Getting Started with Windows Forms ComboBox (SfComboBox)

17 Jul 20265 minutes to read

This section provides a quick overview for working with the ComboBox in WinForms.

Assembly Deployment

Refer to the control dependencies section for the list of assemblies or NuGet package that must be referenced to use the control in any application.

To install via NuGet Package Manager Console, run:

Install-Package Syncfusion.SfListView.WinForms

Creating Application with SfComboBox control

In this walkthrough, you will create a WinForms application that contains the SfComboBox control.

Creating the Project

Create a new Windows Forms project in Visual Studio to display the SfComboBox control.

Adding Control via Designer

The SfComboBox control can be added to the application by dragging it from the toolbox and dropping it in the designer. The required assembly references will be added automatically.

GettingStarted_img1

Adding Control in Code

To add the control manually, follow these steps:

  1. Add the required assembly references below to the project.

    • Syncfusion.Core.WinForms

    • Syncfusion.DataSource.WinForms

    • Syncfusion.GridCommon.WinForms

    • Syncfusion.SfListView.WinForms

  2. Create the SfComboBox control instance and add it to the control collection of the form.

    using Syncfusion.WinForms.ListView;
   
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            SfComboBox sfComboBox1 = new SfComboBox();
            sfComboBox1.Location = new Point(100, 100);
            this.Controls.Add(sfComboBox1);
        }
    }
}
    Imports Syncfusion.WinForms.ListView
   
Namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
	Partial Public Class Form1
		Inherits Form
		Public Sub New()
			InitializeComponent()
			Dim sfComboBox1 As New SfComboBox()
			sfComboBox1.Location = New Point(100, 100)
			Me.Controls.Add(sfComboBox1)
		End Sub
	End Class
End Namespace

Binding to data

To bind the SfComboBox to data, set the SfComboBox.DataSource property to an IEnumerable implementation. You can bind a property of the underlying data source to display for SfComboBox by using the DisplayMember property, and you can bind a property to use as the actual value for the items by using the ValueMember property.

List<string> usStates = new List<string>();
usStates.Add("Alaska");
usStates.Add("Arizona");
usStates.Add("Arkansas");
usStates.Add("California");
usStates.Add("Colorado");
usStates.Add("Connecticut");
usStates.Add("Delaware");
usStates.Add("Florida");
usStates.Add("Georgia");
sfComboBox1.DataSource = usStates;
Dim usStates As New List(Of String)()
usStates.Add("Alaska")
usStates.Add("Arizona")
usStates.Add("Arkansas")
usStates.Add("California")
usStates.Add("Colorado")
usStates.Add("Connecticut")
usStates.Add("Delaware")
usStates.Add("Florida")
usStates.Add("Georgia")
sfComboBox1.DataSource = usStates

When the underlying data is a primitive type such as string or int, DisplayMember and ValueMember are not required.

GettingStarted_img2

Auto complete

Auto complete provides three different ways to display suggestions in the drop-down list.

They are,

  • Suggest: Displays suggestion in drop-down list.

  • Append: Appends first suggestion to the text.

  • SuggestAppend: Both of these.

Auto complete can be set by using the AutoCompleteMode property. Use the AutoCompleteSuggestMode property to control case sensitivity (e.g., StartsWith, Contains, Equals).

sfComboBox1.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Append;
sfComboBox1.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Append

GettingStarted_img3

Multi selection

This allows you to select multiple values from the drop-down list. The multi selection combo box can be enabled by setting the ComboBoxMode property as MultiSelection.

sfComboBox1.ComboBoxMode = ComboBoxMode.MultiSelection;
sfComboBox1.ComboBoxMode = ComboBoxMode.MultiSelection

GettingStarted_img4

Selected Items

The index of the selected item can be retrieved by using the SelectedIndex property. The value of the selected item can be retrieved by using the SelectedValue property. It returns the value of the property bound to the ValueMember property. If the ValueMember is not initialized, it returns the value of the property bound to the DisplayMember. The selected item of the SfComboBox can be retrieved by using the SelectedItem property. In MultiSelection mode, use the SelectedItems collection to retrieve all selected values.

NOTE

You can also explore our WinForms ComboBox example that shows how to allows users to type a value, choose an item, or choose multiple items using a multiselect option.