Introduction
The controls included with Microsoft�s IDE have always been feature rich.
However, Microsoft always seems to leave out as many features as they include.
The ListView control is no exception to this rule. This project
aims at exposing and wrapping a few cool features. First to note is the ability
to group items. In Windows Explorer�s View menu, the �Arrange Icon by� menu has
a �Show in Groups� option. This allows the ListView to arrange
items logically into groups, generally based on file type. The next feature is
the ability to set an image as the background of a ListView,
whether tiled or a single image. Your My Music folder demonstrates the
concept, with a music note image in the lower right hand corner. This project
extends the standard ListView with the help of the Windows API to
give a more feature rich control.
Code
All the dirty work happens in the ListviewAPI class. Don�t be
intimidated if you�ve never used any Windows API. The code simply wraps the
SendMessage API using a handful of overrides. The rest is just
constants required by the API (documentation available on MSDN).
I�ll spare a long explanation. Download the test project and see for
yourself. I included a bitmap file (Note.bmp) to use for setting the
background image. You�ll notice, there is extra padding at the bottom of the
bitmap. This is because setting the image yOffsetPercent to 100
causes the image to drop below the bottom of the ListView. However,
setting the offset to 99 or less causes strange positioning when resizing the
window.
History
- May 25, 2004 - Support for bolded group headers
