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How to remove the text selection highlight from a ComboBox permanently?

I am interested in removing the text selection of ComboBoxes with DropDownStyle = DropDown.
When I add/remove or close the DropPown, then the Item is selected.
I am not able to clear the selected text. Do you have some idea how to do this?
This code does not work:
comboBox.SelectionLenght = 0;
comboBox.SelectionStart = comboBox.Text.Legnth;
comboBox.Select(0,0);
I can see that the text is highlighted after this line:
selectedComboBox.Items.Add(redCompetitorName);

You can defer the execution of the Select() method, calling BeginInvoke() in the SelectedIndexChanged event handler (or SelectionChangedCommitted, if you want this to happen only when a User selects an Item manually).
By deferring the execution (this action is enqueued in the message loop), the Select() action is performed only after the ComboBox.Text has been set and highlighted. So your command is not overridden by the default behavior.
private void comboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Set the caret to the start of the ComboBox text
BeginInvoke(new Action(()=> comboBox.Select(0, 0)));
// OR - set the caret to the end of the text instead
BeginInvoke(new Action(()=> comboBox.Select(int.MaxValue, 0)));
}
This concept applies in other contexts of course.
You can use this method in other situations, when you need to perform an action, in the UI, that is executed only after the current (or the current sequence of the already scheduled actions) has completed.
If you want a more involved solution that prevents all kind of selection highlights in a ComboBox, you can use a Custom Control derived from ComboBox, get the Handle of its Edit Control, use a NativeWindow to intercept its messages. Override WndProc to handle EM_SETSEL and call PostMessage to remove the selection (only when the starting position is > 0, otherwise you risk to get stuck in a weird auto-loop which has an effect that's usually referred to as StackOverflow :).
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;
[DesignerCategory("code")]
public class ComboBoxNoFocus : ComboBox
{
IntPtr editHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
private EditNativeWindow editControl = null;
public ComboBoxNoFocus() { }
protected override void OnHandleCreated(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnHandleCreated(e);
editHandle = GetComboBoxEditInternal(this.Handle);
editControl = new EditNativeWindow(editHandle);
}
public class EditNativeWindow : NativeWindow
{
private const int EM_SETSEL = 0x0B1;
public EditNativeWindow() : this(IntPtr.Zero) { }
public EditNativeWindow(IntPtr handle)
{
if (handle != IntPtr.Zero) {
this.AssignHandle(handle);
}
}
protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
{
switch (m.Msg) {
case EM_SETSEL:
int pos = m.LParam.ToInt32();
if (pos > 0) {
PostMessage(this.Handle, EM_SETSEL, 0, 0);
}
return;
default:
// Other operations
break;
}
base.WndProc(ref m);
}
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
internal static extern bool GetComboBoxInfo(IntPtr hWnd, ref COMBOBOXINFO pcbi);
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
internal static extern bool PostMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, int wParam, int lParam);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct COMBOBOXINFO
{
public int cbSize;
public Rectangle rcItem;
public Rectangle rcButton;
public int buttonState;
public IntPtr hwndCombo;
public IntPtr hwndEdit;
public IntPtr hwndList;
public void Init() => this.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf<COMBOBOXINFO>();
}
internal static IntPtr GetComboBoxEditInternal(IntPtr cboHandle)
{
var cbInfo = new COMBOBOXINFO();
cbInfo.Init();
GetComboBoxInfo(cboHandle, ref cbInfo);
return cbInfo.hwndEdit;
}
}

Set the focus to another control in your form after a new item is selected, using the SelectedIndexChanged event of the Combobox.
private void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
button1.Focus();
}

Prevent AutoSelect behavior of a System.Window.Forms.ComboBox (C#)

