Searching in databound comboBox?

Question

Guys I have a comboBox that is configured to work like dropdownlist. It is being populated through database. It is working flawlessly.

Now what I want to do is is this : For example I have comboBox that is getting "Names" column from database table "tblPersons" and displaying it. if, For example, there are total of 4 entries in database table "tblPersons"

1. Ali Khan
2. Ahmed Khan
3. Bilal Khan
4. Bilal Farooqi

So when I write "Ahmed Farooqi" in comboBox (comboBox should be editable and it should display all entries with name "Ahmed" once I have written "Ahmed") and press enter, it should search in database table "tblPersons" - if "Ahmed Farooqi" is found - it should select it, if "Ahmed Farooqi" is not found - it should ask if I want to create new entry in database table "tblPersons", if I click "yes" it should open another form for adding new person and if I click "No" it should do nothing.

How should I do this. I am new to C#, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if my question was unclear.

Regards.

Edit : This is my test form, here I a textBox that will be used to enter Name, the textbox should search for a name in database, then if name is found, display number and email from database in their respective textboxes. If not found, it should display messagebox asking user to create a new person and if clicked yes, switch to another form (where user will create new person).

Answer 1

call the fillCombo function in your form load and assign the cmb_SelectedValueChanged event to your combobox. Don't forget to set autocompletemode property to combobox.

cmb.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.SuggestAppend


private void fillCombo()
{
    string sql = "SELECT ID, NAME, Number, Email FROM tblPerson";
    SqlConnection Cnn = new SqlConnection("connections string");
    Cnn.Open();

    SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(sql, Cnn);
    DataTable dt = new DataTable();
    da.Fill(dt);

    cmb.ValueMember = "ID";
    cmb.DisplayMember = "Name";
    cmb.DataSource = dt;    
}

private void cmb_SelectedValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (cmb.SelectedItem != null)
    {
        txtNumber.Text = ((DataRow)cmb.SelectedItem)["Number"].ToString();
        txtEmail.Text = ((DataRow)cmb.SelectedItem)["Email"].ToString();
    }
}

private void cmb_Validating(object sender, CancelEventArgs e)
{
    if (cmb.SelectedItem == null)
    {
        If (MessageBox.Show("Do you want to create a new person?", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) == DialogResult.Yes)
        {
            frmNewPerson person = new frmNewPerson();
            person.Name = cmb.Text;
            if (person.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.Yes)
            {
                fillCombo();
                DataRow dr = ((DataTable)cmb.DataSource).Select("Name='" + person.Name + "'")[0];
                cmb.SelectedValue = Convert.ToInt32(dr["ID"]);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            txtNumber.Text = string.Emtpy;
            txtEmail.Text = string.Emtpy;
        }
    }
}