In some app like WinSpy/Spy++ to make adjustments to list controls. It can correctly set an app’s list control’s modes, alignments,
sorting, styles, and extended styles. It can also get the widths of the columns and count of items.

The problem is that you cannot seem to get the columns’ names or the item text. The app uses code like this, where lc is a pointer to the target app’s list control:

  lc->GetColumnWidth();
  lc->GetItemCount();
  lc->ModifyStyle();
  lc->SetExtendedStyle();
  lc->GetHeaderCtrl()->GetItemCount();

That all works fine, but when you try something like this, it doesn’t work:

  TCHAR colname[256]=_T("");
  LVCOLUMN lvcol;
  ZeroMemory(&lvcol, sizeof(lvcol));
  lvcol.mask=LVCF_TEXT;
  lvcol.cchTextMax=sizeof(colname)-1;
  lvcol.pszText=colname;
  lc->GetColumn(col, &lvcol);

GetColumn may return TRUE or FALSE, but the LVCOLUMN structure remains unchanged. If you tried using that same code in a test app to get the name of a column from that app’s own list control and it worked. It only seems to fail when use it from a different app.

Solution:

Well, there is no surprise here; in fact, if there is any surprise, it is that you did not manage to totally crash the target app (I presume that lc is a CListCtrl::FromHandle of an HWND in another process).

Think about this case:

you are passing the address of a data structure in YOUR process as a LPARAM-sized value to some totally different process, where that LPARAM value is completely and utterly meaningless.

David Ching did a remote-sendmessage DLL some time ago.  This essentially does DLL injection of the code so it is running in the target process; you can google for this by looking for SendMessageRemote.

http://www.dcsoft.com/private/sendmessageremote.cpp

It’s the WM_NC class messages. For example, you can handle the WM_NCLBUTTONDBLCLK message.

And you can alse reponsible the  WM_SYSCOMMAND messages.  In particular, the special cases of SC_MINIMIZE and SC_MAXIMIZE are what are called from the system menu, which is what is available from the taskbar.

8. Get Item Infomation

TCHAR szBuf[1024];
LVITEM lvi;
lvi.iItem = nItemIndex;
lvi.iSubItem = 0;
lvi.mask = LVIF_TEXT;
lvi.pszText = szBuf;
lvi.cchTextMax = 1024;
m_list.GetItem(&lvi);

More infomation: Q173242: Use Masks to Set/Get Item States in CListCtrl

9. Get the header titile of CListCtrl

LVCOLUMN lvcol;
char  str[256];
int   nColNum;
CString  strColumnName[MAX_COL];
nColNum = 0;
lvcol.mask = LVCF_TEXT;
lvcol.pszText = str;
lvcol.cchTextMax = 256;
while(m_list.GetColumn(nColNum, &lvcol))
{
    strColumnName[nColNum] = lvcol.pszText;
    nColNum++;
}

10. Scoll the scollbar to ensure item visible

m_list.EnsureVisible(i, FALSE);

11. Get the column count of CListCtrl

int nHeadNum = m_list.GetHeaderCtrl()->GetItemCount();

12. Delete all the columns

Method 1:

while ( m_list.DeleteColumn (0));

Once you delete the first column, the next columns will move above.

Method 2:

for (int i=nColumns-1; i>=0; i–)

          m_list.DeleteColumn (i);

13. Get the row and column index of the clicked item

Method 1:

void CTestDlg::OnClickList1(NMHDR* pNMHDR, LRESULT* pResult)
{
   DWORD dwPos = GetMessagePos();
   CPoint point( LOWORD(dwPos), HIWORD(dwPos) );
   m_list.ScreenToClient(&point);
   LVHITTESTINFO lvinfo;
   lvinfo.pt = point;
   lvinfo.flags = LVHT_ABOVE;
   int nItem = m_list.SubItemHitTest(&lvinfo);
   if(nItem != -1)
   {
        CString strtemp;
        strtemp.Format(“You clicked row %d column %d”, lvinfo.iItem, lvinfo.iSubItem);
        AfxMessageBox(strtemp);
   }
}

Method 2:

void CTestDlg::OnClickList1(NMHDR* pNMHDR, LRESULT* pResult)
{
   NM_LISTVIEW* pNMListView = (NM_LISTVIEW*)pNMHDR;
   if(pNMListView->iItem != -1)
   {
        CString strtemp;
        strtemp.Format(“You clicked row %d column %d”,
                        pNMListView->iItem, pNMListView->iSubItem);
        AfxMessageBox(strtemp);
   }
}

