ASP.NET 4 Unleashed

Using the AutoComplete Control

The one control I use most often from the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit is the AutoComplete control, which enables you to convert a standard ASP.NET TextBox control into something resembling a combo box. As you enter text into the TextBox control, a list of matching options displays beneath the control (see Figure 39.5).

Figure 39.5. Using the AutoComplete extender control.

The cool thing about the AutoComplete control is that it retrieves the matching options from the web server, using an Ajax call, while you type. You can use the AutoComplete control to efficiently search through a database of billions of items ...