getting-started.md

title	page_title	description	slug	tags	published	position
Getting Started	Getting Started	Check our "Getting Started" documentation article for the RadAutoCompleteBox {{ site.framework_name }} control.	radautocompletebox-getting-started	getting,started	true	1

Getting Started with {{ site.framework_name }} AutoCompleteBox

This tutorial will walk you through the creation of a sample application that contains RadAutoCompleteBox.

• Assembly References
• Add RadAutoCompleteBox to the Project
• Populate with Data
• Customize the Control
• Setting a Theme

Assembly References

To use RadAutoCompleteBox in your project you have to add a reference to the following assemblies:

• Telerik.Licensing.Runtime
• Telerik.Windows.Controls
• Telerik.Windows.Controls.Input

tip With the 2025 Q1 release, the Telerik UI for WPF has a new licensing mechanism. You can learn more about it [here]({%slug installing-license-key%}).

Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet

To use RadAutoCompleteBox when working with NuGet packages, install the Telerik.Windows.Controls.Input.for.Wpf.Xaml package. The [package name may vary]({%slug nuget-available-packages%}) slightly based on the Telerik dlls set - [Xaml or NoXaml]({%slug xaml-vs-noxaml%})

Read more about NuGet installation in the [Installing UI for WPF from NuGet Package]({%slug nuget-installation%}) article.

Add RadAutoCompleteBox to the Project

You can include the control in your projects by either dragging it from the toolbox in Visual Studio and Blend or by manually creating the control.

The following examples show how to create a RadAutoCompleteBox control in the code-behind and in XAML:

[C#] Example 1: Creating a RadAutoCompleteBox in code-behind

{{region cs-radautocompletebox-getting-started-0}} RadAutoCompleteBox autoCompleteBox = new RadAutoCompleteBox(); {{endregion}}

[VB] Example 1: Creating a RadAutoCompleteBox in code-behind

{{region vb-radautocompletebox-getting-started-0}} Dim autoCompleteBox As New RadAutoCompleteBox() {{endregion}}

[XAML] Example 1: Creating a RadAutoCompleteBox in XAML

{{region xaml-radautocompletebox-getting-started-0}} <telerik:RadAutoCompleteBox x:Name="radAutoCompleteBox"/> {{endregion}}

Populate with Data

In order to populate the RadAutoCompleteBox with data, you can set its ItemsSource property to any IEnumerable collection of items.

[C#] Example 2: Set RadAutoCompleteBox's ItemsSource

{{region cs-radautocompletebox-getting-started-1}} public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); var countries = new ObservableCollection() { new Country() { Name = "Australia", Capital = "Canberra" }, new Country() { Name = "Bulgaria", Capital = "Sofia" }, new Country() { Name = "Canada", Capital = "Ottawa" }, new Country() { Name = "Denmark", Capital = "Copenhagen" }, new Country() { Name = "France", Capital = "Paris" }, new Country() { Name = "Germany", Capital = "Berlin" }, new Country() { Name = "India", Capital = "New Delhi" }, new Country() { Name = "Italy", Capital = "Rome" }, new Country() { Name = "Norway", Capital = "Oslo" }, new Country() { Name = "Russia", Capital = "Moscow" }, new Country() { Name = "Spain ", Capital = "Madrid" }, new Country() { Name = "United Kingdom", Capital = "London" }, new Country() { Name = "United States", Capital = "Washington, D.C." }, };

    this.AutoComplete.ItemsSource = countries;
}

{{endregion}}

Customize the Control

To actually display results when using the ObservableCollection from Example 2 you have to specify the DisplayMemberPath which specifies the name or path of the property that is displayed for each data item.

You can then set the control's [abundance of properties]({%slug radautocompletebox-features-key-properties%}) to customize it per your needs.

[C#] Example 3: Customize the RadAutoCompleteBox

{{region cs-radautocompletebox-getting-started-2}} <telerik:RadAutoCompleteBox x:Name="autoComplete" AutoCompleteMode="Suggest" DisplayMemberPath="Name" TextSearchPath="Capital" TextSearchMode="Contains" WatermarkContent="Select a country..." /> {{endregion}}

Figure 1 illustrates the result from the code in Example 3.

Figure 1: Customized RadAutoCompleteBox

Set a Theme

The controls from our suite support different themes. You can see how to apply a theme different than the default one in the [Setting a Theme]({%slug styling-apperance-implicit-styles-overview%}) help article.

important Changing the theme using implicit styles will affect all controls that have styles defined in the merged resource dictionaries. This is applicable only for the controls in the scope in which the resources are merged.

To change the theme, you can follow the steps below:

• Choose between the themes and add reference to the corresponding theme assembly (ex: Telerik.Windows.Themes.Office2016.dll). You can see the different themes applied in the Theming examples from our {% if site.site_name == 'WPF' %}WPF Controls Examples{% else %}Silverlight Controls Examples{% endif %} application.

• Merge the ResourceDictionaries with the namespace required for the controls that you are using from the theme assembly. For the RadAutoCompleteBox, you will need to merge the following resources:

  • Telerik.Windows.Controls
  • Telerik.Windows.Controls.Input

Example 4 demonstrates how to merge the ResourceDictionaries so that they are applied globally for the entire application.

[XAML] Example 4: Merge the ResourceDictionaries

{{region xaml-radautocompletebox-getting-started_3}} <Application.Resources> <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> </Application.Resources> {{endregion}}

Alternatively, you can use the theme of the control via the {% if site.site_name == 'WPF' %}StyleManager{% else %}StyleManager{% endif %}.

Figure 2 shows a RadAutoCompleteBox with the Office2016 theme applied.

Figure 2: RadAutoCompleteBox with the Office2016 theme

{% if site.site_name == 'WPF' %}

Telerik UI for WPF Learning Resources

• Telerik UI for WPF AutoCompleteBox Component
• [Getting Started with Telerik UI for WPF Components]({%slug getting-started-first-steps%})
• [Telerik UI for WPF Installation]({%slug installation-installing-which-file-do-i-need%})
• [Telerik UI for WPF and WinForms Integration]({%slug winforms-integration%})
• [Telerik UI for WPF Visual Studio Templates]({%slug visual-studio-templates%})
• [Setting a Theme with Telerik UI for WPF]({%slug styling-apperance-implicit-styles-overview%})
• Telerik UI for WPF Virtual Classroom (Training Courses for Registered Users)
• Telerik UI for WPF License Agreement {% endif %}

See Also

• [Overview]({%slug radautocompletebox-overview%})
• [Key Properties]({%slug radautocompletebox-features-key-properties%})
• [AutoComplete]({%slug radautocompletebox-features-autocomplete%})
• [Events]({%slug radautocompletebox-events%})