VB.Net - ListView Control

The ListView control is used to display a list of items. Along with the TreeView control, it allows you to create a Windows Explorer like interface.

Let's click on a ListView control from the Toolbox and place it on the form.

The ListView control displays a list of items along with icons. The Item property of the ListView control allows you to add and remove items from it. The SelectedItem property contains a collection of the selected items. The MultiSelect property allows you to set select more than one item in the list view. The CheckBoxes property allows you to set check boxes next to the items.

Properties of the ListView Control

The following are some of the commonly used properties of the ListView control:

S.N	Property	Description
1	Alignment	Gets or sets the alignment of items in the control.
2	AutoArrange	Gets or sets whether icons are automatically kept arranged.
3	BackColor	Gets or sets the background color.
4	CheckBoxes	Gets or sets a value indicating whether a check box appears next to each item in the control.
5	CheckedIndices	Gets the indexes of the currently checked items in the control.
6	CheckedItems	Gets the currently checked items in the control.
7	Columns	Gets the collection of all column headers that appear in the control.
8	GridLines	Gets or sets a value indicating whether grid lines appear between the rows and columns containing the items and subitems in the control.
9	HeaderStyle	Gets or sets the column header style.
10	HideSelection	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the selected item in the control remains highlighted when the control loses focus.
11	HotTracking	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the text of an item or subitem has the appearance of a hyperlink when the mouse pointer passes over it.
12	HoverSelection	Gets or sets a value indicating whether an item is automatically selected when the mouse pointer remains over the item for a few seconds.
13	InsertionMark	Gets an object used to indicate the expected drop location when an item is dragged within a ListView control.
14	Items	Gets a collection containing all items in the control.
15	LabelWrap	Gets or sets a value indicating whether item labels wrap when items are displayed in the control as icons.
16	LargeImageList	Gets or sets the ImageList to use when displaying items as large icons in the control.
17	MultiSelect	Gets or sets a value indicating whether multiple items can be selected.
18	RightToLeftLayout	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the control is laid out from right to left.
19	Scrollable	Gets or sets a value indicating whether a scroll bar is added to the control when there is not enough room to display all items.
20	SelectedIndices	Gets the indexes of the selected items in the control.
21	SelectedItems	Gets the items that are selected in the control.
22	ShowGroups	Gets or sets a value indicating whether items are displayed in groups.
23	ShowItemToolTips	Gets or sets a value indicating whether ToolTips are shown for the ListViewItem objects contained in theListView.
24	SmallImageList	Gets or sets the ImageList to use when displaying items as small icons in the control.
25	Sorting	Gets or sets the sort order for items in the control.
26	StateImageList	Gets or sets the ImageList associated with application-defined states in the control.
27	TopItem	Gets or sets the first visible item in the control.
28	View	Gets or sets how items are displayed in the control. This property has the following values: LargeIcon - displays large items with a large 32 x 32 pixels icon. SmallIcon - displays items with a small 16 x 16 pixels icon List - displays small icons always in one column Details - displays items in multiple columns with column headers and fields Tile - displays items as full-size icons with item labels and sub-item information.
29	VirtualListSize	Gets or sets the number of ListViewItem objects contained in the list when in virtual mode.
30	VirtualMode	Gets or sets a value indicating whether you have provided your own data-management operations for the ListView control.

Methods of the ListView Control

The following are some of the commonly used methods of the ListView control:

S.N	Method Name & Description
1	Clear  Removes all items from the ListView control.
1	ToString  Returns a string containing the string representation of the control.

Events of the ListView Control

The following are some of the commonly used events of the ListView control:

S.N	Event	Description
1	ColumnClick	Occurs when a column header is clicked.
2	ItemCheck	Occurs when an item in the control is checked or unchecked.
3	SelectedIndexChanged	Occurs when the selected index is changed.
4	TextChanged	Occurs when the Text property is changed.

Example

In this example, let us create a list view at runtime. Let's double click on the Form and put the follow code in the opened window.

