Readonly ComboBox in WinForms

Question

I'm writing a GUI in C#, Visual Studio 2008, using the Designer and WinForms. I've got a ComboBox control, and I'd like it to only allow to select from the provided options and not to accept a user-entered string. It doesn't appear to have a ReadOnly property, and disabling it hinders the readability of the control (as well as disallowing user-selection).

The DropDownStyle property was what I was looking for. Can't believe I overlooked that. — Brock Greman, Oct 02 '08 at 15:31
possible duplicate of [How can I make a ComboBox non-editable in .net?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/85702/how-can-i-make-a-combobox-non-editable-in-net) — nawfal, Dec 29 '13 at 02:15

score 71 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:19

71

Set DropDownStyle to "DropDownList"

answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:19

Phillip Wells

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But then you can not programatically manipulate the combobox. – clamchoda Feb 23 '11 at 22:03

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:20

11

Set the ComboBox.DropDownStyle property to ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList.

answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:20

OregonGhost

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score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 03 '15 at 21:01

4

Use code similar to the following to set the allowed options and only those options.

comboBox1.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList;
comboBox1.Items.AddRange(new object[] {
    "One",
    "Two",
    "Three",
    "Four"});

edited Jun 03 '15 at 21:01

Mike G

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answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:27

David Max

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score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 28 '12 at 08:28

3

Another simple way to go about it.

private void combobox1_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
    e.Handled = true;
}

answered Dec 28 '12 at 08:28

Isuru

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:20

0

Try using a DropDownListbox

answered Oct 02 '08 at 15:20

Mauro

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Readonly ComboBox in WinForms

5 Answers5

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