free autocomplete combo code

[kleinma]

Ok I wasnt able to find it so i gave up the search and coded it myself. Now as far as I can tell it works fine... but I would like to have some of you guys check it out and make any suggestions on potential problems or bad coding

Now what I did was create a class library for this so I could compile it and add it to my windows app, what I use the autocomplete combo is USUALLY for the state field in an address entry, but I use it for pretty much every combo that you dont want the user to enter their own value.

When I inherited the combobox in my class it automatically added 2 protected subs ("Refresh Item" <- no space but spells $hit when together and VBForums doesnt like that, and "SetItemsCore"). I am not sure why (maybe someone can tell me) so I just passed them up to the base class.

NOTE: while the code could be altered to do differently, this code is LIMIT TO LIST only, which means the user cant put in their own text if its not in the drop down list (perfect for a state combo for example)

Imports System.Windows.Forms
Public Class AutoCompleteCombo
    Inherits ComboBox
 
    'underscore added in sub name to bypass VBForum filter
    Protected Overrides Sub Refresh_Item(ByVal index As Integer)
        MyBase.Refresh_Item(index)
    End Sub
 
    Protected Overrides Sub SetItemsCore(ByVal items As System.Collections.IList)
        MyBase.SetItemsCore(items)
    End Sub
 
    Public Shadows Sub KeyPress(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyPress
        Dim intIndex As Integer
        Dim strEntry As String
 
        If Char.IsControl(e.KeyChar) Then
            If MyBase.SelectionStart <= 1 Then
                MyBase.Text = String.Empty
                MyBase.SelectedIndex = -1
                e.Handled = True
                Exit Sub
            End If
            If MyBase.SelectionLength = 0 Then
                strEntry = MyBase.Text.Substring(0, MyBase.Text.Length - 1)
            Else
                strEntry = MyBase.Text.Substring(0, MyBase.SelectionStart - 1)
            End If
        ElseIf (Not Char.IsLetterOrDigit(e.KeyChar)) And (Not Char.IsWhiteSpace(e.KeyChar)) Then  '< 32 Or KeyAscii > 127 Then
            Exit Sub
        Else
            If MyBase.SelectionLength = 0 Then
                strEntry = UCase(MyBase.Text & e.KeyChar)
            Else
                strEntry = MyBase.Text.Substring(0, MyBase.SelectionStart) & e.KeyChar
            End If
        End If
 
        intIndex = MyBase.FindString(strEntry)
 
        If intIndex <> -1 Then
            MyBase.SelectedIndex = intIndex
            MyBase.SelectionStart = strEntry.Length
            MyBase.SelectionLength = MyBase.Text.Length - MyBase.SelectionStart
        End If
        e.Handled = True
        Exit Sub
    End Sub
End Class

hope it helps someone if they have been looking for something like this