Change the Highlight colour of a Listbox

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VB

How do I change the Highlight colour of a Listbox from the default Blue colour to any colour?

Posted 17-Jun-14 7:45am

vbGoof

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phil.o 17-Jun-14 13:49pm

WPF? Windows Forms? VB.NET is just a language and does not presume anything about what engine you plan to use.
Please tag your question according to the field you're interested in.

vbGoof 18-Jun-14 12:15pm

Windows Forms

vbGoof 18-Jun-14 9:54am

With the listbox [drawmode] property set to [OwnerDrawFixed] this code works if items are added at design time. My listbox is generated with data from command prompt

'Change Highlight colour
Private Sub ListBox2_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs) Handles ListBox2.DrawItem
e.DrawBackground()
If (e.State And DrawItemState.Selected) = DrawItemState.Selected Then
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Gray, e.Bounds)
End If
Using b As New SolidBrush(e.ForeColor)
e.Graphics.DrawString(ListBox2.GetItemText(ListBox2.Items(e.Index)), e.Font, b, e.Bounds)

End Using
e.DrawFocusRectangle()

End Sub

phil.o 18-Jun-14 13:11pm

Better improve your question with your code rather than putting it in comments; comments are not really meant to display lines of code.
While in the question, you can enclose your code between <pre> tags, which will take care of the correct formatting.

What happens when items are added at runtime ?

vbGoof 20-Jun-14 11:07am

The information does not appear but when I scroll in the listbox, or when i do a ListCount it indicates that there are items in there but they are not visible. I have tried <pre> .toString </pre> but nothing appears. I managed to change the highlight colour. When the listbox is set to [DrawMode:Normal] the data is there

phil.o 20-Jun-14 12:17pm

Yes, it's because, in owner draw mode, you have to draw each item yourself. Thus, data is here (count > 0), but you can't see it as you have to draw it.
An example is given in the link provided in solution 1.
You can find examples on CodeProject, too: Articles:Desktop:List Controls

vbGoof 21-Jun-14 4:57am

I have tried to use [listbox.update, .invalidate, .refresh ] Nothing seems to work, and i am not even sure of where to put the code. Just how do I redraw the listbox. I have now created my own list from scratch, but when i put other controls on the form like buttons, the listbox does not respond. Any other code for creating custom listboxes?

phil.o 21-Jun-14 6:23am

Using update, invalidate or refresh in itself is not magic; these take place when and if you actually draw your control.
Have a look here; it's in C# but you will have a clue about where to 'put the code'.
There are a bunch of ListBox examples here (Combo and List Boxes); using the filter you should be able to select only those in VB. I would be very surprised if in all these examples you cannot find an owner drawn one.

vbGoof 21-Jun-14 8:17am

Thankx Phil, I have been googling and gloogling. You said something about enclosing my code in tags <pre> hope it works. This is what i found on the net, but it is for a Listview. With this code I am able to change the [Forecolour] and the [Highlight-colour] on mousehover but the (blue) highlight colour still remains after clicking, I am still working on it though. You have the right to help. If you are able to change this code for a listbox it would be lovely.

<pre lang="vb">Private Sub ListView1_ItemMouseHover(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItemMouseHoverEventArgs) Handles ListView1.ItemMouseHover
If previousListViewItem IsNot Nothing Then
previousListViewItem.ForeColor = Nothing
previousListViewItem.BackColor = Nothing
End If

e.Item.ForeColor = Color.Red 'Color.FromKnownColor(KnownColor.HighlightText)
e.Item.BackColor = Color.Gray 'Color.FromKnownColor(KnownColor.Highlight)

previousListViewItem = e.Item
End Sub </pre>

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JPais · Answer 1 · 2014-06-18T08:44:00

Solution 1

There is no direct property to do that. You have to owner draw the ListView to do that,
You can find it here

Posted 18-Jun-14 8:44am

JPais

vbGoof · Answer 2 · 2014-06-21T02:18:00

XML

<pre lang="vb">Private Sub ListView1_ItemMouseHover(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItemMouseHoverEventArgs) Handles ListView1.ItemMouseHover
        If previousListViewItem IsNot Nothing Then
            previousListViewItem.ForeColor = Nothing
            previousListViewItem.BackColor = Nothing
        End If

        e.Item.ForeColor = Color.Red &#39;Color.FromKnownColor(KnownColor.HighlightText)
        e.Item.BackColor = Color.Gray &#39;Color.FromKnownColor(KnownColor.Highlight)

        previousListViewItem = e.Item
    End Sub</pre>

vbGoof · Answer 3 · 2014-06-21T02:22:00

Solution 4

The code is from here
[^]

Posted 21-Jun-14 2:22am