Question

Listbox contents with only handle

Asked by: Bdsabian

How can I get the contents of a listbox if all i have is the list box's window handle?

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Asked On
1998-08-28 at 21:53:03ID10076277
Tags

listbox

,

handle

,

contents

Topic

Visual Basic Programming

Participating Experts
2
Points
100
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: cipPosted on 1998-08-29 at 03:29:51ID: 1431744

You can use the SendMessage() API function to retrieve the content of a window listbox control.

The following code will retrieve the content of a listbox item only using the window handle of a visual basic listbox control. You should get the same result for any standard windows listbox.

- Draw a listbox control and a command button on your form.
- Paste this code:

Private Const LB_ERR = (-1)
Private Const LB_GETTEXT = &H189
Private Const LB_GETTEXTLEN = &H18A

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim sItem As String, iLen As Integer
    Cont ITEMINDEX = 20
   
    ' Fill the listbox
    For i = 1 To 40
        List1.AddItem "Item " & i
    Next
   
    ' Get length of item 21 before
    ' retrieving it
    iLen = SendMessage(List1.hwnd, LB_GETTEXTLEN, ITEMINDEX, 0&)
    If iLen = LB_ERR Then
        MsgBox "Error retrieving item length"
        Exit Sub
    End If
   
    ' Allocate enough room in the
    ' string variable, then get item
    sItem = Space$(iLen)
    iLen = SendMessage(List1.hwnd, LB_GETTEXT, ITEMINDEX, ByVal sItem)
    If iLen = LB_ERR Then
        MsgBox "Error retrieving item"
        Exit Sub
    End If
   
    MsgBox "Item retrieved: " & sItem
   
End Sub

 

by: BdsabianPosted on 1998-08-29 at 22:41:40ID: 1431745

that works for listboxes within my program, however, the listbox whose contents i need is in another program.  ive gotten that listbox's handle using a few API calls.

 

by: cipPosted on 1998-08-30 at 04:18:19ID: 1431746

I thought you already had the listbox window handle, since this is what you state in your question, so I focused the answer about how to get the listbox contents.

However you can substitute list1.hwnd with the window handle you get with the API calls.

 

by: BdsabianPosted on 1998-08-30 at 08:23:01ID: 1431747

I tried to substitute list1.hwnd with the handle i got using API calls, but it gave me garbage.  the first thing in the list box was Bdsabian, but what it returned to me was pŒ’

 

by: mkmccrearyPosted on 1998-08-31 at 22:03:18ID: 1431748

Another thing to consider is to try to get the listbox handle from the owner program and compare it with the window handle you are getting from the 'client' application.  It may be that one window handle is a 16 bit number, and the other is a 32 bit handle.  This could especially be the case if one application is Win16 and the other is Win32,  or if a 'Win32' application actually uses a 'Win16' handle.  I've had a similar problem before.  I had a 32 bit application that worked fine under Win95, but didn't work under NT because a component in the application was returning a 16 bit handle.  NT was unforgiving, Win95 didn't care.

Just A Thought,
Martin

 

by: cipPosted on 1998-09-01 at 01:37:12ID: 1431749

Maybe you should provide more information. What API did you use? What application owns the listbox you're trying to access?

I didn't know a 32bit API call could return a 16bit handle as Martin said, I thought they would be converted to 32bit anyway, but this is worth checking.

 

by: cipPosted on 1998-09-01 at 01:38:22ID: 1431750

Woops, I posted my last comment as an answer, please feel free to reject it.

 

by: mkmccrearyPosted on 1998-09-01 at 06:50:53ID: 1431751

Actually it was an ActiveX component that was returning a device context to a printer.  The publisher admitted it was a bug and published an updated control.  It was weird that the buggy control worked under Win95 and not NT.  I just thought it may be a similar situation.

Later,
Martin

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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