Background:
I have a Forms.ComboBox with a DropDownStyle = DropDown.
I don't use AutoComplete, but I implemented something similar which does not only filter the beginning of the text, but uses a regular expression and shows all items which match the text entered. This works fine.
However, when I type the first letter of a matching item, the ComboBox falls back to its original behavior and sets DroppedDown = true and auto selects the first entry and completes the text to match the selected item (similar to AutoCompleteMode Append). What I want is no auto selection and auto completion.
What I found so far is, that I somehow have to prevent SendMessage() with CB_FINDSTRING of being called and replace CB_FINDSTRING with CB_FINDSTRINGEXACT (MSDN Link).
I think I have to extend the ComboBox class, but I'm not sure which methods I have to override. I'm working with C# .NET Framework v3.5.
Questions:
How do I extend a Windows.Forms.ComboBox to prevent the auto select behavior?
Links:
How can I prevent auto-select in ComboBox on drop-down except for exact matches? (did not help me)

Try this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Opulos.Core.Win32;
namespace Opulos.Core.UI {
// Extension class to disable the auto-select behavior when a combobox is in DropDown mode.
public static class ComboBoxAutoSelectEx {
public static void AutoSelectOff(this ComboBox combo) {
Data.Register(combo);
}
public static void AutoSelectOn(this ComboBox combo) {
Data data = null;
if (Data.dict.TryGetValue(combo, out data)) {
data.Dispose();
Data.dict.Remove(combo);
}
}
private class Data {
// keep a reference to the native windows so they don't get disposed
internal static Dictionary<ComboBox, Data> dict = new Dictionary<ComboBox, Data>();
// a ComboBox consists of 3 windows (combobox handle, text edit handle and dropdown list handle)
ComboBox combo;
NW nwList = null; // handle to the combobox's dropdown list
NW2 nwEdit = null; // handle to the edit window
internal void Dispose() {
dict.Remove(this.combo);
this.nwList.ReleaseHandle();
this.nwEdit.ReleaseHandle();
}
public static void Register(ComboBox combo) {
if (dict.ContainsKey(combo))
return; // already registered
Data data = new Data() { combo = combo };
Action assign = () => {
if (dict.ContainsKey(combo))
return; // already assigned
COMBOBOXINFO info = COMBOBOXINFO.GetInfo(combo); // new COMBOBOXINFO();
//info.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(info);
//COMBOBOXINFO2.SendMessageCb(combo.Handle, 0x164, IntPtr.Zero, out info);
dict[combo] = data;
data.nwList = new NW(combo, info.hwndList);
data.nwEdit = new NW2(info.hwndEdit);
};
if (!combo.IsHandleCreated)
combo.HandleCreated += delegate { assign(); };
else
assign();
combo.HandleDestroyed += delegate {
data.Dispose();
};
}
}
private class NW : NativeWindow {
ComboBox combo;
public NW(ComboBox combo, IntPtr handle) {
this.combo = combo;
AssignHandle(handle);
}
private const int LB_FINDSTRING = 0x018F;
private const int LB_FINDSTRINGEXACT = 0x01A2;
protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) {
if (m.Msg == LB_FINDSTRING) {
m.Msg = LB_FINDSTRINGEXACT;
}
base.WndProc(ref m);
if (m.Msg == LB_FINDSTRINGEXACT) {
String find = Marshal.PtrToStringAuto(m.LParam);
for (int i = 0; i < combo.Items.Count; i++) {
Object item = combo.Items[i];
if (item.Equals(find)) {
m.Result = new IntPtr(i);
break;
}
}
}
}
}
private class NW2 : NativeWindow {
public NW2(IntPtr handle) {
AssignHandle(handle);
}
private const int EM_SETSEL = 0x00B1;
private const int EM_GETSEL = 0x00B0;
protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) {
if (m.Msg == EM_SETSEL) {
// if this code is not here, then the entire combobox text is selected
// which looks ugly, especially when there are multiple combo boxes.
//
// if this method returns immediately, then the caret position is set
// to (0, 0). However, it seems that calling EM_GETSEL has a side effect
// that the caret position is mostly maintained. Sometimes it slips back
// to (0, 0).
SendMessage(Handle, EM_GETSEL, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
//int selStart = (sel & 0x00ff);
//int selEnd = (sel >> 16) & 0x00ff;
//Debug.WriteLine("EM_GETSEL: " + selStart + " nEnd: " + selEnd);
return;
}
base.WndProc(ref m);
}
[DllImportAttribute("user32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
private static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);
}
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct COMBOBOXINFO {
public Int32 cbSize;
public RECT rcItem;
public RECT rcButton;
public int buttonState;
public IntPtr hwndCombo;
public IntPtr hwndEdit;
public IntPtr hwndList;
public static COMBOBOXINFO GetInfo(ComboBox combo) {
COMBOBOXINFO info = new COMBOBOXINFO();
info.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(info);
SendMessageCb(combo.Handle, 0x164, IntPtr.Zero, out info);
return info;
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SendMessageW", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
private static extern IntPtr SendMessageCb(IntPtr hWnd, int msg, IntPtr wp, out COMBOBOXINFO lp);
}
//[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
//public struct RECT {
// public int Left;
// public int Top;
// public int Right;
// public int Bottom;
//}
}

