JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.3.1315/styles/kendo.common.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.3.1315/styles/kendo.default.min.css">
<script src="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2012.3.1315/js/kendo.all.min.js"></script>
<form id="myForm">
  <input type="text" id="comboBox"/>
  <button type="button" id="showValue">Show Value</button>
</form>

JavaScript

$(document).ready(function() {
    var items = [
        {value : '1',
         desc : 'fred'},
        {value : '2',
         desc : 'wilma'},
        {value : '3',
         desc : 'pebbles'},
        {value : '4',
         desc : 'dino'}
    ];

    var cb = $('#comboBox').kendoComboBox({
        dataSource : items,
        dataTextField : 'desc',
        dataValueField : 'value',
        filter : 'contains',
        change : function (e) {
            if (this.value() && this.selectedIndex == -1) {    
                this._filterSource({
                    value: "",
                    field: this.options.dataTextField,
                    operator: "contains"
                });
                this.select(1);
            }
        }
    }).data('kendoComboBox');

    $('#showValue').click(function () {
        alert(cb.value());
    });
});