Autocomplete email address and/or names in C#

Question

I'm looking for a solution like the one discussed here, but for C# WinForms. Link here

To rephrase, is it possible to do textbox autocompletes in C# using a single data source with multiple lines? Result should be like Gmail's TO: field in creating emails, or similarly MS Outlook's TO: field.

For example, the data set might be:
"John Williams" (john.williams@gmail.com)
"Bob Johnson" (john.jacobs@gmail.com)
"Willy Johnston" (willy.williams@gmail.com)
"Willy Williams" (johnjohn@gmail.com)

... and I should be able to type "john" and all four would be suggested. If I typed "johns" then the second and third entries would be suggested.

This is more advanced than the auto-complete provided by .NET by default.

Thanks, -Greg

You want a single address per edit control or multiple items? — Shay Erlichmen, Oct 08 '09 at 19:29
Possible dupe: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/796195/c-autocomplete — Shay Erlichmen, Oct 08 '09 at 19:31
You need to specify WinForms or ASP.NET; the solutions are very different. — technophile, Oct 08 '09 at 19:57
Multiple addresses per textbox, single data source, not a dupe (similar but not the same), winforms. Question edited to be specific. — greg7gkb, Oct 09 '09 at 20:38

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 08 '09 at 19:25

3

The WinForms 2.0 controls already provide this functionality in the AutoCompleteSource property. You can set this to a datasource or build your own list of strings with AutoCompleteStringCollection.

answered Oct 08 '09 at 19:25

Dour High Arch

21,513
29
75
90

Question clarified as to expected behavior. The .NET 2.0 controls would not satisfy this criteria. – greg7gkb Oct 09 '09 at 20:46

greg7gkb · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-05T09:32:29.690

3

I ended up writing my own UserControl custom class to take care of this. It didn't appear there was anything out there that met my needs.

I've provided the source and DLL here under BSD: http://code.google.com/p/email-autocomplete

Basically, it emulates the functionality of the "To:" box on Gmail but of course in .NET.

edited Dec 05 '12 at 09:32

answered Nov 06 '09 at 06:17

greg7gkb

4,933
4
41
55

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 08 '09 at 19:07

1

Have you looked into the Ajax Control Toolkit?

http://www.asp.net/AJAX/AjaxControlToolkit/Samples/AutoComplete/AutoComplete.aspx

answered Oct 08 '09 at 19:07

Mike

5,437
7
45
62

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 08 '09 at 19:28

In control (for example TextBox) Properties tab, open Behavior section and set AutoCompleteType to needed value. You can do the same programatically. For your control (for example TextBox TextBox1) call AutoCompleteType type and initialize value (for example TextBox1.AutoCompleteType = AutoCompleteType.Email; )

Autocomplete email address and/or names in C#

4 Answers4

Linked