XListCtrl - A custom-draw list control with subitem formatting

Hans Dietrich

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6 Sep 2006CPOL9 min read

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A custom-draw list control with support for subitem colors, bold font, progress bars, and checkboxes.

Download demo project - 195 Kb

Introduction

The use of list controls is becoming very common now, and is used by many apps with the need for some sort of list display. I have used list controls in many projects, and naturally have developed my own classes to display different colors, fonts, and progress bars in list control.

Recently I needed a list control with a checkbox like Hotmail. With a list like Hotmail you have checkbox in column header, and checkboxes in each subitem in that column. To set a check in every subitem, you check the checkbox in the column header. Similarly, if you uncheck one of the subitems, then the checkbox in the column header also gets unchecked.

What's New in 1.4

Subitem editing - thanks to Oleg Matcovsky for providing code that I based this implementation on.
New combo box implementation - thanks to Mathias Tunared's excellent AdvComboBox.
Skip disabled items - fixed this bug, that allowed disabled item to be selected.
Set header alignment, text color, and divider lines.
Set cell padding.
Reduced flickering.
Header checkboxes do not require resource bitmap - the file checkboxes.bmp, is still included in download, but it is no longer really necessary.
Enable ellipsis for text display.
Get modified flag for subitems.
More demo build configurations - 1.4 includes both DLL and static link build configurations, with 3 types of demo apps — dialogs, MDI, and property sheet — and 12 versions of the XListCtrl libraries, including both Unicode and ANSI.
DLL and static library versions - beginning with this version, all XListCtrl code has been organized as libraries that you link with. Table below shows library versions available.
Many bug fixes!

XListCtrl Features

The new CXListCtrl list control class supports these features:

Text and background colors may be specified for each subitem.
One or more subitem text may be displayed as normal or bold font.
One or more subitems may be switched from displaying text to displaying a progress bar, and then back again to text.
Custom text may be specified for progress bar, instead of just displaying usual 10%, 20%, etc. Also, there is option to display no text for progress bar, just the bar itself.
One or more subitems may contain checkbox, with or without text.
One or more subitems may contain combobox control.
One or more subitems may contain edit control.
A row may be disabled, so that checkboxes are unclickable.
The header is displayed flat like Outlook.

XListCtrl Demo

The demo project provides a sample app that shows what the various features look like. Press the Start button and the list control is filled with data.

First column is specified with checkboxes
The second column shows subitem with bold text
The second column shows subitem with different background color
The third column contains progress bar in row 2
The fourth column also contains checkboxes
The fifth column shows subitem with different background color
The sixth column shows subitem with different text and background colors
The second column shows combobox
The sixth row is disabled
The fifth column shows edit control

How To Use

To integrate XListCtrl into your own app, you first need to decide if you want to include XListCtrl code into your own exe (using XListCtrl static link library), or if you want to link to XListCtrl DLL. Using DLL version of XListCtrl makes sense if you plan to use XListCtrl in several apps. The XListCtrl DLL is an MFC extension DLL, so your app must also be MFC-based.

If you plan to use and distribute DLL version of XListCtrl, do not put DLL in Windows directory. This could cause conflicts with other apps that use XListCtrl, and some future version of XListCtrl may not be compatible with the one that you distribute.

To use static XListCtrl library, define symbol XLISTCTRLLIB_STATIC before including header file XListCtrl.h. Otherwise, DLL version of XListCtrl will be linked to your app. Regardless of which version you link with, you must change your app's build environment as follows:

Go to Project | Settings | C/C++ | Preprocessor and add the XListCtrl source directory to Additional include directories. Also, on the left side of the Settings dialog, choose All Configurations. Click OK to save this setting.
Go to Project | Settings | Link | Input and add the XListCtrl library directory to Additional library path. Again, on the left side of the Settings dialog, choose All Configurations. Click OK to save this setting.

