How to: Add and Remove Items from a Windows Forms ComboBox, ListBox, or CheckedListBox Control

Article
04/23/2007

Items can be added to a Windows Forms combo box, list box, or checked list box in a variety of ways, because these controls can be bound to a variety of data sources. However, this topic demonstrates the simplest method and requires no data binding. The items displayed are usually strings; however, any object can be used. The text that is displayed in the control is the value returned by the object'sToStringmethod.

To add items

Add the string or object to the list by using the Add method of the ObjectCollection class. The collection is referenced using theItemsproperty:
```
ComboBox1.Items.Add("Tokyo")
```
```
comboBox1.Items.Add("Tokyo");
```
```
comboBox1.get_Items().Add("Tokyo");
```
```
comboBox1->Items->Add("Tokyo");
```
- or -

Insert the string or object at the desired point in the list with theInsertmethod:

CheckedListBox1.Items.Insert(0, "Copenhagen")

checkedListBox1.Items.Insert(0, "Copenhagen");

checkedListBox1.get_Items().Insert(0, "Copenhagen");

checkedListBox1->Items->Insert(0, "Copenhagen");

- or -

Assign an entire array to theItemscollection:

Dim ItemObject(9) As System.Object
Dim i As Integer
   For i = 0 To 9
   ItemObject(i) = "Item" & i
Next i
ListBox1.Items.AddRange(ItemObject)

System.Object[] ItemObject = new System.Object[10];
for (int i = 0; i <= 9; i++)
{
   ItemObject[i] = "Item" + i;
}
listBox1.Items.AddRange(ItemObject);

System.Object[] ItemObject = new System.Object[10];
for(int i=0;i <= 9;i ++)
{
   ItemObject .set_Item( i , "Item" + i );
}
listBox1.get_Items().AddRange(ItemObject);

Array<System::Object^>^ ItemObject = gcnew Array<System::Object^>(10);
for (int i = 0; i <= 9; i++)
{
   ItemObject[i] = String::Concat("Item", i.ToString());
}
listBox1->Items->AddRange(ItemObject);

To remove an item

Call theRemoveorRemoveAtmethod to delete items.

Remove has one argument that specifies the item to remove.RemoveAtremoves the item with the specified index number.

' To remove item with index 0:
ComboBox1.Items.RemoveAt(0)
' To remove currently selected item:
ComboBox1.Items.Remove(ComboBox1.SelectedItem)
' To remove "Tokyo" item:
ComboBox1.Items.Remove("Tokyo")

// To remove item with index 0:
comboBox1.Items.RemoveAt(0);
// To remove currently selected item:
comboBox1.Items.Remove(comboBox1.SelectedItem);
// To remove "Tokyo" item:
comboBox1.Items.Remove("Tokyo");

// To remove item with index 0:
comboBox1.get_Items().RemoveAt(0);
// To remove currently selected item:
comboBox1.get_Items().Remove(comboBox1.get_SelectedItem());
// To remove "Tokyo" item:
comboBox1.get_Items().Remove("Tokyo");

// To remove item with index 0:
comboBox1->Items->RemoveAt(0);
// To remove currently selected item:
comboBox1->Items->Remove(comboBox1->SelectedItem);
// To remove "Tokyo" item:
comboBox1->Items->Remove("Tokyo");

To remove all items

Call the Clear method to remove all items from the collection:

ListBox1.Items.Clear()

listBox1.Items.Clear();

listBox1.get_Items().Clear();

listBox1->Items->Clear();

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How to: Add and Remove Items from a Windows Forms ComboBox, ListBox, or CheckedListBox Control

To add items

To remove an item

To remove all items

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