Changing the backcolor of a childnode in the treeview

As per TreeView Remove CheckBox by some Nodes
After doing so I have my tree-view of check-box without parent node check-box.
But I am facing a problem, I am not able to change the color of a particular child node.
ie. if i try to change like
treeview1.Nodes[0].Nodes[2].BackColor=Color.Gray;
is still having the same old color.
Can anyone help me on this.
Thanks.
Edited
private const int TVIF_STATE = 0x8;
private const int TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK = 0xF000;
private const int TV_FIRST = 0x1100;
private const int TVM_SETITEM = TV_FIRST + 63;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 8, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private struct TVITEM
{
public int mask;
public IntPtr hItem;
public int state;
public int stateMask;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPTStr)]
public string lpszText;
public int cchTextMax;
public int iImage;
public int iSelectedImage;
public int cChildren;
public IntPtr lParam;
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam,
ref TVITEM lParam);
/// <summary>
/// Hides the checkbox for the specified node on a TreeView control.
/// </summary>
private void HideCheckBox(TreeView tvw, TreeNode node)
{
TVITEM tvi = new TVITEM();
tvi.hItem = node.Handle;
tvi.mask = TVIF_STATE;
tvi.stateMask = TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK;
tvi.state = 0;
SendMessage(tvw.Handle, TVM_SETITEM, IntPtr.Zero, ref tvi);
}
/// <summary>
/// Handles the DrawNode event of the treeView1 control.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender">The source of the event.</param>
/// <param name="e">The <see cref="System.Windows.Forms.DrawTreeNodeEventArgs"/> instance containing the event data.</param>
/// <remarks></remarks>
private void treeView1_DrawNode(object sender, DrawTreeNodeEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Node.Level == 0)
HideCheckBox(e.Node.TreeView, e.Node);
e.DrawDefault = true;
}
private void treeView1_AfterSelect(object sender, TreeViewEventArgs e)
{
treeView1.Nodes[0].Nodes[1].BackColor = Color.Red;
}

I've tried it the way you did (specially the DrawNode event handler) and I'm pretty sure that you set TreeView.DrawMode = TreeViewDrawMode.OwnerDrawText;. That won't draw the Background (just Text only) so that's why the BackColor is not updated. You have to set it to TreeViewDrawMode.OwnerDrawAll instead:
I would use another approach to Hide all the Child node checkboxes without using DrawNode event handler. I would add code to the BeforeExpand like this:
//BeforeExpand event handler for your TreeView
private void treeView1_BeforeExpand(object sender, TreeViewCancelEventArgs e){
foreach (TreeNode node in e.Node.Nodes)
HideCheckBox(e.Node.TreeView, e.Node);
}
You can also loop through all the nodes with level>0 to hide the checkbox once. Then whenever you add more nodes to your TreeView, if it's not level 0 node, just HideCheckBox right after adding it.
NOTE: Of course the 2 approaches I mentioned above don't require you to set DrawMode to anything other than Normal.

