I added 2 new features to the state combo class, 1 is a readonly property to get the 2 letter abbreviation for the state currently selected, and the other is a method you can use to get the state abbreviation by passing in a state name

here is the complete code for the state combo class
VB Code:
  1. Option Explicit On 

  2. Option Strict On

  3.  
  4. Public Class AutoCompleteStateCombo

  5.     Inherits AutoCompleteCombo

  6.  
  7.     Public Sub New()

  8.         MyBase.New()

  9.         Dim strStateString As String = "Alabama|Alaska|Arizona|Arkansas|California|Colorado|Connecticut|Delaware|District of Columbia|" & _

  10.                                                     "Florida|Georgia|Hawaii|Idaho|Illinois|Indiana|Iowa|Kansas|Kentucky|Louisiana|Maine|Maryland|" & _

  11.                                                     "Massachusetts|Michigan|Minnesota|Mississippi|Missouri|Montana|Nebraska|Nevada|New Hampshire|" & _

  12.                                                     "New Jersey|New Mexico|New York|North Carolina|North Dakota|Ohio|Oklahoma|Oregon|Pennsylvania|" & _

  13.                                                     "Rhode Island|South Carolina|South Dakota|Tennessee|Texas|Utah|Vermont|Virginia|Washington|West Virginia|Wisconsin|Wyoming"

  14.  
  15.         Dim States() As String = strStateString.Split("|"c)

  16.  
  17.         MyBase.Items.AddRange(States)

