combo box items change font color C# WinForms

Question

In a combo box values if contains * mark I want to change that item text color to different color. If value doesn't contain * I don't need to change that item text color. How can I do it?

Answer 1

You can do by this

make a class that contain two properties for exmaple

public class Product
{
    public string ProductName { get; set; }
    public Int32 ProductStatus { get; set; }
}

and then add your items in a list on form load

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
          List<Product> listPdt = new List<Product>();

          Product pdt = new Product();
          pdt.ProductName = "Product 1";
          pdt.ProductStatus = 1;
          listPdt.Add(pdt);

          Product pdt1 = new Product();
          pdt1.ProductName = "Product 1*";
          pdt1.ProductStatus = 1;
          listPdt.Add(pdt1);

          Product pdt2 = new Product();
          pdt2.ProductName = "Product 2";
          pdt2.ProductStatus = 1;
          listPdt.Add(pdt2);

          Product pdt3 = new Product();
          pdt3.ProductName = "Product 2*";
          pdt3.ProductStatus = 1;
          listPdt.Add(pdt3);

          comboBox1.DataSource = listPdt;
          comboBox1.DisplayMember = "ProductName";
          comboBox1.ValueMember = "ProductStatus";     

          // this will fire combo box's draw event.
          comboBox1.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable;
        }

Now Write combobox's draw event

private void comboBox1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
        {
            Brush brush = null;
            ComboBox combo;

            try
            {
                e.DrawBackground();

                combo = (ComboBox)sender;
                Product pdt = (Product)combo.Items[e.Index];

                if (pdt.ProductName.Contains("*"))
                {
                    brush = Brushes.Red;
                }
                else
                {
                    brush = Brushes.Black;
                }

                e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
                e.Graphics.DrawString(pdt.ProductName, combo.Font, brush, e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y);
            }
            catch (Exception Ex)
            { 
            }
        }

if you have list that are coming from database then add them to list by foreach loop and fill the list class.

Answer 2

Following code, checks if the current SelectedItem contains a * mark , event gets fired everytime the selectedIndexChanges:

private void ComboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if(ComboBox1.SelectedItem.ToString().Contains("*"))
    {
        //Change color here
        ComboBox1.BackColor = Color.Red;
    }
}

If you want to iterate through all items in the ComboBox on load of the form, use following code, where you are able to modify each item that contains a * mark .

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    foreach(var item in ComboBox1.Items)
    {
       if(item.ToString().Contains("*"))
       {
           //Modify item color here
       }
    }
}