Remove duplicates from combobox - delphi

Question

Say i have a combobox with
apples
apples
pears
oranges
oranges
i would like to have it show
apples
pears
oranges
how can i do this?

Answer 1

for iter := combobox.Items.Count - 1 downto 0 do
begin
index := combobox.Items.IndexOf(combobox.Items[iter]);
if index < iter then
combobox.Items.Delete(iter);
end;

Answer 2

I suggest that you simply refill the combo box each time. That makes the logic simpler:
ComboBox.Items.BeginUpdate;
try
ComboBox.Clear;
for Str in Values do
begin
if ComboBox.Items.IndexOf (Str) = -1 then
ComboBox.Items.Add (Str);
end;
finally
ComboBox.Items.EndUpdate;
end;

Answer 3

Just to put methods against eachother: one keeps the order but is increasingly slow with larger number of items. The other stays relatively faster but doesn't keep order:
procedure SortStringlist;
var
i,index,itimer: integer;
sl : TStringlist;
const
numberofitems = 10000;
begin
sl := TStringlist.Create;
for i := 0 to numberofitems-1 do begin
sl.Add(IntToStr(random(2000)));
end;
Showmessage(IntToStr(sl.Count));
itimer := GetTickCount;
sl.Sort;
for I := sl.Count-1 downto 1 do begin
if sl[i]=sl[i-1] then sl.Delete(i);
end;
Showmessage(IntToStr(sl.Count)+' Time taken in ms: '+IntToStr(GetTickCount-itimer));
sl.free;
sl := TStringlist.Create;
for i := 0 to numberofitems-1 do begin
sl.Add(IntToStr(random(2000)));
end;
Showmessage(IntToStr(sl.Count));
itimer := GetTickCount;
for i := sl.Count - 1 downto 0 do
begin
index := sl.IndexOf(sl[i]);
if index < i then
sl.Delete(i);
end;
Showmessage(IntToStr(sl.Count)+' Time taken in ms: '+IntToStr(GetTickCount-itimer));
end;

Answer 4

If you don't care if the items get reordered (or they're sorted already), TStrings can do the work for you - it eliminates all of the looping, deletion, and other work. (Of course, it requires the creation/destruction of a temporary TStringList, so if that's an issue for you it won't work.)
var
SL: TStringList;
begin
ComboBox1.Items.BeginUpdate;
try
SL := TStringList.Create;
try
SL.Sorted := True; // Required for Duplicates to work
SL.Duplicates := dupIgnore;
SL.AddStrings(ComboBox1.Items);
ComboBox1.Items.Assign(SL);
finally
SL.Free;
end;
finally
ComboBox1.Items.EndUpdate;
end;
end;
To properly compare with Igor's answer (which includes no BeginUpdate/EndUpdate), remove those things:
var
SL: TStringList;
begin
SL := TStringList.Create;
try
SL.Sorted := True; // Required for Duplicates to work
SL.Duplicates := dupIgnore;
SL.AddStrings(ComboBox1.Items);
ComboBox1.Items.Assign(SL);
finally
SL.Free;
end;
end;

Answer 5

You have to remove duplicates from the source data.
In most scenarios, a ComboBox is filled with data in run-time, which means, data is coming from some source. There are basically 2 scenarios here: a dataset from database and a collection of strings from any other source. In both cases you filter out duplicates before inserting anything into the ComboBox.
If source is a dataset from database, simply use the SQL DISTINCT keyword.
If source is any collection of strings, use a peace of code provided in the answer by #Smasher.

Answer 6

I faced this problem several times before, and i used all the previous approaches and I'm still using them, but do you know : i think the best approach , though not mentioned here, is to subclass TComboBox, creating a new method (say AddUnique ) that add the string to the combo ONLY if it does not exist previously , otherwise it will drop it.
This solution may cost some extra time in the beginning , but it will solve the problem once and for all.