How to clear autoComplete textfield in Wicket after submit?

I'm having issues clearing the input of a autoComplete Textfield.. For some
reason whenever I call target.add(reference to AutoCompleteTextField);

my input values are null...

So basically, I can clear the referenced string the input is stored in, but
everytime I call an ajaxupdate it nulls.

I tried both ajaxButton, and AjaxSubmitLink. Both get the same reactions. I
have a button to submit the input from the textField.

Code:

<form wicket:id="autoCompleteForm">
<input wicket:id="autoCompleteTextField" size="20"/>
<button width:100px wicket:id="selectRoleBtn">Select</button>
</form>

private void autoCompleteForm()

findRoleForm = new Form<Void>("autoCompleteForm");
findRoleForm.setOutputMarkupId(true);
addOrReplace(findRoleForm);
field = new AutoCompleteTextField<String>("autoCompleteTextField",
new PropertyModel<String>(this,"autoString"))

@Override
protected Iterator<String> getChoices(String input)

if (Strings.isEmpty(input))

List<String> emptyList = Collections.emptyList();
return emptyList.iterator();

List<String> choices = new ArrayList<String>(10);

for (final Role role : rolesList)

final String roles = role.getRoleName();

if (roles.toUpperCase().startsWith(input.toUpperCase()))

choices.add(roles);
if (choices.size() == 10)

break;

return choices.iterator();

};
findRoleForm.addOrReplace(field);
findRoleForm.addOrReplace(new AjaxSubmitLink("selectRoleBtn",
findRoleForm)

protected void onSubmit(AjaxRequestTarget target, Form<?> form)

System.out.println("here1" + autoString);
if(rolesList != null & autoString!= null)

if(rolesList .size() != 0)

for(int i=0; i < rolesList .size(); i++)

System.out.println("here2" + autoString);
if(rolesList
.get(i).getRoleName().equals(autoString))

role = rolesList.get(i);

roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleNameTxt", role.getRoleName()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleAliasTxt", role.getRoleAlias()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleOwnerTxt", role.getRoleOwnerId()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleStatusTxt", role.getRoleAccessStatus()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleCategoryTxt", role.getRoleCategoryName()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleDescriptionTxt", role.getRoleDescription()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleValidityTxt", role.getRoleValidityStatus()));
roleInformation.addOrReplace(new
Label("roleNumUsers", ""));

//add adOrReplace(findRoleForm);
autoString = "";
target.add(field);
target.add(roleInformation);
currentRoleSelection = null;
target.add(rolesDropDownChoice);
break;

}).add(getIndicatorAppender());