Combo Box Controls

A ComboBox control combines the features of a TextBox control and a ListBox control. The users can enter information in the text box portion or select an item from the list box portion of the control. The combo box control comes in the following three flavours:

• The drop-down list combo box: The drop-down list combo box always takes a single line on the form until the user opens the list to display its values.
• The simple combo box: It looks and operates like a simple list box with an attached text box. Users can add values to a simple combo box by entering them in the control's attached text box.
• The drop-down combo box: The drop-down combo box saves screen space by remaining closed, looking like a one line list box. When the user selects the control, the drop-down combo box opens to display a list of items.

All combo box controls are similar to the list box in the way you initialize and access them from your code. Their primary difference lie in the way they appear on the screen.

When you place a combo box control on the form, you must tell VB, which combo box you want to use, through the combo box's style property. The default value for the style property is 0 - Dropdown combo.

The following figure shows a combo box

Figure 12.2

Use drop-down combo boxes when you need to offer a list of choices but also want to save room on the form.