HOWTO: Search a ListBox Control Quickly

MORE INFORMATION

      SendMessage(hWnd, LB_FINDSTRING, wParam, lParam) where

         hWnd    - is the hWnd of the list box.
         wParam  - is a long 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.
				

Step-by-Step Example

1. Start a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is added by default.
2. Add a TextBox control (Text1) and a ListBox control (List1) to Form1.
3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

         Const LB_FINDSTRING = &H18F
         Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "User32" _
                Alias "SendMessageA" _
            (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
             ByVal wMsg As Integer, _
             ByVal wParam As Integer, _
             lParam As Any) As Long
   
         Private Sub Form_Load()
            List1.Clear
            List1.AddItem "Apples"
            List1.AddItem "Banana"
            List1.AddItem "Bread"
            List1.AddItem "Break"
            Text1.Text = ""
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub Text1_Change()
            List1.ListIndex = SendMessage(List1.hWnd, LB_FINDSTRING, -1, _
               ByVal Text1.Text)
         End Sub
   
   					

4. Press the F5 key to run the program. Typing text into the text box selects the first item in the list box which matches the text in the text box.