Public Class Form1
   Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      'create a new ListView
      Dim ListView1 As ListView
      ListView1 = New ListView()
      ListView1.Location = New Point(10, 10)
      ListView1.Size = New Size(150, 150)
      Me.Controls.Add(ListView1)
      'Creating the list items
      Dim ListItem1 As ListViewItem
      ListItem1 = ListView1.Items.Add("Item 1")
      Dim ListItem2 As ListViewItem
      ListItem2 = ListView1.Items.Add("Item 2")
      Dim ListItem3 As ListViewItem
      ListItem3 = ListView1.Items.Add("Item 3")
      Dim ListItem4 As ListViewItem
      ListItem4 = ListView1.Items.Add("Item 4")
      'set the view property
      ListView1.View = View.SmallIcon
      ' Set the caption bar text of the form.  
      Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
   End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it will show following window:

VB.Net - TreeView Control

The TreeView control is used to display hierarchical representations of items similar to the ways the files and folders are displayed in the left pane of the Windows Explorer. Each node may contain one or more child nodes.

Let's click on a TreeView control from the Toolbox and place it on the form.

Properties of the TreeView Control

The following are some of the commonly used properties of the TreeView control:

S.N	Property	Description
1	BackColor	Gets or sets the background color for the control.
2	BackgroundImage	Gets or set the background image for the TreeView control.
3	BackgroundImageLayout	Gets or sets the layout of the background image for the TreeView control.
4	BorderStyle	Gets or sets the border style of the tree view control.
5	CheckBoxes	Gets or sets a value indicating whether check boxes are displayed next to the tree nodes in the tree view control.
6	DataBindings	Gets the data bindings for the control.
7	Font	Gets or sets the font of the text displayed by the control.
8	FontHeight	Gets or sets the height of the font of the control.
9	ForeColor	The current foreground color for this control, which is the color the control uses to draw its text.
10	ItemHeight	Gets or sets the height of each tree node in the tree view control.
11	Nodes	Gets the collection of tree nodes that are assigned to the tree view control.
12	PathSeparator	Gets or sets the delimiter string that the tree node path uses.
13	RightToLeftLayout	Gets or sets a value that indicates whether the TreeView should be laid out from right-to-left.
14	Scrollable	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the tree view control displays scroll bars when they are needed.
15	SelectedImageIndex	Gets or sets the image list index value of the image that is displayed when a tree node is selected.
16	SelectedImageKey	Gets or sets the key of the default image shown when a TreeNode is in a selected state.
17	SelectedNode	Gets or sets the tree node that is currently selected in the tree view control.
18	ShowLines	Gets or sets a value indicating whether lines are drawn between tree nodes in the tree view control.
19	ShowNodeToolTips	Gets or sets a value indicating ToolTips are shown when the mouse pointer hovers over a TreeNode.
20	ShowPlusMinus	Gets or sets a value indicating whether plus-sign (+) and minus-sign (-) buttons are displayed next to tree nodes that contain child tree nodes.
21	ShowRootLines	Gets or sets a value indicating whether lines are drawn between the tree nodes that are at the root of the tree view.
22	Sorted	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the tree nodes in the tree view are sorted.
23	StateImageList	Gets or sets the image list that is used to indicate the state of the TreeView and its nodes.
24	Text	Gets or sets the text of the TreeView.
25	TopNode	Gets or sets the first fully-visible tree node in the tree view control.
26	TreeViewNodeSorter	Gets or sets the implementation of IComparer to perform a custom sort of the TreeView nodes.
27	VisibleCount	Gets the number of tree nodes that can be fully visible in the tree view control.

Methods of the TreeView Control

The following are some of the commonly used methods of the TreeView control:

S.N	Method Name & Description
1	CollapseAll Collapses all the nodes including all child nodes in the tree view control.
2	ExpandAll Expands all the nodes.
3	GetNodeAt Gets the node at the specified location.
4	GetNodeCount Gets the number of tree nodes.
5	Sort  Sorts all the items in the tree view control.
6	ToString  Returns a string containing the name of the control.

