.parameters.idfield). How do I get to do this?

j$( 'input[id$=targetId]' ).change(); 



      function fillIn(name, id) 
       { 
          var winMain=window.opener; 
        if (null==winMain) 
              { 
              winMain=window.parent.opener; 
              } 
             var     
ele=winMain.document.getElementById('{!$CurrentPage.parameters.namefield}'); 
                 ele.value=name; 

ele=winMain.document.getElementById('{!$CurrentPage.parameters.idfield}'); 
                  ele.value=id; 
                 alert('id populated'); 
                //new line added here
                j$( 'input[id$=targetId]' ).change(); 
                winMain.closeLookupPopup(); 
               }

Answer 1

<apex:inputField id="relatedrecordinputtext" value="{!acct.parentid}"> 
    <apex:actionSupport event="onchange" action="{!GroupPopulated}" rerender="pbs1"/>         
 </apex:inputField>

I Think this will work for you but it does not work then you can manually fire the change event.

 $("input").trigger("change"); //using Jquery

or JAVASCRIPT

  var two = document.getElementById('two');
  two.checked = ! two.checked;
  two.dispatchEvent('change');

Answer 2

In order to set the value on the parent page from your own lookup dialog you should leverage the JS function that Salesforce uses itself when this takes place, window.lookupPick2.

The "selector" in your LookupPopup window will call this function on the parent page that launched the popup dialog using the opener reference and set the value of both the text field (for display) as well as the corresponding _lkid hidden field which contains the ID of the record that was selected (populates the reference field with an Id).

<apex:outputLink value="javascript:top.window.opener.lookupPick2('{!FormTag}','{!TextBox}_lkid','{!TextBox}','{!a.Id}','{!a.Name}', false)">{!a.Name}</apex:outputLink>

The merge fields for FormTag and TextBox represent the ids of the elements in the parent page.

  // used by the visualforce page to send the link to the right dom element
  public string getFormTag() {
    return System.currentPageReference().getParameters().get('frm');
  }

  // used by the visualforce page to send the link to the right dom element for the text box
  public string getTextBox() {
    return System.currentPageReference().getParameters().get('txt');
  }

Example code borrowed from Jeff Douglas' blog post about rolling your own lookup window. (probably worth a read, if you haven't yet.)

http://blog.jeffdouglas.com/2011/08/12/roll-your-own-salesforce-lookup-popup-window/