How can I programmatically select an item in a listbox?

.net-1.1, c#, compact-framework, listbox, listboxitem

Solution

I see you've already solved this, but why not do it the tried and tested way?

  lblSelectedPrinter.Text = AppSettings.ReadSettingsVal("beltprinter");
  listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedIndex = -1;
  if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(lblSelectedPrinter.Text)) {
    for (int index = 0; index < listBoxBeltPrinters.Items.Count; index++) {
      string item = listBoxBeltPrinters.Items[index].ToString();
      if (lblSelectedPrinter.Text == item) {
        listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedItem = index;
        break;
      }
    }
  }

This way, you know the `SelectedIndex` value is set to -1 as soon as the text changes, and if it is found in your `ListBox`, that item is selected.

Even better would be to write a handler when the Label control `lblSelectedPrinter` fires the `TextChanged` event.

lblSelectedPrinter.TextChanged += new EventHandler(SelectedPrinter_TextChanged);

Then, create that Event Handler like shown above:

private void SelectedPrinter_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedIndex = -1;
  if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(lblSelectedPrinter.Text)) {
    for (int index = 0; index < listBoxBeltPrinters.Items.Count; index++) {
      string item = listBoxBeltPrinters.Items[index].ToString();
      if (lblSelectedPrinter.Text == item) {
        listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedItem = index;
        break;
      }
    }
  }
}

You've already solved your problem, so this is just food for thought.

Problem

I have a listbox displaying items from an enum. I want to select/highlight the current value (read from a database) when the listbox displays/the form opens. This code, though: ``` lblSelectedPrinter.Text = AppSettings.ReadSettingsVal("beltprinter"); listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedItem = listBoxBeltPrinters.Items.IndexOf(lblSelectedPrinter.Text); ``` ...does not work. I saw an example using "GetItemAt" here (Programmatically selecting Items/Indexes in a ListBox) but my stripped down and archaic version of C# (.NET 1.1, C# 2) has no such critter. UPDATE I thought this would work: ``` string currentPrinter = AppSettings.ReadSettingsVal("beltprinter"); lblSelectedPrinter.Text = currentPrinter; int currentPrinterIndex = listBoxBeltPrinters.Items.IndexOf(currentPrinter); listBoxBeltPrinters.SelectedItem = currentPrinterIndex; ``` ...but it, also, does not (the current printer displays in the label, but the corresponding entry/value in the listbox is not selected).

Original source

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