ListView Control (VBCCRListView)

The VBCCRListView control is an enhanced replacement for the standard MSComCtl ListView control. It provides improved functionality, better performance, and enhanced visual appearance.

Properties

Key Properties

• View: Sets or returns current view mode

  • LvwViewIcon (0) - Icon view
  • LvwViewSmallIcon (1) - Small icon view
  • LvwViewList (2) - List view
  • LvwViewReport (3) - Report view
  • LvwViewTile (4) - Tile view

• ColumnHeaders (LvwColumnHeaders): Collection of column headers in report view

• ListItems (LvwListItems): Collection of items in ListView

• SelectedItem (LvwListItem): Returns currently selected item

• MultiSelect (Boolean): Enables/disables multiple item selection

• Sorted (Boolean): Enables/disables automatic sorting

• GridLines (Boolean): Shows/hides gridlines in report view

• FullRowSelect (Boolean): Enables/disables full row selection

• LabelEdit (LvwLabelEditConstants): Label editing mode

• HoverSelection (Boolean): Hover selection

• HotTracking (Boolean): Hot tracking

• Arrange (LvwArrangeConstants): Item arrangement mode

Methods

Essential Methods

• FindItem(Text As String, [Index As Long], [Partial As Boolean], [Wrap As Boolean]) As LvwListItem: Searches for an item
• HitTest(X As Single, Y As Single, [SubItemIndex As Long]) As LvwListItem: Tests click position
• HitTestInsertMark(X As Single, Y As Single, [After As Boolean]) As Long: Tests insert mark position
• StartLabelEdit(): Starts label editing for the selected item
• EndLabelEdit([Discard As Boolean]): Ends label editing
• GetVisibleCount() As Long: Gets the number of visible items
• Refresh(): Refreshes the display
• Drag([Action]): Drag and drop operation
• OLEDrag(): OLE drag and drop
• SetFocus(): Sets focus
• ZOrder([Position]): Sets Z order

LvwListItems Collection Methods

• Add([Index As Long], [Key As String], [Text As String], [Icon As Variant], [SmallIcon As Variant]) As LvwListItem: Adds a new item
• Remove(Index): Removes an item
• Clear(): Clears all items
• Item(Index) As LvwListItem: Gets an item

LvwColumnHeaders Collection Methods

• Add([Index As Long], [Key As String], [Text As String], [Width As Long], [Alignment As VBRUN.AlignmentConstants], [Icon As Variant]) As LvwColumnHeader: Adds a column header
• Remove(Index): Removes a column header
• Clear(): Clears all column headers
• Item(Index) As LvwColumnHeader: Gets a column header

Events

• Click(): Click event
• DblClick(): Double-click event
• ItemClick(Item As LvwListItem, Button As Integer): Fires when an item is clicked
• ItemDblClick(Item As LvwListItem, Button As Integer): Fires when an item is double-clicked
• ItemFocus(Item As LvwListItem): Fires when an item receives focus
• ItemActivate(Item As LvwListItem, SubItemIndex As Long, Shift As Integer): Fires when an item is activated
• ItemSelect(Item As LvwListItem, Selected As Boolean): Fires when an item selection changes
• ItemCheck(Item As LvwListItem, Checked As Boolean): Fires when an item checkbox state changes
• BeforeLabelEdit(ByRef Cancel As Boolean): Fires before label editing begins
• AfterLabelEdit(ByRef Cancel As Boolean, NewString As String): Fires after label editing ends
• ColumnClick(ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader): Fires when a column header is clicked
• ColumnDblClick(ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader): Fires when a column header is double-clicked
• ColumnBeforeResize(ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader, ByRef Cancel As Boolean): Fires before column resizing
• ColumnAfterResize(ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader, NewWidth As Long): Fires after column resizing
• KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer): Key down event
• KeyPress(KeyChar As Integer): Key press event
• KeyUp(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer): Key up event
• MouseDown(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single): Mouse down event
• MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single): Mouse move event
• MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single): Mouse up event

Code Examples

Basic Usage

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ' Add column headers
    With ListView1.ColumnHeaders
        .Add , , "Name"
        .Add , , "Age"
        .Add , , "City"
    End With
    
    ' Add items with subitems
    With ListView1.ListItems
        Dim item1 As LvwListItem
        Set item1 = .Add(, , "John Doe")
        item1.SubItems(1) = "30"
        item1.SubItems(2) = "New York"
        
