How to prevent display of empty dropdown in .NET MAUI ComboBox (SfComboBox)?

This section explains how to prevent the display of empty dropdowns in the .NET MAUI ComboBox (SfComboBox) and provides solutions to address each scenario.

In some instances, an empty collection may appear in the following factors:

No Collection Provided to the DataSource

To prevent an empty dropdown list, ensure that you provide a valid collection to the ItemSource property of the ComboBox. The ItemSource is responsible for populating the dropdown list with items.

DisplayMemberPath Not Set for Corresponding Item Display

Properly configure the DisplayMemberPath property to specify the path of the property that should be displayed for each item in the dropdown. This property is essential for correctly displaying textual information related to each item.

XAML

<ContentPage.Content>
    <editors:SfComboBox x:Name="comboBox" 
                        HeightRequest="50"
                        WidthRequest="250"
                        DisplayMemberPath="Name"                           
                        ItemsSource="{Binding SocialMedias}" />
</ContentPage.Content>

C#:

public class SocialMedia 
{
   public string Name { get; set; }
   public int ID { get; set; }
}


public class SocialMediaViewModel 
{
   public ObservableCollection<socialmedia> SocialMedias { get; set; }
   public SocialMediaViewModel() 
   {
       this.SocialMedias = new ObservableCollection<socialmedia>();
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Facebook", ID = 0 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Google Plus", ID = 1});
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Instagram", ID = 2 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "LinkedIn", ID = 3 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Skype", ID = 4 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Telegram", ID = 5 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Televzr", ID = 6 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Tik Tok", ID = 7 });
       this.SocialMedias.Add(new SocialMedia() { Name = "Tout", ID = 8 });
   }
}

Collection Provided is not Optional
Ensure that the collection you provide to the ComboBox DataSource is compatible. Since the SfComboBox DataSource type is IEnumerable, it’s recommended to use a collection type like List for proper compatibility. This approach helps avoid displaying an empty collection when using a source of type List.

C#

public MainPage() 
{
        InitializeComponent();
        StackLayout layout = new StackLayout() 
        {
            VerticalOptions = LayoutOptions.Start,
            HorizontalOptions = LayoutOptions.Start,
            Padding = new Thickness(30)
        };

        List<object> resolutionList = new List<object>();
        resolutionList.Add("1.2");
        resolutionList.Add("1.3");
        resolutionList.Add("1.4");
        resolutionList.Add("1.5");
        resolutionList.Add("1.6");
        resolutionList.Add("1.7");
        resolutionList.Add("1.8");
        SfComboBox comboBox = new SfComboBox();
        comboBox.HeightRequest = 40;
        comboBox.ItemsSource = resolutionList;
        layout.Children.Add(comboBox);
        Content = layout;
}

Output

Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed learning about how to prevent the display of empty dropdowns in the .NET MAUI ComboBox.

You can refer to our .NET MAUI ComboBox feature tour page to learn about its other groundbreaking feature representations. You can explore our .NET MAUI ComboBox documentation to understand how to present and manipulate data.

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