XL97: How to Fill ListBox Control with Multiple Ranges

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You cannot use the RowSource property to bind a ListBox control to a worksheet when you want the list to draw from multiple ranges. You must loop through the various ranges with a Visual Basic for Applications procedure and add the items to the list one at a time.

The following examples populate a ListBox control as it is loaded by using the Initialize event for the UserForm.

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Populating the ListBox Directly from Worksheet Cells

To populate the ListBox, follow these steps:

1. Close and save any open workbooks and then create a new workbook.
2. On Sheet1, enter the following values:

         A1: Planes        C1: Alpha
         A2: Trains        C2: Bravo
         A3: Automobiles   C3: Charlie

3. Start the Visual Basic Editor (press ALT+F11).
4. On the Insert menu, click UserForm.
5. Draw a ListBox control on the UserForm.
6. Double-click the UserForm to open the Code window for the UserForm.
7. In the module type the following code for the UserForm Initialize event:

         Private Sub UserForm_Intialize()
             Dim Lrange As Range
             Dim x As Variant
   
             'Set the range to loop through
             Set Lrange = Union(Sheet1.Range("A1:A3"), Sheet1.Range("C1:C3"))
   
             'Loops through the ranges
             For Each x In Lrange
   
                 'Adds an item to the list
                 Listbox1.AddItem x.Value
   
             Next x
   
         End Sub
   						

8. Run the UserForm.
   
   The items in the ranges A1:A3 and C1:C3 on Sheet1 are added to the list in ListBox1.
9. Close the UserForm.

Using an Array to Populate the ListBox

It is also possible to assign the contents of a Visual Basic array as the list of a ListBox control. The following example reads the values from the worksheet into an array, and then assigns the array to the ListBox control as the list:

1. In the module, change the code for the UserForm Initialize event:

         Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
             Dim Lrange As Range
             Dim Larray() As Variant
             Dim x As Variant
             Dim ctr As Integer
   
             'Set the range to loop through
             Set Lrange = Union(Sheet1.Range("A1:A3"), Sheet1.Range("C1:C3"))
   
             'Loops through the ranges
             For Each x In Lrange
   
                 ReDim Preserve Larray(ctr)
   
                 'Add an item to the array
                 Larray(ctr) = x.Value
   
                 ctr = ctr + 1
   
             Next x
   
             'Assign the array to the listbox
             ListBox1.List = LArray
   
         End Sub
   						

2. Run the UserForm.
   
   The items in the ranges A1:A3 and C1:C3 on Sheet1 are read into an array and are then assigned to the list of ListBox1.
3. Close the UserForm.