Unique to RadComboBox is support for two label types in its items - a title and a description. When in sort or autocomplete mode, the combobox uses the title label only, making programming and operation easier. You can style these labels separately for better control over RadComboBox' s visual appearance. Multiline text is supported as well - instead of truncating long text, you can have it on several lines.

RadComboBox fully supports binding to collections, tables, datasets, and custom objects. Three properties control data binding:

• The DataSource property specifies the ultimate source of the data to be bound.
• The DisplayMember property specifies the particular data to be displayed in the RadComboBox.
• The ValueMember property specifies the particular data to be returned as the value of the RadComboBox.

RadComboBox has full autocomplete support - as soon as the user starts typing, the combobox selects or fills-in the first matching entry from the list. The different autocomplete modes of RadComboBox are Suggest, Append, SuggestAppend, and Off. They can be set through the AutoCompleteMode property.

RadComboBox supports automatic sorting, based on the Sorted property of the control - simply set it Ascending or Descending to sort in the respective order, or deactivate it to restore the initial ordering of the ItemCollection. Sorting may be case-sensitive or case-insensitive. Capital letters are displayed first in the former case.

Double-click on the text box in a RadComboBox, and it will pull up the next item from the list. This timesaving feature allows you to quickly advance through a list without seeing all the items.

RadComboBox delivers convenience with integrated keyboard support. Once the control gets the focus, you can use the arrow keys to navigate through the items.

You decide whether users can enter free-form data or just select from the entries in the dropdown list. A single property setting switches editing on or off, making the text box portion of the control editable or read-only.

With the RadComboBox, you can assign an image to each item in the drop-down list. Images can be placed above, below, beside, or behind the text. You can use them as icons, headings, or backgrounds.