How can i Align text for combo box in WinForms in WinForms

Question

I need to Align Text for ComboBox by left, right or center. I couldn't find TextAlignment or HorizontalAlignment property for ComboBox in WinForms.

How can i set TextAlignment for ComboBox?

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    ComboBox comboBox;
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        var button = new Button() { Text = "Increase", Size = new Size(100, 20), Location = new Point(10, 10) };
        button.Click += button_Click;
        this.Controls.Add(button);
        comboBox = new ComboBox() { Location = new Point(100, 100), Size = new Size(200, 20), MinimumSize = new Size(0, 0), Font = new Font("Calibri", 11), Text = "Stack Overflow" };
        comboBox.Items.Add("One");
        comboBox.Items.Add("Two");
        comboBox.Items.Add("Three");
        comboBox.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable;
        comboBox.DrawItem += comboBox_DrawItem;
        this.Controls.Add(comboBox);
    }

    void comboBox_DrawItem(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
    {
        // By using Sender, one method could handle multiple ComboBoxes
        ComboBox cbx = sender as ComboBox;
        if (cbx != null)
        {
            // Always draw the background
            e.DrawBackground();

            // Drawing one of the items?
            if (e.Index >= 0)
            {
                // Set the string alignment.  Choices are Center, Near and Far
                StringFormat sf = new StringFormat();
                sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
                sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;

                // Set the Brush to ComboBox ForeColor to maintain any ComboBox color settings
                // Assumes Brush is solid
                Brush brush = new SolidBrush(cbx.ForeColor);

                // If drawing highlighted selection, change brush
                if ((e.State & DrawItemState.Selected) == DrawItemState.Selected)
                    brush = SystemBrushes.HighlightText;

                // Draw the string
                e.Graphics.DrawString(cbx.Items[e.Index].ToString(), cbx.Font, brush, e.Bounds, sf);
            }
        }
    }
}

Above code only sets my combobox item to be displayed in center. How can the text displayed in the combobox be set to center alignment? My goal is to align that text box only not the dropdown items.

Thanks in Advance.

Regards,

Venkatesan R

Hi @M.Schena, From this, they have answered only for the combobox items, but i need to align the textbox loaded in it. Is it possible to do that? — venkatesan r
I don't know yet, but can you show the code for the combobox with the textbox in it? — M. Schena
Hi @M.Schena, I have shared my code. let me know how can i set the text alignment for the text displayed in combobox initially. — venkatesan r
Hi @OhBeWise my goal is to align that text box only not the dropdown items. — venkatesan r

OhBeWise OhBeWise · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-03T16:21:43

For completeness: Just as we discussed in comments, the code you have successfully aligns the ComboBox items but for the editing TextBox to align you must add the following line, according to the originally linked blog:

comboBox.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList;

For the issue at hand:

[M]y goal is to align that text box only not the dropdown items.

Simply wrap your alignment lines of code in the DrawItem method in the following if-statement:

if ((e.State & DrawItemState.ComboBoxEdit) == DrawItemState.ComboBoxEdit)
{
    sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
    sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
}

How can i Align text for combo box in WinForms in WinForms

1 Answers