preserve string in input field

[nerdoc]

Hi Edy,
this is also more a question than a bug (bug is lack of docs - but maybe I can help here...)

Could you explain a pattern with djhtmx how it is possible to preserve the content/value of an input field when it is htmx-swapped?

{% load tz i18n htmx %}
<div {% hx-tag %}>
  <form>
      <input
          name="q"
          type="text"
          autofocus
          required
          {% on "keyup changed delay:300ms" "validate" %}
          {#          value="{{ q | default:'' }}" #}
      >
      <button {% on 'search' %}>search</button>
    </div>
  </form>
</div> 

<div  id="search-results" hx-swap-oob="true">
foo
</div>

And the component

class SearchInput(Component):
    template_name = search_input.html"

    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(**kwargs)
        # self.q = ""

    [...]

    def validate(self, **kwargs):
        search_text = kwargs["q"]
        #    [...
        
        # self.q = search_text

Each time validate() is called, the input field is reloaded and the input is cleared. So with every swap, a new Component seems to be created, and __init__() is called. Which seems to be a bit of wasting ressources? But anyway, this makes it clear that a self.q = "" in the init method clears the content each time. But if I remove this line, the search input value gets preserved - but the cursor is put at the beginning, so it's not really possible to write anything in the input field.

You say that you use morphdom and I saw code to preserve focus. HTMX has support for even keeping the selection in an inpu field AFAIK. Do I do something wrong here - or how would you create a component with an on change event triggering a validation or similar without crashing the value of the input field?
Thanks in advance

[edelvalle]

Try using hx-disable where you don't want it to re-render, in the input element

[nerdoc]

hx-disable prevents changing the field altogether by htmx. But it is like not using htmx. I want to change that field, e.g. give it a class, or even change the text in it. I just don't want to loose focus (it's gone after an update). If I give it the autofocus attr during swap, It regains the focus again, but the cursor is at the start.

Could this problem be because of morphdom? If I look at the description of the extension, it says that

The morphdom library does not support morph element to multiple elements.
If the result of hx-select is more than one element, it will pick the first one.

Therefore? do you use this extension?