The 'reload' method reloads data from remote server. It does not trigger the 'filter' action. You should call the code below to filter data.
var q = 'filter value...';
var cc = $('#cc');
cc.combobox('options').keyHandler.query.call(cc[0], q);
You can also override the 'query' function to custom your filter logic.
$('#cc').combobox({
mode: 'local',
keyHandler: $.extend({}, $.fn.combobox.defaults.keyHandler, {
query: function(q, e){
//...
}
})
})