  18.  
  19.     End Sub

  20.     Public ReadOnly Property StateAbbr() As String

  21.         Get

  22.             Select Case Me.Text.ToUpper

  23.                 Case "Alabama" : StateAbbr = "AL"

  24.                 Case "Alaska" : StateAbbr = "AK"

  25.                 Case "Arizona" : StateAbbr = "AZ"

  26.                 Case "Arkansas" : StateAbbr = "AR"

  27.                 Case "California" : StateAbbr = "CA"

  28.                 Case "Colorado" : StateAbbr = "CO"

  29.                 Case "Connecticut" : StateAbbr = "CT"

  30.                 Case "Delaware" : StateAbbr = "DE"

  31.                 Case "District of Columbia" : StateAbbr = "DC"

  32.                 Case "Florida" : StateAbbr = "FL"

  33.                 Case "Georgia" : StateAbbr = "GA"

  34.                 Case "Hawaii" : StateAbbr = "HI"

  35.                 Case "Idaho" : StateAbbr = "ID"

  36.                 Case "Illinois" : StateAbbr = "IL"

  37.                 Case "Indiana" : StateAbbr = "IN"

  38.                 Case "Iowa" : StateAbbr = "IA"

  39.                 Case "Kansas" : StateAbbr = "KS"

  40.                 Case "Kentucky" : StateAbbr = "KY"

  41.                 Case "Louisiana" : StateAbbr = "LA"

  42.                 Case "Maine" : StateAbbr = "ME"

  43.                 Case "Maryland" : StateAbbr = "MD"

  44.                 Case "Massachusetts" : StateAbbr = "MA"

  45.                 Case "Michigan" : StateAbbr = "MI"

  46.                 Case "Minnesota" : StateAbbr = "MN"

  47.                 Case "Mississippi" : StateAbbr = "MS"

  48.                 Case "Missouri" : StateAbbr = "MO"

  49.                 Case "Montana" : StateAbbr = "MT"

  50.                 Case "Nebraska" : StateAbbr = "NE"

  51.                 Case "Nevada" : StateAbbr = "NV"

  52.                 Case "New Hampshire" : StateAbbr = "NH"

  53.                 Case "New Jersey" : StateAbbr = "NJ"

  54.                 Case "New Mexico" : StateAbbr = "NM"

  55.                 Case "New York" : StateAbbr = "NY"

  56.                 Case "None/Other" : StateAbbr = "XX"

  57.                 Case "North Carolina" : StateAbbr = "NC"

  58.                 Case "North Dakota" : StateAbbr = "ND"

  59.                 Case "Ohio" : StateAbbr = "OH"

  60.                 Case "Oklahoma" : StateAbbr = "OK"

  61.                 Case "Oregon" : StateAbbr = "OR"

  62.                 Case "Pennsylvania" : StateAbbr = "PA"

  63.                 Case "Rhode Island" : StateAbbr = "RI"

  64.                 Case "South Carolina" : StateAbbr = "SC"

  65.                 Case "South Dakota" : StateAbbr = "SD"

  66.                 Case "Tennessee" : StateAbbr = "TN"

  67.                 Case "Texas" : StateAbbr = "TX"

  68.                 Case "Utah" : StateAbbr = "UT"

  69.                 Case "Vermont" : StateAbbr = "VT"

  70.                 Case "Virginia" : StateAbbr = "VA"

  71.                 Case "Washington" : StateAbbr = "WA"

  72.                 Case "West Virginia" : StateAbbr = "WV"

  73.                 Case "Wisconsin" : StateAbbr = "WI"

  74.                 Case "Wyoming" : StateAbbr = "WY"

  75.                 Case Else : StateAbbr = String.Empty

  76.             End Select

  77.         End Get

  78.     End Property

  79.  
  80.     Public Function GetNameFromAbbr(ByVal strAbbr As String) As String

  81.         Select Case strAbbr.ToUpper

  82.             Case "AL" : Return "Alabama"

  83.             Case "AK" : Return "Alaska"

  84.             Case "AZ" : Return "Arizona"

  85.             Case "AR" : Return "Arkansas"

  86.             Case "CA" : Return "California"

  87.             Case "CO" : Return "Colorado"

  88.             Case "CT" : Return "Connecticut"

  89.             Case "DE" : Return "Delaware"

  90.             Case "DC" : Return "District of Columbia"

  91.             Case "FL" : Return "Florida"

  92.             Case "GA" : Return "Georgia"

  93.             Case "HI" : Return "Hawaii"

  94.             Case "ID" : Return "Idaho"

  95.             Case "IL" : Return "Illinois"

  96.             Case "IN" : Return "Indiana"

  97.             Case "IA" : Return "Iowa"

  98.             Case "KS" : Return "Kansas"

  99.             Case "KY" : Return "Kentucky"

  100.             Case "LA" : Return "Louisiana"

  101.             Case "ME" : Return "Maine"

  102.             Case "MD" : Return "Maryland"

  103.             Case "MA" : Return "Massachusetts"

  104.             Case "MI" : Return "Michigan"

  105.             Case "MN" : Return "Minnesota"

  106.             Case "MS" : Return "Mississippi"

  107.             Case "MO" : Return "Missouri"

  108.             Case "MT" : Return "Montana"

  109.             Case "NE" : Return "Nebraska"

  110.             Case "NV" : Return "Nevada"

  111.             Case "NH" : Return "New Hampshire"

  112.             Case "NJ" : Return "New Jersey"

  113.             Case "NM" : Return "New Mexico"

  114.             Case "NY" : Return "New York"

  115.             Case "XX" : Return "None/Other"

  116.             Case "NC" : Return "North Carolina"

  117.             Case "ND" : Return "North Dakota"

  118.             Case "OH" : Return "Ohio"

  119.             Case "OK" : Return "Oklahoma"

  120.             Case "OR" : Return "Oregon"

  121.             Case "PA" : Return "Pennsylvania"

  122.             Case "RI" : Return "Rhode Island"

  123.             Case "SC" : Return "South Carolina"

  124.             Case "SD" : Return "South Dakota"

  125.             Case "TN" : Return "Tennessee"

  126.             Case "TX" : Return "Texas"

  127.             Case "UT" : Return "Utah"

  128.             Case "VT" : Return "Vermont"

  129.             Case "VA" : Return "Virginia"

  130.             Case "WA" : Return "Washington"

  131.             Case "WV" : Return "West Virginia"

  132.             Case "WI" : Return "Wisconsin"

  133.             Case "WY" : Return "Wyoming"

  134.             Case Else : Return String.Empty

  135.         End Select

  136.     End Function

  137. End Class