Appearance

In this article, you will find information about the styling options and rendering of the Kendo UI ComboBox.

For a live example, visit the Appearance Demo of the ComboBox.

Options

The Kendo UI ComboBox supports the following styling options:

size—configures the overall size of the component.
rounded—configures the border radius for the tags.
fillMode—controls how the color is applied.

Size

The size option controls how big or small the ComboBox component looks. The structure of the class is k-input-{size}.

The following values are available for the size option:

sm—small size
md—medium size
lg—large size
none—unset

The default size value is medium and it is applied to the span wrapping element through the k-input-md class.

The example below shows a basic configuration and how to set size to "large":

<input id="combobox" />
<script>
    $("#combobox").kendoComboBox({
      size: "large"
    });
</script>

Below is the HTML that is affected from the configuration. The changes are applied to the span.k-combobox wrapping element:

<span class="k-combobox k-input k-input-lg">
    ...
</span>

Rounded

The rounded option controls how much border radius is applied to the tags for the selected items in the component. The structure of the class is k-rounded-{size}.

The following values are available for the rounded option:

sm—small border radius
md—medium border radius
lg—large border radius
full—ellipse-like border radius
none—unset

The default value is medium and it is applied to the span.k-combobox wrapping element through the k-rounded-md class.

The example below shows a basic ComboBox configuration and how to set rounded to "full":

<input id="combobox" />
<script>
    $("#combobox").kendoComboBox({
      rounded: "full"
    });
</script>

The changes are applied to the span.k-combobox wrapping element:

<span class="k-combobox k-input k-rounded-full">
    ...
</span>

FillMode

The fillMode option controls how the color is applied. The structure of the class is k-input-{fillMode}.

The following values are available for the fillMode option:

solid
flat
outline
none

The default value is solid and it is applied to the span.k-combobox wrapping element through the k-input-solid class.

The example below shows a basic ComboBox configuration and how to set fillMode to "outline":

<input id="combobox" />
<script>
    $("#combobox").kendoComboBox({
      fillMode: "outline"
    });
</script>

The changes are applied to the span.k-combobox wrapping element:

<span class="k-combobox k-input k-input-outline">
    ...
</span>

Rendering

Starting with version R1 2022, the component has a new rendering. For additional information on the decision behind these changes, visit the Components Rendering Overview article.

To review the latest rendering of the component, refer to the HTML specifications in the Kendo UI Themes Monorepo. The tests folder of the repository contains the rendering for all flavors of the components, providing a clear reference for how their elements are structured. The rendering information can help you customize a component's appearance and behavior by applying custom CSS or JavaScript to suit specific design or functional requirements.

Setting the List Width

To customize the width of the ComboBox list and change its dimensions, use the jQuery width() method.

<input id="comboBox" />

<script>
    var combobox = $("#combobox").data("kendoComboBox");
    // Set the width of the drop-down list.
    combobox.list.width(400);
</script>

You can enable the popup element to automatically adjust its width according to the length of the item label it displays. When the autoWidth option is set to true, the popup will display the content on a single line and will not wrap it up.

Virtualized lists do not support the auto-width functionality.

<input id="combobox" style="width: 100px;" />
<script>
$("#combobox").kendoComboBox({
  autoWidth: true,
  dataSource: {
    data: ["Short item", "An item with really, really long text"]
  }
});
</script>

Accessing list Elements

The ComboBox list renders an ID attribute which is generated from the ID of the component and the -list suffix. You can use the ID to style the element or to access a specific element inside the popup element.

If the ComboBox has no ID, the list element will have no ID either.

<input id="combobox">
<script>
  $(document).ready(function() {
    $("#combobox").kendoComboBox({
        dataSource: ["Item1", "Item2"]
    });

    // The DIV popup element that holds header and footer templates and the suggestion options.
    var popupElement = $("#combobox-list");

    console.log(popupElement);
  });
</script>

Supporting label Elements

Because of its complex rendering, the focusing of the component by using a label element requires additional implementation. For a runnable example, refer to this Kendo UI Dojo demo.

Removing Input Values

The ComboBox enables you to remove the values from its input area by using the clearButton configuration option. As a result, an X button appears in the input area on hover and when clicked, it resets the value of the component and triggers the change event. By default, clearButton is enabled and is set to true.