ASP.NET MVC ComboBox Overview

The Telerik UI ComboBox HtmlHelper for ASP.NET MVC is a server-side wrapper for the Kendo UI ComboBox widget.

The ComboBox displays a list of values and allows for a single selection from the list.

• Demo page for the ComboBox HtmlHelper

Initializing the ComboBox

The following example demonstrates how to define the ComboBox.

Razor

    @(Html.Kendo().ComboBox()
        .Name("combobox")
        .DataTextField("ProductName")
        .DataValueField("ProductID")
        .DataSource(source => {
            source.Read(read =>
            {
                read.Action("Products_Read", "ComboBox");
            });
        })
    )

C#

    public class ComboBoxController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }

        public JsonResult Products_Read()
        {
            var result = Enumerable.Range(0, 50).Select(i => new ProductViewModel
            {
                ProductID = "" + i,
                ProductName = "Product " + i
            });

            return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        }
    }

Basic Configuration

The following example demonstrates the basic configuration of the ComboBox.

Razor

    @(Html.Kendo().ComboBox()
        .Name("combobox")
        .DataTextField("ProductName")
        .DataValueField("ProductID")
        .HtmlAttributes(new { style = "width:100%" })
        .Filter("contains")
        .MinLength(3)
        .Height(290)
        .HeaderTemplate(
            "<div class=\"dropdown-header k-widget k-header\">" +
                "<span>Products</span>" +
            "</div>")
        .FooterTemplate("Total <strong>#: instance.dataSource.total() #</strong> items found")
        .DataSource(source =>
        {
            source.Read(read =>
            {
                read.Action("Products_Read2", "DropDownList");
            })
            .ServerFiltering(false);
        })
        .Events(e => e
            .Change("onChange")
            .Select("onSelect")
            .Open("onOpen")
            .Close("onClose")
            .DataBound("onDataBound")
            .Filtering("onFiltering")
        )
    )

    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(function () {
            // The Name() of the ComboBox is used to get its client-side instance.
            var combobox = $("#combobox").data("kendoComboBox");
            console.log(combobox);
        });
    </script>

Functionality and Features

Feature	Description
Binding	You can bind the ComboBox to local arrays of data and to remote data services.
Appearance	You can customize the appearance of the ComboBox by configuring its size, fill mode, and border radius.
Grouping	In the ComboBox, you can display data items that are grouped by a specific model field.
Virtualization	The built-in virtualization of the ComboBox allows you to display large datasets.
Filtering	You can display only a subset of the available data by using the server-side filtering of the ComboBox.
Templates	To take full control over the rendering of the ComboBox items, popup header, and popup footer, you can use the available templates.
Cascading	You can use a series of two or more cascaded ComboBoxes.
Accessibility	The ComboBox is accessible by screen readers and provides WAI-ARIA, Section 508, WCAG 2.2, and keyboard support.

To learn more about the appearance, anatomy, and accessibility of the ComboBox, visit the Progress Design System documentation—an information portal offering rich component usage guidelines, descriptions of the available style variables, and globalization support details.

Next Steps

• Getting Started with the ComboBox
• Basic Usage of the ComboBox HtmlHelper for ASP.NET MVC (Demo)

See Also

• Using the API of the ComboBox for ASP.NET MVC (Demo)
• Knowledge Base Section