List box items can be represented by text strings, bitmaps, or both. If the list box is not large enough to display all the list box items at once, the list box can provide a scroll bar. The user maneuvers through the list box items, scrolling the list when necessary, and selects or removes the selection from items. Selecting a list box item changes its visual appearance, usually by changing the text and background colors to the colors specified by the operating system metrics for selected items. When the user selects an item or removes the selection from an item, Windows sends a notification message to the parent window of the list box.
A dialog box procedure is responsible for initializing and monitoring its child windows, including any list boxes. The dialog box procedure communicates with the list box by sending messages to it and by processing the notification messages sent by the list box. For more information about dialog boxes, see Dialog Boxes.
For general information about controls, see Controls.