TreeView Remove CheckBox by some Nodes

I want remove CheckBoxes where the Node.Type is 5 or 6. I use this code:
private void TvOne_DrawNode(object sender, DrawTreeNodeEventArgs e)
{
int type = (e.Node as Node).typ;
if (type == 5 || type == 6)
{
Color backColor, foreColor;
if ((e.State & TreeNodeStates.Selected) == TreeNodeStates.Selected)
{
backColor = SystemColors.Highlight;
foreColor = SystemColors.HighlightText;
}
else if ((e.State & TreeNodeStates.Hot) == TreeNodeStates.Hot)
{
backColor = SystemColors.HotTrack;
foreColor = SystemColors.HighlightText;
}
else
{
backColor = e.Node.BackColor;
foreColor = e.Node.ForeColor;
}
using (SolidBrush brush = new SolidBrush(backColor))
{
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(brush, e.Node.Bounds);
}
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, e.Node.Text, this.TvOne.Font,
e.Node.Bounds, foreColor, backColor);
if ((e.State & TreeNodeStates.Focused) == TreeNodeStates.Focused)
{
ControlPaint.DrawFocusRectangle(e.Graphics, e.Node.Bounds,
foreColor, backColor);
}
e.DrawDefault = false;
}
else
{
e.DrawDefault = true;
}
}
The Problem is that then the Image and the Line to the Root Node is not there.
How can Remove the Checkbox and let the Image and the Line there?
This is wrong!

In the code you've shown, you are handling the drawing yourself for all of the nodes whose type is either 5 or 6. For the rest of the types, you're simply allowing the system to draw the nodes in the default way. That's why they all have the lines as expected, but the ones you're owner-drawing do not: You forgot to draw in the lines! You see, when you say e.DrawDefault = false; it's assumed that you really do mean it. None of the regular drawing is done, including the standard lines.
You'll either need to draw in those lines yourself, or figure out how to get by without owner-drawing at all.
From the code you have now, it looks like you're trying to simulate the system's native drawing style as much as possible in your owner-draw code, so it's not clear to me what exactly you accomplish by owner-drawing in the first place. If you're just trying to keep checkboxes from showing up for type 5 and 6 nodes (which, like the lines, are simply not getting drawn because you aren't drawing them!), there's a simpler way to do that without involving owner drawing.
So, you ask, what is that simpler way to hide the checkboxes for individual nodes? Well, it turns out that the TreeView control itself actually supports this, but that functionality is not exposed in the .NET Framework. You need to P/Invoke and call the Windows API to get at it. Add the following code to your form class (make sure you've added a using declaration for System.Runtime.InteropServices):
private const int TVIF_STATE = 0x8;
private const int TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK = 0xF000;
private const int TV_FIRST = 0x1100;
private const int TVM_SETITEM = TV_FIRST + 63;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 8, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private struct TVITEM
{
public int mask;
public IntPtr hItem;
public int state;
public int stateMask;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPTStr)]
public string lpszText;
public int cchTextMax;
public int iImage;
public int iSelectedImage;
public int cChildren;
public IntPtr lParam;
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam,
ref TVITEM lParam);
/// <summary>
/// Hides the checkbox for the specified node on a TreeView control.
/// </summary>
private void HideCheckBox(TreeView tvw, TreeNode node)
{
TVITEM tvi = new TVITEM();
tvi.hItem = node.Handle;
tvi.mask = TVIF_STATE;
tvi.stateMask = TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK;
tvi.state = 0;
SendMessage(tvw.Handle, TVM_SETITEM, IntPtr.Zero, ref tvi);
}
All of the messy stuff at the top are your P/Invoke declarations. You need a handful of constants, the TVITEM structure that describes the attributes of a treeview item, and the SendMessage function. At the bottom is the function you'll actually call to do the deed (HideCheckBox). You simply pass in the TreeView control and the particular TreeNode item from which you want to remove the checkmark.
So you can remove the checkmarks from each of the child nodes to get something that looks like this:

Using TreeViewExtensions.
Usage sample:
private void MyForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.treeview1.DrawMode = TreeViewDrawMode.OwnerDrawText;
this.treeview1.DrawNode += new DrawTreeNodeEventHandler(arbolDependencias_DrawNode);
}
void treeview1_DrawNode(object sender, DrawTreeNodeEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Node.Level == 1) e.Node.HideCheckBox();
e.DrawDefault = true;
}
Here is the answer's code as an Extension method, using this you can do:
public static class TreeViewExtensions
{
private const int TVIF_STATE = 0x8;
private const int TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK = 0xF000;
private const int TV_FIRST = 0x1100;
private const int TVM_SETITEM = TV_FIRST + 63;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 8, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private struct TVITEM
{
public int mask;
public IntPtr hItem;
public int state;
public int stateMask;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPTStr)]
public string lpszText;
public int cchTextMax;
public int iImage;
public int iSelectedImage;
public int cChildren;
public IntPtr lParam;
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int Msg, IntPtr wParam,
ref TVITEM lParam);
/// <summary>
/// Hides the checkbox for the specified node on a TreeView control.
/// </summary>
public static void HideCheckBox(this TreeNode node)
{
TVITEM tvi = new TVITEM();
tvi.hItem = node.Handle;
tvi.mask = TVIF_STATE;
tvi.stateMask = TVIS_STATEIMAGEMASK;
tvi.state = 0;
SendMessage(node.TreeView.Handle, TVM_SETITEM, IntPtr.Zero, ref tvi);
}
}

This is very good! The only modification I'd make is to pass only the TreeNode and not the TreeView to the HideCheckBox method. The TreeView can be retrieved from the TreeNode itself:
TreeView tvw = node.TreeView;

Combo box drop down width on suggest

I have a form which has a Combo Box Control. I have selected the drop down style property to DropDown. I have also set the DropDown Width to 250. I have set the auto complete mode to suggest and the auto complete source to listitems. it works absolutely fine when i click on the drop down. but when i type in somethin, the auto complete mode activates a drop down which has a small width.
any help appreciate. i wanna know how to increase the width of the auto complete drop down via code so that the list items are viewed properly. I am using C#.
I had asked this a couple of months back but didn't get a proper answer. now the customer wants it bad :(
??

