How to enter free text in a ajax asp.net combo box ?

A day before I had requirement where the user wants a combox box that gives him access to enter free text also inside it. Thanks to Ajax Control Toolkit which is a open source that lets us modify the code according to our requirements . So How do we let the user enter free text in a ASP.NET AJAX combo box ?

1. Download the source code for AJAX control toolkit from here .
2. Once you open the solution, Under Ajax Control toolkit you will find a folder 'ComboBox'
3. In that try to open Combobox.debug.js . If you dont have it , open Comboxbox.js .
4. Now try to find the following piece of code in it and comment it.

if (this.get_selectedIndex() == -1 && this.get_dropDownStyle() == AjaxControlToolkit.ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList) {
this.get_textBoxControl().value = '';
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
return false;
}

This code is basically responsible to prevent entering free text when you dont have any item in the list that matches with what you had typed.

5. Now build the solution, add a reference to the dll , add the combo box control to your web page and you should be able to enter free text in ComboBox.

If you encounter any errors, throw a comment.I will help you out.

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Posted in: ASP.NET