Multiple Columns Support

5 Dec 20234 minutes to read

MultiColumnComboBox control is a ComboBoxAdv control with multiple columns. Multiple columns will be enabled by default. To disable this, set MultiColumn property to false. We can display the headers for the columns using ShowColumnHeader property.

Multiple Columns

We can bind external data to the MultiColumnComboBox control. Refer DataBinding topic to know more.

Selection color

We can specify the color for the alpha blended selections using AlphaBlendSelectionColor property.

this.multiColumnBoundCombo.MultiColumn = true;
this.multiColumnBoundCombo.ShowColumnHeader = true;
this.multiColumnComboBox1.AlphaBlendSelectionColor = Color.LightBlue;
Me.multiColumnBoundCombo.MultiColumn = True
Me.multiColumnBoundCombo.ShowColumnHeader = True
Me.multiColumnComboBox1.AlphaBlendSelectionColor = Color.LightBlue

The DropDownWidth property is used to set the width for the DropDown Popup of MultiColumnComboBox. Please find the code for the same:

this.multiColumnComboBox1.DropDownWidth = 240;
Me.multiColumnComboBox1.DropDownWidth = 240

DropDownWidth

Fig 1: This screenshot shows the width sets for the DropDown popup of MultiColumnComboBox

Custom filtering

MultiColumnCombobox supports custom filtering through which filter can be applied to all columns. To enable filtering support, AllowFiltering property should be set to true.

this.multiColumnComboBox1.AllowFiltering = true;
Me.multiColumnComboBox1.AllowFiltering = true;

The custom filtering can be applied by assigning a predicate to the Filter property. Based on the filtering condition given, items are filtered and displayed in the dropdown.

public Filtering()
{       
    //Allowing filter
    this.multiColumnComboBox1.AllowFiltering = true;

    // Event triggered while MultiColumnCombobox's Text changed
    this.multiColumnComboBox1.TextChanged += MultiColumnComboboxTextBox_TextChanged;
}
 
private void MultiColumnComboboxTextBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // The filter criteria can be given in the FilterRecords method which can be assigned to Filter property.
    this.multiColumnComboBox1.Filter = FilterRecords;
}

public bool FilterRecords(object o)
{
    var item = o as OrderInfo;
    if (item != null)
    {
        if(item.ProductName.Equals(this.multiColumnComboBox1.TextBox.Text))
            return true;
    }
     
    return false;
}
Public Sub New()
    //Allowing filter
    Me.multiColumnComboBox1.AllowFiltering = True

    // Event triggered while MultiColumnCombobox's Text changed
    Me.multiColumnComboBox1.TextChanged += MultiColumnComboboxTextBox_TextChanged
End Sub

Private Sub MultiColumnComboboxTextBox_TextChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    // The filter criteria can be given in the FilterRecords method which can be assigned to Filter property.
    Me.multiColumnComboBox1.Filter = FilterRecords
End Sub

Public Function FilterRecords(ByVal o As Object) As Boolean
    Dim item = TryCast(o, OrderInfo)

    If item IsNot Nothing Then
        If item.ProductName.Equals(Me.multiColumnComboBox1.TextBox.Text) Then Return True
    End If

    Return False
End Function

NOTE

If AllowFiltering is enabled and the filtering is not set or it is set to null, the default filtering will be applied.
Default filtering uses DisplayMember as Column with StartWith condition.

Custom Filtering