Automatic Library Selection

Using symbols _AFXDLL, XLISTCTRLLIB_STATIC, _DEBUG, and _UNICODE, the following code in XListCtrl.h automatically determines which XListCtrl library to link to your app:

#ifndef XLISTCTRLLIB_NOAUTOLIB
    #if defined _AFXDLL && !defined XLISTCTRLLIB_STATIC
        // MFC shared DLL with XListCtrl shared DLL
        #ifdef _UNICODE    
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDDDU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDDDU.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDDRU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDDRU.lib")
            #endif
        #else
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDDDA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDDDA.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDDRA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDDRA.lib")
            #endif
        #endif
    #elif defined _AFXDLL && defined XLISTCTRLLIB_STATIC
        // MFC shared DLL with XListCtrl static lib
        #ifdef _UNICODE
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDSDU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDSDU.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDSRU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDSRU.lib")
            #endif
        #else
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDSDA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDSDA.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlDSRA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlDSRA.lib")
            #endif
        #endif
    #elif !defined _AFXDLL && defined XLISTCTRLLIB_STATIC
        // MFC static lib with XListCtrl static lib
        #ifdef _UNICODE
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlSSDU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlSSDU.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlSSRU.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlSSRU.lib")
            #endif
        #else
            #ifdef _DEBUG
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlSSDA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlSSDA.lib")
            #else
                #pragma comment(lib,"XListCtrlSSRA.lib")
                #pragma message("Automatically linking with XListCtrlSSRA.lib")
            #endif
        #endif
    #else
        #pragma message(" ")
        #pragma message("-------------------------------------" + 
                        "-------------------------------------")
        #pragma message(" The SD build configuration (MFC static," + 
                        " XListCtrl DLL) is not available. ")
        #pragma message("-------------------------------------" + 
                        "-------------------------------------")
        #pragma message(" ")
        #error This build configuration is not available.
    #endif
#endif

XListCtrl Library Naming Conventions

XListCtrl Library Naming Conventions
Library Name	MFC		XListCtrl		Build		Charset
Library Name	DLL	Static	DLL	Static	Debug	Release	ANSI	UNICODE
XListCtrlDDDA
XListCtrlDDDU
XListCtrlDDRA
XListCtrlDDRU
XListCtrlDSDA
XListCtrlDSDU
XListCtrlDSRA
XListCtrlDSRU
XListCtrlSSDA
XListCtrlSSDU
XListCtrlSSRA
XListCtrlSSRU
XListCtrlSDxx	——— not built ———

Building XListCtrl Libraries

To build the XListCtrl libraries, go to Build | Batch Build and select the libraries you wish to build:

Then click on Rebuild All and the libraries will be built. By default, the .lib and .dll files are copied to the bin directory.

Tips and Tricks

Rebuilding dialog demos - If you rebuild any of the dialog demos, be sure to use Rebuild All command. Reason: the dialog demos all share the same output file directories, and you will get linker errors if you compile only one module, and try to link with modules that were compiled with different set of build options.
Eliminate flickering - When updating or filling the list control, there is sometimes flickering of list control and/or other controls on dialog. To eliminate this flickering, you may try one of the following methods:
1. Use CListCtrl::LockWindowUpdate()/CListCtrl::UnlockWindowUpdate() to bracket the updating code.
2. Use CListCtrl::SetRedraw(FALSE)/CListCtrl::SetRedraw(TRUE) to bracket the updating code.
After using one of these methods, you probably should call list.UpdateWindow() to make sure control is updated. If one method doesn't completely eliminate flickering in your application, try other method to determine which works best.
Using tooltips - You must first call CListCtrl::EnableToolTips(TRUE).
Using combobox and edit controls - You must set LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT style.

Revision History

Version 1.4 Changes

Subitem editing
New combo box implementation
Skip disabled items
APIs to set header alignment, text color, and divider lines
Set cell padding
Reduced flickering
Header checkboxes do not require resource bitmap
Enable ellipsis for text display
API to get modified flag for subitems
More demo build configurations
DLL and static library versions
Many bug fixes!

Version 1.3 Changes

This version includes many bug fixes that have been accumulating. My thanks for all who have reported bugs. Please try this new version and let me know if you find any bugs, or have suggestions for future enhancements.

