How To Add Images to the CE ImageList Control

MORE INFORMATION

The ImageList Control is significantly different from the standard Win32 Visual Basic ImageList control, having been optimized for size and speed for the Windows CE operating system. For this version of the ImageList control:

• Images can only be added at run time.
• Images can be .bmp, .dib, or .2bp format.
• There is no ListImage object or ListImages collection.
• The Add method takes a file name rather than using LoadPicture.

The following sample shows how to use the Add method and the hImageList property to add images to the ImageList control and use it with the ListView control.

Step-by-Step Example

1. Create a new Windows CE project in either Visual Basic or eMbedded Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Select Components from the Project menu, and then select both the Microsoft CE ImageList Control and Microsoft CE ListView Control options.
3. Place an ImageList control (ImageList1) and a ListView control (ListViewCtrl1) on Form1.
4. Place two CommandButtons named cmdLeftArrow and cmdRightArrow on Form1.
5. Change the captions of cmdLeftArrow and cmdRightArrow to "Left Arrow" and "Right Arrow" respectively.
6. Copy and paste the following code into the Code window for Form1:

   
         Option Explicit
   
         Private Sub cmdLeftArrow_Click()
            Dim l
            Set l = ListViewCtrl1.ListItems.Add(, , "Left Arrow", 1)
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub cmdRightArrow_Click()
            Dim r
            Set r = ListViewCtrl1.ListItems.Add(, , "Right Arrow", 2)
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub Form_Load()
            'Add Images to ImageList
            ImageList1.Add ("\Windows\arrowl.2bp")
            ImageList1.Add ("\Windows\arrowr.2bp")
            'Make the images in ImageList control available for
            'the ListView control
            ListViewCtrl1.Icons = ImageList1.hImageList
        End Sub
   						

7. Run the project in emulation. The necessary bitmap files are included in the emulator's \Windows folder.

NOTE: You can also add multiple images of the same height from one file containing one wider image. To see an example using the code above, replace the line:

Imagelist1.Add ("\windows\arrowl.2bp")
				

with the lines:

ImageList1.ImageWidth = 109
   ImageList1.Add "\windows\wincelgo.bmp"
				

When adding images, if the width of the image is not evenly divisible by the ImageWidth set above, it may appear distorted as the Imagelist control attempts to re-scale it.