How do I find an item by value in an combobox in C#?

Question

In C#, I have variable, a, of type string.

How do I find item by value of a in combobox (I want find item with value no display text of combobox).

Please add a tag to indicate which UI toolkit you are using. — O. R. Mapper, May 17 '15 at 16:09

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited May 17 '15 at 16:08

40

You can find it by using the following code.

int index = comboBox1.Items.IndexOf(a);

To get the item itself, write:

comboBox1.Items[index];

edited May 17 '15 at 16:08

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 15 '12 at 09:13

st mnmn

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will it work in databound combobox also? – user734028 Sep 23 '22 at 11:53

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 08 '15 at 21:24

16

You should see a method on the combo box control for FindStringExact(), which will search the displaymember and return the index of that item if found. If not found will return -1.

//to select the item if found: 
mycombobox.SelectedIndex = mycombobox.FindStringExact("Combo"); 

//to test if the item exists: 
int i = mycombobox.FindStringExact("Combo"); 
if(i >= 0)
{
  //exists
}

answered Jan 08 '15 at 21:24

Andrew Mulvaine

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I think FindExactString() works on the DisplayMember property of the ComboBox. I think the question is asking about how to match on the ValueMember property of a ComboBox. – andyabel Dec 18 '17 at 22:00

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 17 '15 at 16:10

I know my solution is very simple and funny, but before I train I used it. Important: DropDownStyle of combobox must be "DropDownList"!

First in combobox and then:

bool foundit = false;
String mystr = "item_1";
mycombobox.Text = mystr;
if (mycombobox.SelectedText == mystr) // Or using mycombobox.Text
    foundit = true;
else foundit = false;

It works for me right and resolved my problem... But the way (solution) from @st-mnmn is better and fine.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 07 '19 at 06:09

0

Hi Guys the best way if searching for a text or value is

int Selected = -1;    
int count = ComboBox1.Items.Count;
    for (int i = 0; (i<= (count - 1)); i++) 
     {        
         ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = i;
        if ((string)(ComboBox1.SelectedValue) == "SearchValue") 
        {
            Selected = i;
            break;
        }

    }

    ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = Selected;

edited Nov 07 '19 at 06:09

Larry Z

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answered Feb 12 '18 at 07:31

Teezy7

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Use "if ((string) (ComboBox1.Items[i]) == "SearchValue")" instead of "ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = i; if ((string)(ComboBox1.SelectedValue) == "SearchValue")" – amirfg May 12 '20 at 13:18

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 25 '23 at 19:38

Sorry for VB.NET code, please convert it to c#.

I prepared the following function bcoz of .NET 3.5 Windows Application:

Public Function FindIndex_by_value(ByRef combo As ComboBox, ByVal value As String) As Integer

Dim idx As Integer

For i As Integer = 0 To combo.Items.Count - 1
  Dim itm As DataRowView

  itm = combo.Items(i)
  Dim vl As String = itm.Item(0) 
  If vl = value Then
    idx = i
    Exit For
  End If
Next

Return idx
  End Function

using this function:

Dim idx As Integer = FindIndex_by_value(comboBox1, "Value_to_Search")
comboBox1.SelectedIndex = idx

Important: here 0 is index of the value column and I used the first column as value column in my DB query.

How do I find an item by value in an combobox in C#?

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