Added hot-tracking to combo's listbox.
Added compile-time option to remove support for comboboxes. (This reduce exe size by about 8 Kb). To remove combobox support, put this line in stdafx.h:
```
#define DO_NOT_INCLUDE_XCOMBOLIST
```
If you insert this define, you do not need to include XComboList.cpp or XComboList.h in your project.
Changed CXComboList::SetActive to accept scroll bar width as input parameter.
Fixed bug that caused string to not be displayed when clicking outside item string (reported by James Moore). This also caused problems in property pages and other places.
Fixed bug that caused some strings not to be selected, when drag-selecting several items quickly (reported by James Moore).
Fixed several problems with displaying images in header and list control (reported by Scot Brennecke).
Changed message map macros for NM_CLICK and LVN_COLUMNCLICK to use ON_NOTIFY_REFLECT_EX(), to allow parent to handle message also (suggested by bkupcins).
Fixed problem in XHeaderCtrl caused when XP theming is enabled. The GetHeaderCheckedState()/SetHeaderCheckedState() functions now use 0 = no check box, 1 = unchecked check box, 2 = checked check box. Note: The checkboxes.bmp file has also been updated, and must be replaced in all project that use 1.3 XListCtrl. The new defines XHEADERCTRL_NO_IMAGE, XHEADERCTRL_UNCHECKED_IMAGE, and XHEADERCTRL_CHECKED_IMAGE should be used when setting the image in the header control (see XListCtrlTestDlg.cpp for example).
Replaced calls to GetSysColor() with class variables that are set in ctor. Class variables are reloaded in response to WM_SYSCOLORCHANGE message (suggested by KarstenK).
Added ASSERT if combo boxes are used without LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT style.
Added two registered messages that XListCtrl will send to its parent when combo box selection is changed (WM_XLISTCTRL_COMBO_SELECTION) and when check box is clicked (WM_XLISTCTRL_CHECKBOX_CLICKED). The sample app shows how to handle these new messages.
Added support for tooltips. To enable tooltips, you must call CListCtrl::EnableToolTips(TRUE). If you #define constant NO_XLISTCTRL_TOOL_TIPS, the tooltip support will not be included. New API's for tooltips:
```
BOOL SetItemToolTipText(int nItem, int nSubItem, LPCTSTR lpszToolTipText);
CString GetItemToolTipText(int nItem, int nSubItem);
void DeleteAllToolTips();
```

Version 1.2.1 Changes

Added build configurations for Unicode.
Minor code modifications to support Unicode strings.

Version 1.2 Changes

Comboboxes!!! Now you can specify drop-list combobox for one or more subitem.
Combobox will be drawn when item is highlighted. Demo now has item hot-tracking.
Incorporated David Patrick's suggestion on how to subclass header control if CXListCtrl is created dynamically via Create() instead of via dialog template. See XListCtrlTestDlg.cpp for details on how to convert the demo project to create CXListCtrl dynamically.
Tweaked drawing of subitems to make cleaner visually.
Added API's for GetCurSel and SetCurSel to make coding easier.

Acknowledgments

The CXListCtrl code is based on:

"Neat Stuff to do in List Controls Using Custom Draw" by Michael Dunn
"Outlook 98-Style FlatHeader Control" by Maarten Hoeben
"Indicating an empty ListView" by Ghini Mauro

The city population figures are taken from Th. Brinkhoff: The Principal Agglomerations of the World.

Usage

This software is released into the public domain. You are free to use it in any way you like, except that you may not sell this source code. If you modify it or extend it, please to consider posting new code here for everyone to share. This software is provided "as is" with no expressed or implied warranty. I accept no liability for any damage or loss of business that this software may cause.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

Hans Dietrich

Software Developer (Senior) Hans Dietrich Software

United States

I attended St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto, with the intention of becoming a priest. A friend in the University's Computer Science Department got me interested in programming, and I have been hooked ever since.

Recently, I have moved to Los Angeles where I am doing consulting and development work.

For consulting and custom software development, please see www.hdsoft.org.

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