Why does Bootstrap Autocomplete send vue.js router go to /#/exclamationmark? - vue.js

Question

Why does it happen that my Vue router navigates to /#/! without apparent reason?
This seems to happen when I fire an event from an autocomplete form built with Bootstrap Autocomplete and trigger a function.
Calling the same function by clicking a button does not lead to the problem.
This is the parent component where the event is emitted to
<style scoped>
</style>
<template>
<div id="appspace">
<div id="leftbar">
</div>
<div id="workarea">
<div id="mapblock">
</div>
<div id="infoblock">
<div class="form-group"><label for="gotoff">Go to</label>
<autosuggest #locselect="locSelect($event)" id="gotoff"></autosuggest>
</div>
<button v-on:click="searchAround()" type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Search</button>
</div>
</div>
<div id="rightbar">
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
module.exports = {
data: function () {
return {
};
},
components: {
autosuggest: httpVueLoader('components/base/autosuggest.vue'),
},
mounted: function(){
},
destroyed: function(){
},
methods: {
setMarkerInCenter: function(){
this.locSelect({ value: { lng: 12, lat: 14 }})
},
locSelect: function(e) {
console.log('locSelect');
console.log(e);
},
},
}
</script>
and this is the component emitting the event:
<style scoped>
.autocomplete {
position: relative;
width: 130px;
}
.autocomplete-results {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
border: 1px solid #eeeeee;
height: 120px;
overflow: auto;
}
.autocomplete-result {
list-style: none;
text-align: left;
padding: 4px 2px;
cursor: pointer;
}
.autocomplete-result:hover {
background-color: #4AAE9B;
color: white;
}
</style>
<template>
<div class="input-group">
<input ref="ac" class="form-control">
<div class="input-group-append">
<div class="input-group-text"><i class="fa fa-compass" style="height:0.5em;padding:0;margin:0;margin-bottom:4px"></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</template>
<script>
module.exports = {
mounted: function(){
var i = this.$refs.ac;
var c = this
$(i).autoComplete({ resolverSettings: { url: '/api/gc/autocomplete' } });
$(i).on('autocomplete.select', function(e, sel) {
e.preventDefault();
c.$emit('locselect', sel);
e.preventDefault();
});
},
}
</script>
Any leads as to how to debug this?

Answer 1

I couldn't find the reason why this autocomplete changes the route, that behavoir
seems to be undocumented. But here's a method to temporarily prevent this behavior until you find the solution, add this global route guard to your router to prevent navigation to '/#/!' route:
router.js
const router = new VueRouter({ ... })
router.beforeEach((to, from, next) => {
console.log(to)
// TEMP PATCH:
// Autocomplete changes route to '/#/!'
if (to.path !== '/#/!') {
next()
}
})
Just make sure that console.log(to) actually has a property path === '/#/!'