How to add a focus to an editable ComboBox in WPF

Question

I am using an editable ComboBox in wpf but when i try to set focus from C# code, it is only shows selection. but i want to go for edit option (cursor should display for user input).

Answer 1

You might try deriving from ComboBox and access the internal TextBox, like this:

public class MyComboBox : ComboBox
{
    TextBox _textBox;

    public override void OnApplyTemplate()
    {
        base.OnApplyTemplate();

        _textBox = Template.FindName("PART_EditableTextBox", this) as TextBox;
        if (_textBox != null)
        {
            _textBox.GotKeyboardFocus += _textBox_GotFocus;
            this.Unloaded += MyComboBox_Unloaded;
        }
    }

    void MyComboBox_Unloaded(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        _textBox.GotKeyboardFocus -= _textBox_GotFocus;
        this.Unloaded -= MyComboBox_Unloaded;
    }

    void _textBox_GotFocus(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        _textBox.Select(_textBox.Text.Length, 0); // set caret to end of text
    }

}

In your code you would use it like this:

<Window x:Class="EditableCbox.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="clr-namespace:EditableCbox"
    Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
    ...
        <local:MyComboBox x:Name="myComboBox" IsEditable="True" Grid.Row="0" Margin="4">
            <ComboBoxItem>Alpha</ComboBoxItem>
            <ComboBoxItem>Beta</ComboBoxItem>
            <ComboBoxItem>Gamma</ComboBoxItem>
        </local:MyComboBox>
    ...
</Window>

This solution slightly dangerous, however, because in upcoming versions of WPF, Microsoft might decide also to add a GotKeyboardFocus event handler (or similar event handlers), which might get in conflict in with the event handler in MyComboBox.