How to use Select2 for your Meta Boxes. Creating AJAX-based Posts Dropdown with Search.

add_action( 'admin_menu', 'rudr_metabox_for_select2' );
add_action( 'save_post', 'rudr_save_metaboxdata', 10, 2 );
 
/*
 * Add a metabox
 * I hope you're familiar with add_meta_box() function, so, nothing new for you here
 */
function rudr_metabox_for_select2() {
	add_meta_box( 'rudr_select2', 'My metabox for select2 testing', 'rudr_display_select2_metabox', 'post', 'normal', 'default' );
}
 
/*
 * Display the fields inside it
 */
function rudr_display_select2_metabox( $post_object ) {
 
	// do not forget about WP Nonces for security purposes
 
	// I decided to write all the metabox html into a variable and then echo it at the end
	$html = '';
 
	// always array because we have added [] to our <select> name attribute
	$appended_tags = get_post_meta( $post_object->ID, 'rudr_select2_tags',true );
	$appended_posts = get_post_meta( $post_object->ID, 'rudr_select2_posts',true );
 
	/*
	 * It will be just a multiple select for tags without AJAX search
	 * If no tags found - do not display anything
	 * hide_empty=0 means to show tags not attached to any posts
	 */
	if( $tags = get_terms( 'post_tag', 'hide_empty=0' ) ) {
		$html .= '<p><label for="rudr_select2_tags">Tags:</label><br /><select id="rudr_select2_tags" name="rudr_select2_tags[]" multiple="multiple" style="width:99%;max-width:25em;">';
		foreach( $tags as $tag ) {
			$selected = ( is_array( $appended_tags ) && in_array( $tag->term_id, $appended_tags ) ) ? ' selected="selected"' : '';
			$html .= '<option value="' . $tag->term_id . '"' . $selected . '>' . $tag->name . '</option>';
		}
		$html .= '<select></p>';
	}
 
	/*
	 * Select Posts with AJAX search
	 */
	$html .= '<p><label for="rudr_select2_posts">Posts:</label><br /><select id="rudr_select2_posts" name="rudr_select2_posts[]" multiple="multiple" style="width:99%;max-width:25em;">';
 
	if( $appended_posts ) {
		foreach( $appended_posts as $post_id ) {
			$title = get_the_title( $post_id );
			// if the post title is too long, truncate it and add "..." at the end
			$title = ( mb_strlen( $title ) > 50 ) ? mb_substr( $title, 0, 49 ) . '...' : $title;
			$html .=  '<option value="' . $post_id . '" selected="selected">' . $title . '</option>';
		}
	}
	$html .= '</select></p>';
 
	echo $html;
}
 
 
function rudr_save_metaboxdata( $post_id, $post ) {
 
	if ( defined('DOING_AUTOSAVE') && DOING_AUTOSAVE ) return $post_id;
 
	// if post type is different from our selected one, do nothing
	if ( $post->post_type == 'post' ) {
		if( isset( $_POST['rudr_select2_tags'] ) )
			update_post_meta( $post_id, 'rudr_select2_tags', $_POST['rudr_select2_tags'] );
		else
			delete_post_meta( $post_id, 'rudr_select2_tags' );
 
		if( isset( $_POST['rudr_select2_posts'] ) )
			update_post_meta( $post_id, 'rudr_select2_posts', $_POST['rudr_select2_posts'] );
		else
			delete_post_meta( $post_id, 'rudr_select2_posts' );
	}
	return $post_id;
}

jQuery(function($){
	// simple multiple select
	$('#rudr_select2_tags').select2();
 
	// multiple select with AJAX search
	$('#rudr_select2_posts').select2({
  		ajax: {
    			url: ajaxurl, // AJAX URL is predefined in WordPress admin
    			dataType: 'json',
    			delay: 250, // delay in ms while typing when to perform a AJAX search
    			data: function (params) {
      				return {
        				q: params.term, // search query
        				action: 'mishagetposts' // AJAX action for admin-ajax.php
      				};
    			},
    			processResults: function( data ) {
				var options = [];
				if ( data ) {
 
					// data is the array of arrays, and each of them contains ID and the Label of the option
					$.each( data, function( index, text ) { // do not forget that "index" is just auto incremented value
						options.push( { id: text[0], text: text[1]  } );
					});
 
				}
				return {
					results: options
				};
			},
			cache: true
		},
		minimumInputLength: 3 // the minimum of symbols to input before perform a search
	});
});

add_action( 'wp_ajax_mishagetposts', 'rudr_get_posts_ajax_callback' ); // wp_ajax_{action}
function rudr_get_posts_ajax_callback(){
 
	// we will pass post IDs and titles to this array
	$return = array();
 
	// you can use WP_Query, query_posts() or get_posts() here - it doesn't matter
	$search_results = new WP_Query( array( 
		's'=> $_GET['q'], // the search query
		'post_status' => 'publish', // if you don't want drafts to be returned
		'ignore_sticky_posts' => 1,
		'posts_per_page' => 50 // how much to show at once
	) );
	if( $search_results->have_posts() ) :
		while( $search_results->have_posts() ) : $search_results->the_post();	
			// shorten the title a little
			$title = ( mb_strlen( $search_results->post->post_title ) > 50 ) ? mb_substr( $search_results->post->post_title, 0, 49 ) . '...' : $search_results->post->post_title;
			$return[] = array( $search_results->post->ID, $title ); // array( Post ID, Post Title )
		endwhile;
	endif;
	echo json_encode( $return );
	die;
}