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Google like edit/combo control for Delphi?

Asked 2010-01-06T10:26:41.880
19

Everyone probably knows what I mean, but to clarify the control would need to:

  • Fire an event when user edits the text. The event would provide a SuggestionList: TStrings which you could fill with matches/suggestions.
  • if the SuggestionList is not empty a drop down should appear.
  • Unlike combo, the control should not attempt to automatically select/auto complete or otherwise affect the editing.

So, is there a Delphi edit/combo control that works like that ?

delphi autocomplete combobox
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2 Answers

26

Use the autocompletion feature built in to all Windows edit controls.

First, fill your TStrings object however you want. Then use GetOleStrings to create a TStringsAdapter to wrap it. (The adapter does not claim ownership of the TStrings object, so you must make sure you don't destroy it while the adapter is still live.) The adapter gives you an IStrings interface, which you'll need because the autocompletion feature requires an IEnumString interface to provide the completion matches. Call _NewEnum for that.

Next, call CoCreateInstance to create an IAutoComplete object. Call its Init method to associate it with the window handle of your edit control. If you're using a combo box, then send it a cbem_GetEditControl message to find the underlying edit window.

You can stop at that point and autocompletion should work automatically. You can disable autocompletion if you want, or you can set any number of autocompletion options.

You

answered 2010-01-12T04:04:48.120
3

If you just want to show a file or url list:

SHAutoComplete(GetWindow(eb_MyComboBox->Handle, GW_CHILD), SHACF_AUTOSUGGEST_FORCE_ON | SHACF_FILESYS_DIRS);
answered 2011-11-30T14:39:44.690

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