How do I Filter the PyQt QCombobox Items based on the text input?

Question

I need a QCombox which Items are filtered based on the text input. If I set the QCombobox editable, the user can insert text and the QCompleter is automatically created. But the items are not filtered and I don’t want the user to add new Items.

Is there any possibility to add this functionality to the QCombobox?

Answer 1

Try this code, is something i used in a project of mine

import sys
from PyQt4.QtGui import QComboBox, QApplication, QCompleter, QSortFilterProxyModel, QStandardItemModel, QStandardItem
from PyQt4.QtCore import Qt

class ExtendedCombo( QComboBox ):
    def __init__( self,  parent = None):
        super( ExtendedCombo, self ).__init__( parent )

        self.setFocusPolicy( Qt.StrongFocus )
        self.setEditable( True )
        self.completer = QCompleter( self )

        # always show all completions
        self.completer.setCompletionMode( QCompleter.UnfilteredPopupCompletion )
        self.pFilterModel = QSortFilterProxyModel( self )
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterCaseSensitivity( Qt.CaseInsensitive )



        self.completer.setPopup( self.view() )


        self.setCompleter( self.completer )


        self.lineEdit().textEdited[unicode].connect( self.pFilterModel.setFilterFixedString )
        self.completer.activated.connect(self.setTextIfCompleterIsClicked)

    def setModel( self, model ):
        super(ExtendedCombo, self).setModel( model )
        self.pFilterModel.setSourceModel( model )
        self.completer.setModel(self.pFilterModel)

    def setModelColumn( self, column ):
        self.completer.setCompletionColumn( column )
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterKeyColumn( column )
        super(ExtendedCombo, self).setModelColumn( column )


    def view( self ):
        return self.completer.popup()

    def index( self ):
        return self.currentIndex()

    def setTextIfCompleterIsClicked(self, text):
      if text:
        index = self.findText(text)
        self.setCurrentIndex(index)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    model = QStandardItemModel()

    for i,word in enumerate( ['hola', 'adios', 'hello', 'good bye'] ):
        item = QStandardItem(word)
        model.setItem(i, 0, item)



    combo = ExtendedCombo()
    combo.setModel(model)
    combo.setModelColumn(0)

    combo.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Answer 2

searching inside the combobox. Finally a good solution. Thank you guys!! It helped me a lot.

And here is the adjusted code to PyQt5:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
from PyQt5.QtCore import Qt, QSortFilterProxyModel
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QCompleter, QComboBox

class ExtendedComboBox(QComboBox):
    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).__init__(parent)

        self.setFocusPolicy(Qt.StrongFocus)
        self.setEditable(True)

        # add a filter model to filter matching items
        self.pFilterModel = QSortFilterProxyModel(self)
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterCaseSensitivity(Qt.CaseInsensitive)
        self.pFilterModel.setSourceModel(self.model())

        # add a completer, which uses the filter model
        self.completer = QCompleter(self.pFilterModel, self)
        # always show all (filtered) completions
        self.completer.setCompletionMode(QCompleter.UnfilteredPopupCompletion)
        self.setCompleter(self.completer)

        # connect signals
        self.lineEdit().textEdited.connect(self.pFilterModel.setFilterFixedString)
        self.completer.activated.connect(self.on_completer_activated)


    # on selection of an item from the completer, select the corresponding item from combobox 
    def on_completer_activated(self, text):
        if text:
            index = self.findText(text)
            self.setCurrentIndex(index)
            self.activated[str].emit(self.itemText(index))


    # on model change, update the models of the filter and completer as well 
    def setModel(self, model):
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).setModel(model)
        self.pFilterModel.setSourceModel(model)
        self.completer.setModel(self.pFilterModel)


    # on model column change, update the model column of the filter and completer as well
    def setModelColumn(self, column):
        self.completer.setCompletionColumn(column)
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterKeyColumn(column)
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).setModelColumn(column)    


if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication
    from PyQt5.QtCore import QStringListModel

    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    string_list = ['hola muchachos', 'adios amigos', 'hello world', 'good bye']

    combo = ExtendedComboBox()

    # either fill the standard model of the combobox
    combo.addItems(string_list)

    # or use another model
    #combo.setModel(QStringListModel(string_list))

    combo.resize(300, 40)
    combo.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Answer 3

Thanks for the nice answer, I had the same problem. It works nicely, but forces you to supply an external model, which is unnecessary. I extended the code to also work with the internal standard model already supplied by the combobox. Also some cleanup and documentation has been done...

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from PyQt4.QtCore import Qt
from PyQt4.QtGui import QCompleter, QComboBox, QSortFilterProxyModel

class ExtendedComboBox(QComboBox):
    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).__init__(parent)

        self.setFocusPolicy(Qt.StrongFocus)
        self.setEditable(True)

        # add a filter model to filter matching items
        self.pFilterModel = QSortFilterProxyModel(self)
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterCaseSensitivity(Qt.CaseInsensitive)
        self.pFilterModel.setSourceModel(self.model())

        # add a completer, which uses the filter model
        self.completer = QCompleter(self.pFilterModel, self)
        # always show all (filtered) completions
        self.completer.setCompletionMode(QCompleter.UnfilteredPopupCompletion)
        self.setCompleter(self.completer)

        # connect signals
        self.lineEdit().textEdited[unicode].connect(self.pFilterModel.setFilterFixedString)
        self.completer.activated.connect(self.on_completer_activated)


    # on selection of an item from the completer, select the corresponding item from combobox 
    def on_completer_activated(self, text):
        if text:
            index = self.findText(text)
            self.setCurrentIndex(index)


    # on model change, update the models of the filter and completer as well 
    def setModel(self, model):
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).setModel(model)
        self.pFilterModel.setSourceModel(model)
        self.completer.setModel(self.pFilterModel)


    # on model column change, update the model column of the filter and completer as well
    def setModelColumn(self, column):
        self.completer.setCompletionColumn(column)
        self.pFilterModel.setFilterKeyColumn(column)
        super(ExtendedComboBox, self).setModelColumn(column)



if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    from PyQt4.QtGui import QStringListModel, QApplication

    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    string_list = ['hola muchachos', 'adios amigos', 'hello world', 'good bye']

    combo = ExtendedComboBox()

    # either fill the standard model of the combobox
    combo.addItems(string_list)

    # or use another model
    #combo.setModel(QStringListModel(string_list))

    combo.resize(300, 40)
    combo.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())