Events of the TreeView Control

The following are some of the commonly used events of the TreeView control:

S.N	Event	Description
1	AfterCheck	Occurs after the tree node check box is checked.
2	AfterCollapse	Occurs after the tree node is collapsed.
3	AfterExpand	Occurs after the tree node is expanded.
4	AfterSelect	Occurs after the tree node is selected.
5	BeforeCheck	Occurs before the tree node check box is checked.
6	BeforeCollapse	Occurs before the tree node is collapsed.
7	BeforeExpand	Occurs before the tree node is expanded.
8	BeforeLabelEdit	Occurs before the tree node label text is edited.
9	BeforeSelect	Occurs before the tree node is selected.
10	ItemDrag	Occurs when the user begins dragging a node.
11	NodeMouseClick	Occurs when the user clicks a TreeNode with the mouse.
12	NodeMouseDoubleClick	Occurs when the user double-clicks a TreeNode with the mouse.
13	NodeMouseHover	Occurs when the mouse hovers over a TreeNode.
14	PaddingChanged	Occurs when the value of the Padding property changes.
15	Paint	Occurs when the TreeView is drawn.
16	RightToLeftLayoutChanged	Occurs when the value of the RightToLeftLayout property changes.
17	TextChanged	Occurs when the Text property changes.

The TreeNode Class

The TreeNode class represents a node of a TreeView. Each node in a TreeView control is an object of the TreeNode class. To be able to use a TreeView control we need to have a look at some commonly used properties and methods of the TreeNode class.

Properties of the TreeNode Class

The following are some of the commonly used properties of the TreeNode class:

S.N	Property	Description
1	BackColor	Gets or sets the background color of the tree node.
2	Checked	Gets or sets a value indicating whether the tree node is in a checked state.
3	ContextMenu	Gets the shortcut menu that is associated with this tree node.
4	ContextMenuStrip	Gets or sets the shortcut menu associated with this tree node.
5	FirstNode	Gets the first child tree node in the tree node collection.
6	FullPath	Gets the path from the root tree node to the current tree node.
7	Index	Gets the position of the tree node in the tree node collection.
8	IsEditing	Gets a value indicating whether the tree node is in an editable state.
9	IsExpanded	Gets a value indicating whether the tree node is in the expanded state.
10	IsSelected	Gets a value indicating whether the tree node is in the selected state.
11	IsVisible	Gets a value indicating whether the tree node is visible or partially visible.
12	LastNode	Gets the last child tree node.
13	Level	Gets the zero-based depth of the tree node in the TreeView control.
14	Name	Gets or sets the name of the tree node.
15	NextNode	Gets the next sibling tree node.
16	Nodes	Gets the collection of TreeNode objects assigned to the current tree node.
17	Parent	Gets the parent tree node of the current tree node.
18	PrevNode	Gets the previous sibling tree node.
19	PrevVisibleNode	Gets the previous visible tree node.
20	Tag	Gets or sets the object that contains data about the tree node.
21	Text	Gets or sets the text displayed in the label of the tree node.
22	ToolTipText	Gets or sets the text that appears when the mouse pointer hovers over a TreeNode.
23	TreeView	Gets the parent tree view that the tree node is assigned to.

Methods of the TreeNode Class

The following are some of the commonly used methods of the TreeNode class:

S.N	Method Name & Description
1	Collapse Collapses the tree node.
2	Expand Expands the tree node.
3	ExpandAll Expands all the child tree nodes.
4	GetNodeCount Returns the number of child tree nodes.
5	Remove  Removes the current tree node from the tree view control.
6	Toggle Toggles the tree node to either the expanded or collapsed state.
7	ToString  Returns a string that represents the current object.

Example

In this example, let us create a tree view at runtime. Let's double click on the Form and put the follow code in the opened window.

Public Class Form1
   Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      'create a new TreeView
      Dim TreeView1 As TreeView
      TreeView1 = New TreeView()
      TreeView1.Location = New Point(10, 10)
      TreeView1.Size = New Size(150, 150)
      Me.Controls.Add(TreeView1)
      TreeView1.Nodes.Clear()
      'Creating the root node
      Dim root = New TreeNode("Application")
      TreeView1.Nodes.Add(root)
      TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New TreeNode("Project 1"))
      'Creating child nodes under the first child
      For loopindex As Integer = 1 To 4
          TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New  _
              TreeNode("Sub Project" & Str(loopindex)))
      Next loopindex
      ' creating child nodes under the root
      TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes.Add(New TreeNode("Project 6"))
      'creating child nodes under the created child node
      For loopindex As Integer = 1 To 3
          TreeView1.Nodes(0).Nodes(1).Nodes.Add(New  _
              TreeNode("Project File" & Str(loopindex)))
      Next loopindex
      ' Set the caption bar text of the form.  
      Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
   End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it will show following window:

You can expand the nodes to see the child nodes:

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