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delphicomboboxdrop-down-menuposition

Can I programmatically set the position of ComboBox dropdown list?


Ordinary Windows ComboBox (csDropDown or csDropDownList style) will open its dropdown list right below or, if no space left below, above the combo. Can I control the position of this list (at least by Y coordinate)?


Solution

  • Posting a code example that will show drop-down list animation correctly and will force showing the drop-down list above ComboBox1. this code subclasses ComboBox hwndList:

    TForm1 = class(TForm)
      ComboBox1: TComboBox;
      procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
      procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
    private
      FComboBoxListDropDown: Boolean;
      FComboBoxListWnd: HWND;
      FOldComboBoxListWndProc, FNewComboBoxListWndProc: Pointer;
      procedure ComboBoxListWndProc(var Message: TMessage);
    end;
    
    ....
    
    procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
    var
      Info: TComboBoxInfo;
    begin
      ZeroMemory(@Info, SizeOf(Info));
      Info.cbSize := SizeOf(Info);
      GetComboBoxInfo(ComboBox1.Handle, Info);
      FComboBoxListWnd := Info.hwndList;
      FNewComboBoxListWndProc := MakeObjectInstance(ComboBoxListWndProc);
      FOldComboBoxListWndProc := Pointer(GetWindowLong(FComboBoxListWnd, GWL_WNDPROC));
      SetWindowLong(FComboBoxListWnd, GWL_WNDPROC, Integer(FNewComboBoxListWndProc));
    end;
    
    procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
    begin
      SetWindowLong(FComboBoxListWnd, GWL_WNDPROC, Integer(FOldComboBoxListWndProc));
      FreeObjectInstance(FNewComboBoxListWndProc);
    end;
    
    procedure TForm1.ComboBoxListWndProc(var Message: TMessage);
    var
      R: TRect;
      DY: Integer;
    begin
      if (Message.Msg = WM_MOVE) and not FComboBoxListDropDown then
      begin
        FComboBoxListDropDown := True;
        try
          GetWindowRect(FComboBoxListWnd, R);
          DY := (R.Bottom - R.Top) + ComboBox1.Height + 1;
          // set new Y position for drop-down list: always above ComboBox1
          SetWindowPos(FComboBoxListWnd, 0, R.Left, R.Top - DY , 0, 0,
            SWP_NOOWNERZORDER or SWP_NOZORDER or SWP_NOSIZE  or SWP_NOSENDCHANGING);
        finally
          FComboBoxListDropDown := False;
        end;
      end;
      Message.Result := CallWindowProc(FOldComboBoxListWndProc,
        FComboBoxListWnd, Message.Msg, Message.WParam, Message.LParam);
    end;
    

    Notes:

    1. I totally agree with David, and others that this is a bad idea to change this specific default behavior for TComboBox. OP did not yet respond to why he wanted such behavior.
    2. The code above was tested with D5/XP.