An application sends an LB_SELECTSTRING message to search a list box for an item that begins with the characters in a specified string. If a matching item is found, the item is selected.
LB_SELECTSTRING
wParam = (WPARAM) indexStart; // item before start of search
lParam = (LPARAM)(LPCTSTR)lpszFind; // address of search string
Parameters
indexStart
Value of wParam. Specifies the zero-based index of the item before the first item to be searched. When the search reaches the bottom of the list box, it continues from the top of the list box back to the item specified by the indexStart parameter. If indexStart is -1, the entire list box is searched from the beginning.
Windows 95: The wParam parameter is limited to 16-bit values. This means list boxes cannot contain more than 32,767 items. Although the number of items is restricted, the total size in bytes of the items in a listbox is limited only by available memory.
lpszFind
Value of lParam. Points to the null-terminated string that contains the prefix to search for. The search is case independent, so this string can contain any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.
Return Values
If the search is successful, the return value is the index of the selected item. If the search is unsuccessful, the return value is LB_ERR and the current selection is not changed.
Remarks
The list box is scrolled, if necessary, to bring the selected item into view.
Do not use this message with a list box that has the LBS_MULTIPLESEL style.
An item is selected only if its initial characters from the starting point match the characters in the string specified by the lpszFind parameter.
If you create the list box with an owner-drawn style but without the LBS_HASSTRINGS style, this message returns the index of the item whose long value (supplied as the lParam parameter of the LB_ADDSTRING or LB_INSERTSTRING message) matches the value supplied as the lParam parameter of LB_SELECTSTRING.
See Also