14. Check if you clicked on the checkbox

void CTestDlg::OnClickList1(NMHDR* pNMHDR, LRESULT* pResult)
{
   DWORD dwPos = GetMessagePos();
   CPoint point( LOWORD(dwPos), HIWORD(dwPos) );
   m_list.ScreenToClient(&point);
   LVHITTESTINFO lvinfo;
   lvinfo.pt = point;
   lvinfo.flags = LVHT_ABOVE;
   UINT nFlag;
   int nItem = m_list.HitTest(point, &nFlag);
   if(nFlag == LVHT_ONITEMSTATEICON)
   {
        AfxMessageBox(“clicked on the checkbox”);
   }
   *pResult = 0;
}

15. pop up menu when right mouse button clicked

void CTestDlg::OnRclickList1(NMHDR* pNMHDR, LRESULT* pResult)
{
    NM_LISTVIEW* pNMListView = (NM_LISTVIEW*)pNMHDR;
    if(pNMListView->iItem != -1)
    {
        DWORD dwPos = GetMessagePos();
        CPoint point( LOWORD(dwPos), HIWORD(dwPos) );
        CMenu menu;
        VERIFY( menu.LoadMenu( IDR_MENU1 ) );
        CMenu* popup = menu.GetSubMenu(0);
        ASSERT( popup != NULL );
        popup->TrackPopupMenu(TPM_LEFTALIGN | TPM_RIGHTBUTTON, point.x, point.y, this );
    }
    *pResult = 0;
}

1. CListCtrl style

       LVS_ICON: for each item displayed great icon

       LVS_SMALLICON: for each item displayed on the icon

       LVS_LIST: a show with a small icon on the item

       LVS_REPORT: Show item details

       You can inspect the Windows Explorer, just like “View” tab with “icon, small icon, list details”

2. CListctrl style and expand style

LONG lStyle;
lStyle = GetWindowLong (m_list.m_hWnd, GWL_STYLE); // Get the current window style
lStyle &= ~ LVS_TYPEMASK; // Clear display
lStyle |= LVS_REPORT; // set style
SetWindowLong (m_list.m_hWnd, GWL_STYLE, lStyle); // set style
DWORD dwStyle = m_list.GetExtendedStyle ();
dwStyle |= LVS_EX_FULLROWSELECT; // highlight the selected full row
dwStyle |= LVS_EX_GRIDLINES; // grid lines (with the style of the report)
dwStyle |= LVS_EX_CHECKBOXES; // checkbox controls
m_list.SetExtendedStyle (dwStyle); // set expand style

Note: Please check MSDN for style details.

3. Insert data

m_list.InsertColumn (0, “ID”, LVCFMT_LEFT, 40); // insert column
m_list.InsertColumn (1, “NAME”, LVCFMT_LEFT, 50);
int nRow = m_list.InsertItem (0, “11 “);// Row
m_list.SetItemText (nRow, 1, “jacky “);// set of data

4. Always selected item
Check the style of Show selection always, or in the section 2  above set LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS style.

5. Check and uncheck a row

int nIndex = 0;
// Check
m_list.SetItemState (nIndex, LVIS_SELECTED | LVIS_FOCUSED, LVIS_SELECTED | LVIS_FOCUSED);
// Uncheck
m_list.SetItemState (nIndex, 0, LVIS_SELECTED | LVIS_FOCUSED);

6. Get the checkbox status of all the rows

m_list.SetExtendedStyle(LVS_EX_CHECKBOXES);
CString str;
for(int i=0; i<nRowCount;i++)
{
   if( m_list.GetItemState(i, LVIS_SELECTED) == LVIS_SELECTED || m_list.GetCheck(i))
   {
        str.Format(_T(“checkbox checked in row %d”), i);
        AfxMessageBox(str);
   }
}

7. Get the selected row index

Method 1:

CString str;
for(int i=0; i<nRowCount;i++)
{
    if( m_list.GetItemState(i, LVIS_SELECTED) == LVIS_SELECTED )
    {
        str.Format(_T(“ROW %d selected.”), i);
        AfxMessageBox(str);
    }
}

Method 2:

POSITION pos = m_list.GetFirstSelectedItemPosition();
if (pos == NULL)
TRACE0(“No items were selected!\n”);
else
{
    while (pos)
    {
        int nItem = m_list.GetNextSelectedItem(pos);
        TRACE1(“Item %d was selected!\n”, nItem);
        // you could do your own processing on nItem here
    }
}

The simplest way to change the row height in a CListCtrl is:

Display an icon with the desired height.

