VB.NET ListBox Control

The ListBox control is used to display a list of items in Windows form. It allows the user to select one or more items from the ListBox Control. Furthermore, we can add or design the list box by using the properties and events window at runtime.

Let's create a ListBox control in the VB.NET Windows by using the following steps.

Step 1: Drag the ListBox control from the Toolbox and drop it to the Windows form, as shown below.

Step 2: Once the ListBox is added to the Form, we can set various properties of the Listbox by clicking on the ListBox control.

ListBox Properties

There are following properties of the ListBox control.

Properties Name	Description
AllowSelection	It takes a value that defines whether the list box allows the user to select the item from the list.
CanSelect	It obtains a value that determines whether the Listbox control can be selected.
ColumnWidth	It is used to get or set the width of the columns in a multicolumn Listbox.
Container	As the name defines, a container gets the IContainer that stores the component of ListBox control.
Controls	It is used to get the collection of controls contained within the control.
Created	It takes a value that determines whether the control is created or not.
Width	It is used to set the width of the ListBox control.
Visible	It takes a value that determines whether the ListBox control and all its child are displayed on the Windows Form.
SelectionMode	It is used to get or set the method that determines which items are selected in the ListBox.
MultiColumn	It allows multiple columns of the item to be displayed by setting the True value in the Listbox.

ListBox Methods

Method Name	Description
Add()	The Add() method is used to add items to an item collection.
Remove	It is used to remove an item from an item collection. However, we can remove items using the item name.
Clear	It is used to remove all items from the item collection at the same time.
Contains	It is used to check whether the particular item exists in the ListBox or not.
Show()	It is used to display the control to the user.
Sort()	As the name suggests, a Sort() method is used to arrange or sort the elements in the ListBox.
ResetText()	A ResetText() method is used to reset ListBox's text property and set the default value.
ResetBackColor()	It is used to reset the backColor property of the ListBox and set the default value.
OnNotifyMessage	It is used to notify the message of the ListBox to Windows.
GetSelected	The GetSelected method is used to validate whether the specified item is selected.

Furthermore, we can also refer to VB.NET Microsoft documentation to get a complete list of ListBox properties, and methods.

Let's create a program to select an item from the ListBox in the VB.NET form.

Listbx.vb

Public Class Listbx
    Private Sub Listbx_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        ' set the title of the Form.
        Me.Text = "JavaTpoint.com"
        ' Add the items into the ListBox
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Earth")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Mercury")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Mars")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Jupiter")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Venus")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Neptune")
        ListBox1.Items.Add("Uranus")
        ' Set the name of the Button1 and Button2
        Button1.Text = "Show"
        Button2.Text = "Exit"
        Label2.Text = "Select the solar system from the ListBox"
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim lt As String  ' define a local variable.
        lt = ListBox1.Text  'accept the data from the ListBox1
        MsgBox(" Selected Solar System is " & lt)  ' Display the selected item 
    End Sub
    Private Sub ListBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ListBox1.SelectedIndexChanged
        Label1.Text = ListBox1.SelectedItem.ToString()  'When a user clicks on an item, it displays the item name.
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        End 'End or exit an application
    End Sub
End Class

Output: