Here is my code the I wish can help you.

Option Explicit
Private mbIgnoreListClick As Boolean
Private Const CB_SHOWDROPDOWN = &H14F
Const CB_ERR = -1
Const CB_FINDSTRING = &H14C
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias _
"SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Dim lReturn As Long
   Dim id As Boolean
   Dim keyid As Boolean
   Dim key1 As Boolean
   
   



Private Sub Combo1_Click()

    If key1 = False Then
        Text1.Text = Combo1.List(Combo1.ListIndex)
    
    Else
        
        
        key1 = False
    End If
    
    
    
End Sub


Private Sub Combo1_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)

       If KeyCode = vbKeyUp Or KeyCode = vbKeyDown Then
            keyid = True
        End If
End Sub

Private Sub Combo1_keypress(KeyAscii As Integer)
        Dim sSearchText As String

     

        SendMessage Combo1.hwnd, CB_SHOWDROPDOWN, 1, 0

        If KeyAscii = 13 Then
            key1 = True
            
             SendMessage Combo1.hwnd, CB_SHOWDROPDOWN, False, 0
            If id = True And keyid = False Then
              
                 Combo1.Text = Combo1.List(lReturn)
                 Text1.Text = Combo1.List(lReturn)
                 Combo1.ListIndex = lReturn
                 MsgBox "list index: " & Combo1.ListIndex
                 
            Else
                Combo1.Text = Combo1.List(Combo1.ListIndex)
                Combo1_Click
                keyid = False
            End If
        Else
            sSearchText = Left$(Combo1.Text, Combo1.SelStart) &
Chr$(KeyAscii)
            lReturn = SendMessage(Combo1.hwnd, CB_FINDSTRING, -1, ByVal
sSearchText)
            If lReturn <> CB_ERR Then
                mbIgnoreListClick = True
                Combo1.ListIndex = lReturn

             
                Combo1.Text = Combo1.List(lReturn)
                Combo1.SelStart = Len(sSearchText)
                Combo1.SelLength = Len(Combo1.Text)
                KeyAscii = 0
                id = True
                
                 
            End If
        End If

End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Combo1.AddItem "Apples"
    Combo1.AddItem "Apbes"
    Combo1.AddItem "Oranges"
    Combo1.AddItem "Grapes"
    Combo1.AddItem "Watermelons"
    Combo1.AddItem "Grapefruit"
    Combo1.AddItem "Rasberries"
End Sub



-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Irvine [mailto:andy@e...]
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 9:19 AM
To: professional vb
Subject: [pro_vb] RE: Here's my auto-completing combobox sample code


Marco,

The point you make about a combo box being useless if the number of items is
too big to fit into it is very valid.  In fact this is exactly the reason
why I wanted to use an auto-completion combo box. The users of my app will
have to select a name from a list of 200 hundred or so.  Rather than make
them scroll through entire list, I thought would it would be nice if they
could find the right name by typing the first few letters in.  The
autocomplete code pulls up the first name matching the letters they have
typed after each keystroke.  They still have the option to use the mouse if
they want, in fact if they type in the first letter or two the code places
the highlight bar more or less in the right place for them.

Hope this makes sense,
Andy

P.S. I'm sure my code can be improved so if notice anything, I'd welcome the
feedback - cheers.

Subject: RE: Here's my auto-completing combobox sample code
From: Marco Straforini <marco.straforini@c...>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 10:08:03 -0700
X-Message-Number: 8

Andy,
thanks for sharing the code with us. I have only one question:
why do you need a name completion? There is already the drop
down menu that you can use to select an item, isn't that enough?
I can see the name completion useful only when the number of the
items is too big that they do not fit in a drop down menu, and
in that case the menu is useless.
I am not questioning, just wondering...
m.