HOWTO: How to Quickly Search a List Box

MORE INFORMATION

The following technique uses the LB_FINDSTRING message for a list box to locate a partial match for a string in a list box. To do this, call the Windows API SendMessage function. The SendMessage function requires the following parameters to list the files:

   SendMessage   (hWnd,LB_FINDSTRING, wParam, lparam)
				

where:

   hWnd     is the hWnd of the list box.
   wParam   is an integer 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.

				

Example to Demonstrate Searching a List Box

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Add a text box (Text1) and a list box (list1) to Form1.
2. On the Visual Basic Insert menu, choose module to add a new code module to the project. Add the following code to the General declarations section of module1:

       #If Win32 Then
   
          Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _
          (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As _
          Integer, ByVal lParam As Any) As Long
       #Else
          Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user" (ByVal hwnd As Integer, _
          ByVal wMsg As Integer, ByVal wp As Integer, lp As Any) As Long
       #End If
   
       Public Const LB_FINDSTRING = &H18F
   						

3. In the Form_Load method for the form, add the following items to the list box using the following code:

       Sub Form_Load()
          List1.Clear
          List1.AddItem "Apples"
          List1.AddItem "Banana"
          List1.AddItem "Bread"
          List1.AddItem "Break"
       End Sub
   						

4. In the Change method of the text box, add the following code:

       Sub Text1_Change()
          List1.ListIndex = SendMessage(List1.hWnd, LB_FINDSTRING, -1, _
          ByVal Cstr(Text1.Text))
       End Sub
   						

If you run the code, typing text into the text box selects the first item in the list that matches the text in the text box.