FIX: Problem with ListView's ColumnHeader Width Property

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This article was previously published under Q179988

SYMPTOMS

When you programmatically set the Width of a ColumnHeader, the width of the column may actually appear larger than you expect. This presents a problem when you attempt to save the ColumnHeader Width settings so that you can restore them at a later time.

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CAUSE

Internally, the Width of a ColumnHeader is padded with some predetermined constant when it is changed programmatically. This padding is not in effect if the Width of the ColumnHeader is changed through the user interface.

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RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, you can set or return a ColumnHeader Width using the SendMessage API function with the LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH or LVM_GETCOLUMNWIDTH messages.

The constant and function declarations are as follows:

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

     Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
     Const LVM_GETCOLUMNWIDTH = LVM_FIRST + 29
     Const LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH = LVM_FIRST + 30

To set the Width of a Columnheader using the message LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH, you provide the index of the column (starting with 0) as the wParam and the new width as the lParam. For example, the following statement sets the width of the second column (index 1) of ListView1 to 150:

    SendMessage ListView1.hWnd, LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH, 1, 150

To retrieve the Width of a Columnheader using the message LVM_GETCOLUMNWIDTH, you provide the index of the column (starting with 0) as the wParam. The lParam is unused and should be set to 0. For example, the following statement returns the width of the second column (index 1) of ListView1:

    Dim LVWidth as Long
    LVWidth = SendMessage (ListView1.hWnd, LVM_GETCOLUMNWIDTH, 1, 0)

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug has been fixed in Visual Basic 6.0.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Start a new project. Form1 is created by default.
Click Components on the Project menu and check "Microsoft Windows Common Controls 5.0."
Add a ListView control and two CommandButtons to Form1.
Change the Caption property of Command1 to "Save Width" and the Caption property of Command2 to "Restore Width."

Add the following code to Form1:

      Dim iWidth1 As Long
      Dim iWidth2 As Long

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
         'Save the current column widths
         iWidth1 = ListView1.ColumnHeaders(1).Width
         iWidth2 = ListView1.ColumnHeaders(2).Width
      End Sub

      Private Sub Command2_Click()
         'Restore the column widths
         ListView1.ColumnHeaders(1).Width = iWidth1
         ListView1.ColumnHeaders(2).Width = iWidth2
      End Sub

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         'Add 2 column headers to ListView1 and specify an
         'initial width of 1000 for both
         With ListView1
            .View = lvwReport
            .ColumnHeaders.Add , , "Column 1", 1000
            .ColumnHeaders.Add , , "Column 2", 1000
         End With
      End Sub

Press the F5 key to run the project.
Using your cursor, resize the first column of the ListView control.
Click "Save Width" and then click "Restore Width," and note that the width of the first ColumnHeader is larger than the setting you specified.

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APPLIES TO

Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition

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kbbug kbfix kbgrpdsvb KB179988

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Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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