AutoComplete TextBox Control

Question

I want to have a textbox control that suggests and append values from a database in a Windows application with C# 2008 and LINQ.

I do it with a combobox but I can't do it with a textbox.

How do I do it?

Answer 1

    private void TurnOnAutocomplete()
    {
        textBox.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.SuggestAppend;
        textBox.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;
        AutoCompleteStringCollection collection = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();
        string[] arrayOfWowrds = new string[];

        try
        {
            //Read in data Autocomplete list to a string[]
            string[] arrayOfWowrds = new string[];
        }
        catch (Exception err)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(err.Message, "File Missing", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
        }

        collection.AddRange(arrayOFWords);
        textBox.AutoCompleteCustomSource = collection;
    }

You only need to call this once after you have your data needed for the autocomplete list. Once bound it stays with the textBox. You do not need to or want to call it every time the text is changed in the textBox, that will kill your program.

Answer 2

This might not be the best way to do things, but should work:

 this.textBox1.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.SuggestAppend;
 this.textBox1.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;

private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    TextBox t = sender as TextBox;
    if (t != null)
    {
        //say you want to do a search when user types 3 or more chars
        if (t.Text.Length >= 3)
        {
            //SuggestStrings will have the logic to return array of strings either from cache/db
            string[] arr = SuggestStrings(t.Text);

            AutoCompleteStringCollection collection = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();
            collection.AddRange(arr);

            this.textBox1.AutoCompleteCustomSource = collection;
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Check out the AutoCompleteSource, AutoCompleteCustomSource and AutoCompleteMode properties.

textBox1.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest;
textBox1.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;
AutoCompleteStringCollection col = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();
col.Add("Foo");
col.Add("Bar");
textBox1.AutoCompleteCustomSource = col;

Note that the designer allows you to do that without writing any code...

Answer 4

private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            textBox1.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest;
            textBox1.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;
            AutoCompleteStringCollection col = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();
            con.Open();
            sql = "select *from Table_Name;
            cmd = new SqlCommand(sql, con);
            SqlDataReader sdr = null;
            sdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
            while (sdr.Read())
            {
                col.Add(sdr["Column_Name"].ToString());
            }
            sdr.Close(); 

            textBox1.AutoCompleteCustomSource = col;
            con.Close();
        }
        catch
        {
        }
    }

Answer 5

    You can add a parameter in the query like @emailadd to be added in the aspx.cs file where the Stored Procedure is called with cmd.Parameter.AddWithValue.
    The trick is that the @emailadd parameter doesn't exist in the table design of the select query, but being added and inserted in the table.

    USE [DRDOULATINSTITUTE]
    GO
    /****** Object:  StoredProcedure [dbo].[ReikiInsertRow]    Script Date: 5/18/2016 11:12:33 AM ******/
    SET ANSI_NULLS ON
    GO
    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
    GO
    ALTER procedure [dbo].[ReikiInsertRow]
    @Reiki varchar(100),
    @emailadd varchar(50)
    as
    insert into dbo.ReikiPowerDisplay
    select Reiki,ReikiDescription, @emailadd from ReikiPower
    where Reiki=@Reiki;

Posted By: Aneel Goplani. CIS. 2002. USA

Answer 6

There are two ways to accomplish this textbox effect:

Either using the graphic user interface (GUI); or with code

Using the Graphic User Interface:
Go to: "Properties" Tab; then set the following properties:

However; the best way is to create this by code. See example below.

AutoCompleteStringCollection sourceName = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();

foreach (string name in listNames)
{    
    sourceName.Add(name);
}

txtName.AutoCompleteCustomSource = sourceName;
txtName.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest;
txtName.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;