A combo box in the Macintosh Finder

A combo box is a user interface control GUI element. It is a combination of a single-line textbox and a list. It is also commonly referred to as a drop down box, drop down list, or listbox. When the combo box is inactive, it shows only its textbox aspect , which bears the current value of the control, and (usually) some mechanism to show the rest of the choices is also visible. In most implementations of combo boxes, it is not necessary to click a specific region (e.g. the arrow) to make the rest of the choices appear; clicking anywhere within the control will activate the list. Image File history File links Combobox. ... Image File history File links Combobox. ... The Finder is the default application program used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems that is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. ... The user interface is the part of a system exposed to users. ... A widget (or control) is an interface component that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. ... Gui is short for Guilherme or Guilhermo or an iteration of that, in English it translates to Will. ... A text box is a common element of graphical user interface of computer programs, as well as the corresponding type of widget used when programming GUIs. ... ...

The list of values may be longer than would be reasonable to display all at once. If this is the case, a scrollbar may be rendered with the list component. Windows XPs vertical scrollbar A scrollbar, or slider, is a graphical widget in a GUI with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled, i. ...

Keyboard usability

Often, combo box lists will respond to keyboard input as a quick way of jumping to a desired value. For example, to reach Zimbabwe on a long list of countries, one could focus the combo box and strike the Z key, reducing the amount of scrolling necessary to reach the intended item. In some implementations it is possible to change the value of a combo box without showing the list component by focussing it and then using the arrow keys. In a case where keyboard focus does not show the list, there is a key or combination of keys to perform this function. On Microsoft Windows, for example, the standard keyboard shortcut to show a combo box's list is F4. Other possibilities include the down arrow key, alt + down arrow, ctrl + down arrow, and the space bar. A computer keyboard is a peripheral modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: country In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical territory. ... In computing, the focus is the component of the graphical user interface which is currently selected. ... Arrow keys Arrow keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that move the cursor in a specified direction. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... A computer keyboard Space bar is a key on an alphanumeric keyboard in the form of a horizontal bar in the lowermost row, significantly wider than other keys. ...

Editability

Combo boxes may allow editing of their text box component; a common use of this is the address bar of graphical web browsers. In the case of such a combo box, the arrow part must be clicked (or the keyboard shortcut must be used) to display the list, as focusing the textbox will select its contents for editing (in many implementations, one click will highlight all of the text so that the user can then immediately type in a replacement value). Similar behaviour occurs if the textbox has a keyboard mnemonic: activating the mnemonic will show the list if the textbox is not editable, or highlight the text for edit if editing is allowed. An address bar is a widget in a web browser which indicates the address (URL) of the web page currently viewed. ... Icons for Web browser shortcuts on an Apple computer (Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox). ... A mnemonic (pronounced in American English, in British English) is a memory aid. ...

External Links

• Web ComboBox HowTo Video Tutorial JSF AJAX Netbeans Demo