How do Disable a Combobox Item in Win Form using c#

In the following code, assume you want to disable the second item in your combobox item list.

// Disbaling the color of the item number-2

Font myFont = new Font("Aerial", 10, FontStyle.Regular);

private void comboBox1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Index == 1)//We are disabling item based on Index, you can have your logic here
    {
        e.Graphics.DrawString(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString(), myFont, Brushes.LightGray, e.Bounds);
    }
    else
    {
        e.DrawBackground();
        e.Graphics.DrawString(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString(), myFont, Brushes.Black, e.Bounds);
        e.DrawFocusRectangle();
    }
}

// Diabling the action for the item number-2

void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (comboBox1.SelectedIndex == 1)
            comboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1;
    }

3 Replies

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Hemant Srivastava13y ago
Accepted answer
In the following code, assume you want to disable the second item in your combobox item list.

// Disbaling the color of the item number-2

Font myFont = new Font("Aerial", 10, FontStyle.Regular);

private void comboBox1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Index == 1)//We are disabling item based on Index, you can have your logic here
    {
        e.Graphics.DrawString(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString(), myFont, Brushes.LightGray, e.Bounds);
    }
    else
    {
        e.DrawBackground();
        e.Graphics.DrawString(comboBox1.Items[e.Index].ToString(), myFont, Brushes.Black, e.Bounds);
        e.DrawFocusRectangle();
    }
}

// Diabling the action for the item number-2

void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (comboBox1.SelectedIndex == 1)
            comboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1;
    }
13y ago
Thanks Hemant, your solution helped me to solve my problem
Hemant Srivastava13y ago
One more thing, to get above functionality working you need to set 'DrawMode' on your combobox to 'OwnerDrawFixed'.
if it helps you, please mark the answer accepted