HOWTO: Search a ListBox Control Quickly (161161)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0
This article was previously published under Q161161

SUMMARY

A popular item in a user interface is to "link" a text box to a list box so the nearest match in the list box is selected when the user types text into the text box. This technique can be implemented using pure Visual Basic code, but the Windows API provides a quicker and easier way to do this.

MORE INFORMATION

The technique calls the Windows API SendMessage function using the LB_FINDSTRING message for a list box to locate a partial match for a string in the list box. SendMessage requires the following parameters: 
      SendMessage(hWnd, LB_FINDSTRING, wParam, lParam) where

         hWnd    - is the hWnd of the list box.
         wParam  - is a long that specifies the starting point for the
                   search. Use -1 to search the whole list box.
         lParam  - is a long pointer to the string to find.

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Start a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is added by default.
  2. Add a TextBox control (Text1) and a ListBox control (List1) to Form1.
  3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:
          Const LB_FINDSTRING = &H18F
      Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "User32" _
             Alias "SendMessageA" _
         (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
          ByVal wMsg As Integer, _
          ByVal wParam As Integer, _
          lParam As Any) As Long

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         List1.Clear
         List1.AddItem "Apples"
         List1.AddItem "Banana"
         List1.AddItem "Bread"
         List1.AddItem "Break"
         Text1.Text = ""
      End Sub

      Private Sub Text1_Change()
         List1.ListIndex = SendMessage(List1.hWnd, LB_FINDSTRING, -1, _
            ByVal Text1.Text)
      End Sub
  4. Press the F5 key to run the program. Typing text into the text box selects the first item in the list box which matches the text in the text box.

REFERENCES

See the Help topic "Control Limitations" in the Visual Basic documentation.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:2/24/2005
Keywords:kbAPI kbhowto KB161161
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