setting edit text of combox

[divideby0]

Is it possible to set the edit text portion of a combo box programmatically? I'm not processing any user entered text.

I'm using C and WinAPI only - no MFC or stuff like that.

hndCombo = CreateWindow(...,
           WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_TAPSTOP |
           CBS_HASSTRINGS | CBS_DROPDOWNLIST,
           ...); 
 

Stuff I've tried that doesn't work

SetWindowText(hndCombo, ...);
SetDlgItemText(parent, id_combo, ...);
SendMessage(hndCombo, WM_SETTEXT, 0, (LPARAM)...);
 

If that isn't possible, can I limit the number of strings displayed in the dropdown so that I can add the "display" text to the end of the list and just use

drop down list
"option 1"
"option 2"
"option 3"  stop showing here
"display text but invisible to user"
 
SendMessage(hndCombo, CB_SETCURSEL, 3, 0);
 

Thanks in advance