Computer Programming Concepts and Visual Basic David I. Schneider

either typing in information or just selecting the appropriate piece of information from a list. The
two most useful types of combo box are denoted as style 0 (Dropdown) and style 1 (Simple)
combo boxes. See Figure 10-2. The standard prefix for the name of a combo box is cbo.
Style 0–Dropdown combo box Style 1–Simple combo box
FIGURE 10-2 Styles of Combo Boxes
With a Simple combo box, the list is always visible. With a Dropdown combo box, the
list drops down when the user clicks on the arrow, and then disappears after a selection is
made. In either case, when an item from the list is highlighted, the item automatically appears
in the text box at the top and its value is assigned to the Text property of the combo box.
Combo boxes have essentially the same properties, events, and methods as list boxes. In
particular, all the statements discussed before for list boxes also hold for combo boxes. The
Style property of a combo box must be specified at design time.
EXAMPLE 3
The following program uses a simple combo box to obtain a person’s title for the first line of the address
of a letter. (Note: At design time, first set the combo box’s Style property to 1, and then lengthen the
height of the combo box.)
Object Property Setting
Private Sub cmdDisplay_Click()
txtDisplay.Text = cboTitle.Text & “ ” & txtName.Text
End Sub
List Boxes and Combo Boxes 291
frmTitle Caption Letter Address
lblTitle Caption Title
cboTitle List Mr.
Ms.
Dr.
The Honorable
Her Excellency
Style 1 – Simple
Combo
Text (blank)
lblName Caption Name
txtName Text (blank)
cmdDisplay Caption Display Full Name
txtDisplay Text (blank)
[Run, select an item from the combo box, type a name into the Name text box, and click the command
button.]