ComboBox with autocomplete wxPython

Question

I would want to have a ComboBox with autocomplete as I have a list of more than 1000 items and would like to be able to select one element without having to go through the whole list, by only having part of the item string in the ComboBox.

I have been looking around and the question has been answered multiple times and I even checked the following link from a previous question here:

• Auto-Completion In wxPython wxComboBox

and this other link:

• https://github.com/RajaS/ACTextCtrl

However, when I try to run the example codes I always get the error: "module 'wx' has no attribute 'SimpleHtmlListBox'/'HtmlListBox' ".

What might be the reason for the error? And are there maybe other ways to achieve an autocomplete ComboBox?

Answer 1

I have converted the code in the first link you gave to make it work in python 3, wxPython Phoenix. Some changes has been added to make the combo box work better. The first comboBox has been tested it in Mac OSX. But when I tested it Linux gtk+, it doesn't work as expected so I created a work around in second line with a TextCtrl as a filter for comboBox.

import wx

class PromptingComboBox(wx.ComboBox) :
    def __init__(self, parent, choices=[], style=0, **par):
        wx.ComboBox.__init__(self, parent, wx.ID_ANY, style=style|wx.CB_DROPDOWN, choices=choices, **par)
        self.choices = choices
        self.Bind(wx.EVT_TEXT, self.OnText)
        self.Bind(wx.EVT_KEY_DOWN, self.OnPress)
        self.ignoreEvtText = False
        self.deleteKey = False

    def OnPress(self, event):
        if event.GetKeyCode() == 8:
            self.deleteKey = True
        event.Skip()

    def OnText(self, event):
        currentText = event.GetString()
        if self.ignoreEvtText:
            self.ignoreEvtText = False
            return
        if self.deleteKey:
            self.deleteKey = False
            if self.preFound:
                currentText =  currentText[:-1]

        self.preFound = False
        for choice in self.choices :
            if choice.startswith(currentText):
                self.ignoreEvtText = True
                self.SetValue(choice)
                self.SetInsertionPoint(len(currentText))
                self.SetTextSelection(len(currentText), len(choice))
                self.preFound = True
                break

class TrialPanel(wx.Panel):
    def __init__(self, parent):
        wx.Panel.__init__(self, parent, wx.ID_ANY)

        choices = ['grandmother', 'grandfather', 'cousin', 'aunt', 'uncle', 'grandson', 'granddaughter']
        for relative in ['mother', 'father', 'sister', 'brother', 'daughter', 'son']:
            choices.extend(self.derivedRelatives(relative))
        self.choices = choices = sorted(choices)

        mainSizer = wx.FlexGridSizer(2, 2, 5, 10)
        self.SetSizer(mainSizer)

        mainSizer.Add(wx.StaticText(
            self, -1, "Worked in Mac - python 3 - wx phoenix"))
        cb1 = PromptingComboBox(self, choices=choices)
        mainSizer.Add(cb1)

        mainSizer.Add(wx.StaticText(self, -1, "Work arround in Linux-gtk"))
        sizer2 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
        mainSizer.Add(sizer2)
        filterCtrl = wx.TextCtrl(self, -1, size=(150, -1))
        filterCtrl.Bind(wx.EVT_TEXT, self.OnFilter)
        sizer2.Add(filterCtrl)
        self.cb2 = wx.ComboBox(self, -1, size=(150, -1), choices=choices)
        sizer2.Add(self.cb2)


    def derivedRelatives(self, relative):
        return [relative, 'step' + relative, relative + '-in-law']

    def OnFilter(self, event):
        currentText = event.GetString().upper()
        tmpChoices = [c for c in self.choices if c.startswith(currentText)]
        if tmpChoices != []:
            self.cb2.SetItems(tmpChoices)
            self.cb2.SetValue(tmpChoices[0])
        else:
            self.cb2.SetValue('')
            self.cb2.SetItems([])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = wx.App(False)
    frame = wx.Frame (None, -1, 'Demo PromptingComboBox Control and Work around',
                      size=(700, 400))
    TrialPanel(frame)
    frame.Show()
    app.MainLoop()