        Dim item2 As LvwListItem
        Set item2 = .Add(, , "Jane Smith")
        item2.SubItems(1) = "25"
        item2.SubItems(2) = "London"
    End With
    
    ' Set view to report mode
    ListView1.View = LvwViewReport
    ListView1.GridLines = True
    ListView1.FullRowSelect = True
End Sub

Handling Events

Private Sub ListView1_ItemClick(ByVal Item As LvwListItem, ByVal Button As Integer)
    MsgBox "Selected: " & Item.Text
End Sub

Private Sub ListView1_ColumnClick(ByVal ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader)
    ' Toggle sort order based on column click
    ListView1.Sorted = Not ListView1.Sorted
    If Not ListView1.Sorted Then
        ListView1.Sorted = True
    End If
End Sub

Finding Items

Private Sub FindItemDemo()
    Dim foundItem As LvwListItem
    Set foundItem = ListView1.FindItem("John Doe", , True)
    
    If Not foundItem Is Nothing Then
        foundItem.Selected = True
        foundItem.EnsureVisible
    End If
End Sub

Adding and Removing Items

Private Sub AddItemDemo()
    Dim newItem As LvwListItem
    Set newItem = ListView1.ListItems.Add(, , "New Item")
    newItem.SubItems(1) = "Data 1"
    newItem.SubItems(2) = "Data 2"
End Sub

Private Sub RemoveItemDemo(Index As Long)
    ListView1.ListItems.Remove Index
End Sub

Label Editing

Private Sub ListView1_BeforeLabelEdit(ByRef Cancel As Boolean)
    ' Prevent editing of the first item
    If ListView1.SelectedItem.Index = 1 Then
        Cancel = True
        MsgBox "Cannot edit the first item"
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub ListView1_AfterLabelEdit(ByRef Cancel As Boolean, ByVal NewString As String)
    ' Validate the new label
    If Len(NewString) = 0 Then
        Cancel = True
        MsgBox "Label cannot be empty"
    End If
End Sub

Hit Testing

Private Sub ListView1_MouseUp(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Dim hitItem As LvwListItem
    Dim subItemIndex As Long
    Set hitItem = ListView1.HitTest(X, Y, subItemIndex)
    
    If Not hitItem Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "Clicked: " & hitItem.Text & ", SubItem: " & subItemIndex
    End If
End Sub

Get Visible Count

Private Sub GetVisibleItems()
    Dim count As Long
    count = ListView1.GetVisibleCount()
    MsgBox "Visible items: " & count
End Sub

Common Use Cases

File Explorer Style

Private Sub SetupFileExplorer()
    With ListView1
        .View = LvwViewReport
        .FullRowSelect = True
        .GridLines = True
        .HotTracking = True
        .HoverSelection = True
        
        ' Add columns
        With .ColumnHeaders
            .Add , , "Name", 200
            .Add , , "Size", 100
            .Add , , "Type", 100
            .Add , , "Modified", 150
        End With
    End With
End Sub

Grouped View

Private Sub SetupGroupedView()
    ListView1.View = LvwViewTile
    ListView1.GroupView = True
    ListView1.TileViewLines = 2
    
    ' Add items with grouping (requires Windows Vista or later)
    ' Grouping is handled through the Groups collection
End Sub

Multiple Selection

Private Sub GetSelectedItems()
    Dim i As Long
    For i = 1 To ListView1.ListItems.Count
        If ListView1.ListItems(i).Selected Then
            Debug.Print ListView1.ListItems(i).Text
        End If
    Next i
End Sub

Column Sorting

Private Sub ListView1_ColumnClick(ByVal ColumnHeader As LvwColumnHeader)
    Static lastSortColumn As Long
    Static sortOrderAscending As Boolean
    
    If lastSortColumn <> ColumnHeader.Index Then
        sortOrderAscending = True
    Else
        sortOrderAscending = Not sortOrderAscending
    End If
    
    lastSortColumn = ColumnHeader.Index
    
    ' Note: ListView has built-in sorting
    ' For custom sorting, you may need to use external methods
End Sub

Tips

1. Performance: For large lists, consider using VirtualListItems instead of ListItems
2. Column Widths: Use AutoSize to automatically size columns to fit their content
3. Icons: Set ImageList properties for small and large icons to display icons in different views
4. Checkboxes: Enable CheckBoxes property to show checkboxes for each item
5. LabelEdit: Set LabelEdit to LvwLabelEditManual and call StartLabelEdit() when needed