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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Drop-Down List (Control)

Reference

Description

A drop-down list is a combination text-list control in which the text field is a text-display field that is always visible, but the list box is hidden until the user performs an action to display it.

Figure 17. Drop-Down List.




View figure.

When to Use

Recommended
Use a drop-down list instead of a list box when the selected item is not changed frequently or when space is so limited that the window does not have enough space to display a list box.

Guidelines

Recommended
Display an initial value from the list box in the text-display field.

Required
If the drop-down combination box has focus and the list box is displayed, remove the list box if the user presses Cancel or Escape and leave focus in the text-display field.

Required
Do not allow the list box in a drop-down list to take focus.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Combination Box (Control), Combination Text-List Control (Control Type), Control, Drop-Down Combination Box (Control), First-Letter Cursor Navigation, and List Box (Control) reference pages.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Keyboard (Device), Mouse (Device), and Scroll Bar (Control) reference pages.

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