All other ways that I know of require significant programming (such as owner draw, which is often too much work).

There is no real difference between CTreeCtrl and CTreeView. You need to use an owner draw tree control.

Takeover the NM_CUSTOMDRAW message, and it will allow you to change the font, brush, etc. of each individual item. You don’t need to do any owner draw if you use customdraw.

The following articles wil save you plenty of work.

• http://www.codeproject.com/treectrl/#Custom+Tree+Controls
• http://www.codeproject.com/treectrl/colortreectrl.asp

How to use a derived CTreeCtrl in a CTreeView?

It is similar with this article: “How to use an derived CListCtrl in CListView” or “How do I subclass the CListCtrl part of a CListView Class?“.

Just like CListView, there is no CTreeCtrl to subclass in CTreeView. The CTreeView is the subclass of the WC_TREEVIEW common control. If you need some extra feature in the CTreeView, the best way is like the method mentioned in the previous two articles:

Forget CTreeView and derive your own view CMyView from CView, and bond your CMyTreeCtrl in the view. Now you got the full control of the tree.

These two articles may be helpful to you: 

• http://www.codeguru.com/doc_view/custom_view.shtml
• http://www.codeguru.com/doc_view/Control2View.shtml

How to use an derived CListCtrl in CListView

First, when you add items, you need to call SetItemData to attach an data structure(an integer or a pointer) to the item.

Then, define a callback sort function.

int CALLBACK SortFunc(LPARAM lParam1, LPARAM lParam2, LPARAM lParamSort);

And here, the prarameters lParam1 and lParam2 are the data structure you set in SetItemData. With the parameters, you can get the item content and calculate the sort order. Please notice, the parameters are NOT the item index.

Last, you can reponse the message HDN_ITEMCLICK or LVN_COLUMNCLICK, and call CListCtrl::SortItems with the callback function.

The examples from the CListCtrl::SortItems in MSDN is obsolescent, you’d better refer to the KB article:

250614 HOWTO: Sort Items in a CListCtrl in Report View

1. Utility – > MBCS
2. Calculations -> MBCS
3. User Interface -> Unicode  ( Earlier It used to be MBCS)

WhenChanged the  Character set encoding for User Interface and compiled the code, you will get hte Errors for the Char type that corrected all of then and made them Wide characters.

When  the project gets compiled but it gives Linker errors. Can you please let me know Do I need to convert all the Projects to use Unicode character set ?

Replies:

FIRST, you can mix Unicode and MBCS modules, if you keep the interface between them *clear*.

e.g. if you just specify CString in the interface between module, this is *not* clear and unambigous; in fact, CString is "ambigous", because it can be considered CStringA (MBCS) or CStringW (Unicode) basing on build options.

This is the same with e.g. LPCTSTR, or TCHAR.

You can’t use LPCTSTR or TCHAR or CString at the *interface* between modules that are ANSI (MBCS) on one side and Unicode on the other side.

So, on the interface, you must explicit qualify the string type, e.g. using CStringA or CStringW, or wchar_t, or char, etc. …

For example, suppose that you have in Utility (ANSI) a function that you want to use in UserInterface module (Unicode). You must use an explicit unambigous prototype like so for Utility function:

  void Utility_ProcessString( const char * string );

  // or:
  // void Utility_ProcessString( const CStringA & string );

Of course, in UserInterface you can convert a Unicode string to MBCS and pass the converted string (const char*) to Utility_ProcessString.

BUT, Converting the interface is usually a much bigger job than converting the complete project to UNICODE. You should have a very very good reason to mix MBCS and UNICODE in the same project. I can not think of one.

But mixing UTF-8 and UTF-16 can be a valid strategy, and involves much the same issues. Unicode UTF-8 is good for storage (e.g. in XML files, or when sending string data through Internet), while UTF-16 is good for processing and use inside an app (being also Windows "native" Unicode format).