How to show text in combobox when no item selected?

Question

C# & .Net 2.0 question (WinForms)

I have set of items in ComboBox and non of them selected. I would like to show a string on combo \"Pl

Answer 1

Here you can find solution created by pavlo_ua: If you have .Net > 2.0 and If you have .Net == 2.0 (search for pavlo_ua answer)

Cheers, jbk

edit: So to have clear answer not just link

You can set Text of combobox when its style is set as DropDown (and it is editable). When you have .Net version < 3.0 there is no IsReadonly property so we need to use win api to set textbox of combobox as readonly:

private bool m_readOnly = false;
private const int EM_SETREADONLY = 0x00CF;

internal delegate bool EnumChildWindowsCallBack( IntPtr hwnd, IntPtr lParam );

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
internal static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

[ DllImport( "user32.dll" ) ]
internal static extern int EnumChildWindows( IntPtr hWndParent, EnumChildWindowsCallBack lpEnumFunc, IntPtr lParam );


private bool EnumChildWindowsCallBackFunction(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr lparam)
{
      if( hWnd != IntPtr.Zero )
       {
              IntPtr readonlyValue = ( m_readOnly ) ? new IntPtr( 1 ) : IntPtr.Zero;
             SendMessage( hWnd, EM_SETREADONLY, readonlyValue, IntPtr.Zero );
             comboBox1.Invalidate();
             return true;
       }
       return false;
}

private void MakeComboBoxReadOnly( bool readOnly )
{
    m_readOnly = readOnly;
    EnumChildWindowsCallBack callBack = new EnumChildWindowsCallBack(this.EnumChildWindowsCallBackFunction );
    EnumChildWindows( comboBox1.Handle, callBack, IntPtr.Zero );
}