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
/// <summary>
/// Represents an ComboBox with additional properties for setting the
/// size of the AutoComplete Drop-Down window.
/// </summary>
public class ComboBoxEx : ComboBox
{
private int acDropDownHeight = 106;
private int acDropDownWidth = 170;
//<EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Always), _
[Browsable(true), Description("The width, in pixels, of the auto complete drop down box"), DefaultValue(170)]
public int AutoCompleteDropDownWidth
{
get { return acDropDownWidth; }
set { acDropDownWidth = value; }
}
//<EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Always), _
[Browsable(true), Description("The height, in pixels, of the auto complete drop down box"), DefaultValue(106)]
public int AutoCompleteDropDownHeight
{
get { return acDropDownHeight; }
set { acDropDownHeight = value; }
}
protected override void OnHandleCreated(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnHandleCreated(e);
ACWindow.RegisterOwner(this);
}
#region Nested type: ACWindow
/// <summary>
/// Provides an encapsulation of an Auto complete drop down window
/// handle and window proc.
/// </summary>
private class ACWindow : NativeWindow
{
private static readonly Dictionary<IntPtr, ACWindow> ACWindows;
#region "Win API Declarations"
private const UInt32 WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED = 0x47;
private const UInt32 WM_NCDESTROY = 0x82;
private const UInt32 SWP_NOSIZE = 0x1;
private const UInt32 SWP_NOMOVE = 0x2;
private const UInt32 SWP_NOZORDER = 0x4;
private const UInt32 SWP_NOREDRAW = 0x8;
private const UInt32 SWP_NOACTIVATE = 0x10;
private const UInt32 GA_ROOT = 2;
private static readonly List<ComboBoxEx> owners;
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool EnumThreadWindows(int dwThreadId, EnumThreadDelegate lpfn, IntPtr lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern IntPtr GetAncestor(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 gaFlags);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern int GetCurrentThreadId();
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern void GetClassName(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpClassName, int nMaxCount);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy,
uint uFlags);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool GetWindowRect(IntPtr hWnd, ref RECT lpRect);
#region Nested type: EnumThreadDelegate
private delegate bool EnumThreadDelegate(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr lParam);
#endregion
#region Nested type: RECT
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct RECT
{
public readonly int Left;
public readonly int Top;
public readonly int Right;
public readonly int Bottom;
public Point Location
{
get { return new Point(Left, Top); }
}
}
#endregion
#endregion
private ComboBoxEx owner;
static ACWindow()
{
ACWindows = new Dictionary<IntPtr, ACWindow>();
owners = new List<ComboBoxEx>();
}
/// <summary>
/// Creates a new ACWindow instance from a specific window handle.
/// </summary>
private ACWindow(IntPtr handle)
{
AssignHandle(handle);
}
/// <summary>
/// Registers a ComboBoxEx for adjusting the Complete Dropdown window size.
/// </summary>
public static void RegisterOwner(ComboBoxEx owner)
{
if ((owners.Contains(owner)))
{
return;
}
owners.Add(owner);
EnumThreadWindows(GetCurrentThreadId(), EnumThreadWindowCallback, IntPtr.Zero);
}
/// <summary>
/// This callback will receive the handle for each window that is
/// associated with the current thread. Here we match the drop down window name
/// to the drop down window name and assign the top window to the collection
/// of auto complete windows.
/// </summary>
private static bool EnumThreadWindowCallback(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr lParam)
{
if ((GetClassName(hWnd) == "Auto-Suggest Dropdown"))
{
IntPtr handle = GetAncestor(hWnd, GA_ROOT);
if ((!ACWindows.ContainsKey(handle)))
{
ACWindows.Add(handle, new ACWindow(handle));
}
}
return true;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the class name for a specific window handle.
/// </summary>
private static string GetClassName(IntPtr hRef)
{
var lpClassName = new StringBuilder(256);
GetClassName(hRef, lpClassName, 256);
return lpClassName.ToString();
}
/// <summary>
/// Overrides the NativeWindow's WndProc to handle when the window
/// attributes changes.
/// </summary>
protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
{
if ((m.Msg == WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED))
{
// If the owner has not been set we need to find the ComboBoxEx that
// is associated with this dropdown window. We do it by checking if
// the upper-left location of the drop-down window is within the
// ComboxEx client rectangle.
if ((owner == null))
{
Rectangle ownerRect = default(Rectangle);
var acRect = new RECT();
foreach (ComboBoxEx cbo in owners)
{
GetWindowRect(Handle, ref acRect);
ownerRect = cbo.RectangleToScreen(cbo.ClientRectangle);
if ((ownerRect.Contains(acRect.Location)))
{
owner = cbo;
break; // TODO: might not be correct. Was : Exit For
}
}
owners.Remove(owner);
}
if (((owner != null)))
{
SetWindowPos(Handle, IntPtr.Zero, -5, 0, owner.AutoCompleteDropDownWidth,
owner.AutoCompleteDropDownHeight, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOZORDER | SWP_NOACTIVATE);
}
}
if ((m.Msg == WM_NCDESTROY))
{
ACWindows.Remove(Handle);
}
base.WndProc(ref m);
}
}
#endregion
}
This is what I did and it actually works really well. Good to find an answer atlast :)

This answer is an addition to reggie's answer.
If you want the user to be able to resize the auto-complete dropdown, then add the following code inside the WndProc method:
private const int WM_SIZING = 0x214;
if (m.Msg == WM_SIZING) {
if (owner != null) {
RECT rr = (RECT) Marshal.PtrToStructure(m.LParam, typeof(RECT));
owner.acDropDownWidth = (rr.Right - rr.Left);
owner.acDropDownHeight = (rr.Bottom - rr.Top);
}
}

kind of a bad design decision to do that. Why not set it to a static large size to start with? You can always use one of the events to get the text width and then use that to set the combobox width. Possibly the onPaint? easier way might be to create your own combobox class that inherits from combo box and then override the methods to do this yourself.