How to Use MultiSelect Input Control for WinForms, WPF, and UWP

June 28 2023

The MultiSelect input control is like a ComboBox that allows multiple selections in the dropdown list. The selected items are shown as comma-separated text or tags in the editor area. This control is especially used for cases like selecting To and CC address drop-downs in email forms or using filters on a form to select multiple items from a filtering criteria.

MultiSelect is available in WinForms, WPF, and UWP.

C1MultiSelect internally uses C1CheckList & C1TagEditor, and these controls can also be used individually.

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Databinding with MultiSelect

MultiSelect supports data-binding to ADO.NET data sources and .NET Collections: simply set the MultiSelect controls BindingInfo.DataSource property on WinForms and the ItemsSource on WPF and UWP. Additionally, DisplayMemberPath can be used to set the property that should be used to display in the dropdown.

Databinding with WinForms MultiSelect

Use MultiSelect in unbound mode

MultiSelect control can be used in unbound mode, as well. Use the Add method of the Items property of the control to add a new C1CheckListItem; an object can be assigned to C1CheckListItem. Similarly, use the Insert method of Items to insert any item to MultSelect.

Display selected items as tags

Selected items can be shown as tags in the editing area. These tags could be removed by clicking on “x” in the tags. This feature can be enabled or disabled by setting the DisplayMode property of the MultiSelect controls and choosing text or tags.

Display selected items as tags

Auto-complete is built into the control, so when a user types one or two letters matching a list item, that string will be scrolled into view and highlighted.

Select all items in the MultiSelect

The control exposes the ShowSelectAll Boolean property to display a checkbox to select or deselect all items.

Select all items in the MultiSelect

Set the selection mode

The control provides multiple options for selection: users can select multiple items or be restricted to select a single item. In addition, users can select multiple items by pressing and holding the CTRL key. The Extended mode supports this option. Use the SelectionMode property to set the mode as Single, Multiple, or Extended.