This is related to the question I asked at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2802948/how-to-make-an-ajax-call-immediately-on-document-loading

My code is:

$(document).ready(function(){
    $.ajax({
        type: "GET",
        url: "../AutoComplete",
        success: function(data) {
            var dataArray = data;
            alert(dataArray);
            $("#example").autocomplete(dataArray);
        }
    });
});

The value that is printed in the alert is:

"Manuscript|Text|Information Object|Basketball|Ball|Sporting Equipment|Tarantula|Spider|Australian Spider|Cricket Player|Medieval Artefact|Person|Sportsperson|Leonardo Da Vinci|Country|Language|Inventor|Priest|Electronics Manufacturer|Object|letter|Artefact|governance model|Organism|Animal".split("|");

If instead I do this:

$(document).ready(function(){
        $.ajax({
            type: "GET",
            url: "../AutoComplete",
            success: function(data) {
                var dataArray = "Manuscript|Text|Information Object|Basketball|Ball|Sporting Equipment|Tarantula|Spider|Australian Spider|Cricket Player|Medieval Artefact|Person|Sportsperson|Leonardo Da Vinci|Country|Language|Inventor|Priest|Electronics Manufacturer|Object|letter|Artefact|governance model|Organism|Animal".split("|");                  
                alert(dataArray);
                $("#example").autocomplete(dataArray);
            }
        });
    });

It works fine?