HOWTO: Arrange Order of List Items within ListBox Control

Last reviewed: July 14, 1997
Article ID: Q167746
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, version 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article contains sample code that illustrates how to arrange the order of items within ListBox Control using drag-and-drop. Function ListRowCalc() returns the list index by calculating the position using the Windows API SendMessage() function with the constant LB_GETITEMHEIGHT and Screen.TwipsPerPixelY. Sub ListRowMove inserts the dragged item into the dropped position and re-orders all other affected items.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.

  2. Add a module to the project. The default is Module1.

  3. Paste the following code into the General Declarations section of Module1:

        #If Win16 Then
          Declare Function SendMessage& Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd%, ByVal _
    
                                      wMsg%, ByVal wParam%, lParam As Any)
        #Else
          Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _
                         (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
                          ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Long) As Long
        #End If
    
        Function ListRowCalc(lstTemp As Control, ByVal Y As Single) As Integer
           #If Win16 Then
               Const WM_USER = &H400
               Const LB_GETITEMHEIGHT = (WM_USER + 34)
           #Else
               Const LB_GETITEMHEIGHT = &H1A1
               'Determines the height of each item in ListBox control in pixels
           #End If
           Dim ItemHeight As Integer
           ItemHeight = SendMessage(lstTemp.hWnd, LB_GETITEMHEIGHT, 0, 0)
           ListRowCalc = min(((Y / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY)\ItemHeight)+ _
                         lstTemp.TopIndex, lstTemp.ListCount - 1)
        End Function
    
        Function min(X As Integer, Y As Integer) As Integer
             If X > Y Then min = Y Else min = X
        End Function
    
        Sub ListRowMove(lstTemp As Control, ByVal OldRow As Integer, _
                        ByVal NewRow As Integer)
            Dim SaveList As String, i As Integer
    
            If OldRow = NewRow Then Exit Sub
            SaveList = lstTemp.List(OldRow)
            If OldRow > NewRow Then
               For i = OldRow To NewRow + 1 Step -1
                   lstTemp.List(i) = lstTemp.List(i - 1)
               Next i
            Else
               For i = OldRow To NewRow - 1
                   lstTemp.List(i) = lstTemp.List(i + 1)
               Next i
            End If
            lstTemp.List(NewRow) = SaveList
        End Sub
    
    

  4. Add a ListBox Control (List1) to Form1.

  5. Clear all the code for Form1, and then paste the following code into the General Declarations section of Form1:

        Dim DragIndex As Integer
    

        Private Sub Form_Load()
    
            List1.Clear
            List1.AddItem "Adam"
            List1.AddItem "Bob"
            List1.AddItem "Charles"
            List1.AddItem "David"
            List1.AddItem "Eric"
            List1.AddItem "Frank"
            List1.AddItem "George"
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub List1_DragDrop(Source As Control, X As Single, Y As Single)
            ListRowMove Source, DragIndex, ListRowCalc(Source, Y)
        End Sub
    
        Private Sub List1_MouseDown(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, _
                                   X As Single, Y As Single)
            If Button = vbRightButton Then
                DragIndex = ListRowCalc(List1, Y)
                List1.Drag
            End If
        End Sub
    
    

  6. Assign an icon file to the DragIcon property of List1. Icon files are shipped with Visual Basic 4.0 under \ICONS directory.

  7. From the Run menu, choose Start to run the program. Drag-and-drop any list item in List1 using the right-mouse button. The order of list items should be re-arranged accordingly.

REFERENCES

For additional information on how to drag-and-drop onto a list box, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q80187
   TITLE     : How to Drop Item into Specified Location in VB List Box

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1997, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Adrian Chiang, Microsoft Corporation.


Keywords : kbcode vb4all vb4win vb5all vb5howto kbhowto
Version : 4.0 5.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


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Last reviewed: July 14, 1997
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