Combobox hot key? [Resolved]

[salvelinus]

Is there a way to get a combobox to have a hot key type action, so that the user can drop down the list from the keyboard w/o selecting anything? The best I can get is selecting the first item via the down arrow key. I want something that will perform the action of clicking on the combobox arrow. Thanks.

[Pirate]

Try this :

ComboBox1.Focus()
SendKeys.Send("%{DOWN}")

[salvelinus]

Well thanks, I'll try that. I thought I'd read that Sendkeys wasn't available in .Net. I was going blindly through RaiseEvent and similar stuff. If it works I'll let you know.
I guess a question is how to capture the Alt-P combo to trigger that code.

[Pirate]

This is how to capture any combination of keys . Just replace the msgbox part with your handling method .

Private Sub ComboBox1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.KeyDown
        If e.Alt And e.KeyValue = Keys.P Then
            MessageBox.Show("You pressed Alt + P")
        End If
    End Sub

[salvelinus]

Thanks Pirate, that put me on the right path! I've got the form's KeyPreview set to True, and the code below did what I wanted. Heck of a lot easier than trying to raise events.

Private Sub frmWhiteSlips_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyDown
        If e.Alt And e.KeyValue = Keys.C Then
            cboProject.DroppedDown = True
            mblnHotKey = True
        ElseIf e.Alt And e.KeyValue = Keys.M Then
            cboMonth.DroppedDown = True
        End If
    End Sub