Hi All

I've always shied away from what seems to be an obviouls feature of the
listview, but I could never figure out how to show the up or down sort
arrows on a column header in a VB6 listview.

I could do it easy in HTML, but it seems like a heavy subject.  Problem is
people always comment that they never know which column or which way a list
of info is sorted in my app!!  :0)

Is there an easy way to provide this feature in a listview for a newbie like
me? :0)

Thanks

Yes, download the LVHeaderSortIcons sample from here:

http://btmtz.mvps.org/listview/

Mojo presented the following explanation :
You know, you really shouldn't multipost.  This has been answered in
another newsgroup.

Show quote Hide quote Another way you may want to consider IF you're only supporting Windows XP
and later AND IF you're using the VB5 version of the ListView control is to
use flags that were added to the Common Controls Library beginning with XP.
These flags are HDF_SORTUP and HDF_SORTDOWN.  You specify them in an HDITEM
structure (assign one or the other to the fmt member of the structure) and
send the HDM_SETITEM message to the Header control. To get the hwnd of the
Header control, you have to send the ListView an LVM_GETHEADER message.

Here's some example code that I just threw together if you're interested
further in this method.  As mentioned, you have to use the VB5 version
ListView.  Additionally, you will need to use a manifest file because you
must use version 6 of Windows' Common Control DLL (which is also why you
must use the VB5 ListView since the VB6 ListView is not dynamically linked
to this DLL). This will work in the IDE *IF* you use a manifest file for
VB6. Here's the contents of the manifest file that I use:

---------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<assemblyIdentity
   version="1.0.0.0"
   processorArchitecture="X86"
   name="Microsoft.VB6.VisualStyles"
   type="win32"
/>
<description>Manifest for Visual Basic 6 IDE</description>
<dependency>
   <dependentAssembly>
     <assemblyIdentity
       type="win32"
       name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
       version="6.0.0.0"
       processorArchitecture="X86"
       publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
       language="*"
     />
   </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>
---------------------

Copy and paste into Notepad what's between the dashed lines.  Name the file
"vb6.exe.manifest" and put it in the same directory where vb6.exe is
located.

Here's the code (watch out for any possible word-wrapping):

-----BEGIN CODE
Option Explicit

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 Type DLLVERSIONINFO
    cbSize                                      As Long
    dwMajor                                     As Long
    dwMinor                                     As Long
    dwBuildNumber                               As Long
    dwPlatformID                                As Long
End Type

Private Declare Function LoadLibrary Lib "kernel32" Alias "LoadLibraryA"
(ByVal lpLibFileName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FreeLibrary Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hLibModule As
Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetProcAddress Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hModule As
Long, ByVal lpProcName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function DllGetVersion Lib "comctl32" (pdvi As
DLLVERSIONINFO) As Long
Private Declare Sub InitCommonControls Lib "comctl32" ()

Private Const LVM_FIRST                         As Long = &H1000
Private Const LVM_GETHEADER                     As Long = LVM_FIRST + 31

Private Type HDITEM
   mask         As Long
   cxy          As Long
'   pszText      As String
   pszText      As Long
   hbm          As Long
   cchTextMax   As Long
   fmt          As Long
   lParam       As Long
   iImage       As Long
   iOrder       As Long
End Type

Private Const HDM_FIRST                         As Long = &H1200
Private Const HDM_SETITEM                       As Long = HDM_FIRST + 4

Private Const HDI_FORMAT                        As Long = &H4

Private Const HDF_STRING                        As Long = &H4000
Private Const HDF_SORTUP                        As Long = &H400&
Private Const HDF_SORTDOWN                      As Long = &H200&

Private Sub Form_Initialize()

    InitCommonControls

End Sub

Private Sub ListView1_ColumnClick(ByVal ColumnHeader As
ComctlLib.ColumnHeader)

    Dim hd                  As HDITEM
    Dim lSortArrowFlag      As Long
    Dim hHeader             As Long
    Dim lAlignment          As Long
    Dim Index               As Long

    '(code for sorting column)
    With ListView1
        .SortKey = ColumnHeader.Index - 1
        If .SortOrder = lvwAscending Then
            .SortOrder = lvwDescending
            lSortArrowFlag = HDF_SORTDOWN
        Else
            .SortOrder = lvwAscending
            lSortArrowFlag = HDF_SORTUP
        End If
        .Sorted = True
    End With

    'Can only use sort arrow flags for common controls DLL version 6 or
later
    If GetCommonControlsDLLVersion >= 600 Then
        'Get a handle to the listview header control
        hHeader = SendMessage(ListView1.hwnd, LVM_GETHEADER, 0&, ByVal 0&)

        'The sort arrow is not automatically removed from column headers,
        'so we must do this; easiest (IMO) to just loop through all column
headers
        'but you could cache the previous column header's index if you
wanted.
        For Index = 1 To ListView1.ColumnHeaders.Count
            lAlignment = ColumnHeader.Alignment
            With hd
                .mask = HDI_FORMAT
                .pszText = StrPtr(ColumnHeader.Text)
                .fmt = HDF_STRING Or lAlignment
                'Modify the header; Need to subtract 1 for the column
header's index because the API is 0-based
                Call SendMessage(hHeader, HDM_SETITEM, Index - 1, hd)
            End With
        Next

        'Now add the appropriate sort arrow for the sorted column
        With hd
            .mask = HDI_FORMAT
            .pszText = StrPtr(ColumnHeader.Text)
            lAlignment = ColumnHeader.Alignment
            .fmt = HDF_STRING Or lSortArrowFlag Or lAlignment
            'Modify the header; Need to subtract 1 for the column header's
index because the API is 0-based
            Call SendMessage(hHeader, HDM_SETITEM, ColumnHeader.Index - 1,
hd)
        End With
    End If

End Sub

Private Function GetCommonControlsDLLVersion() As Long

    'Version 4.71 is shipped with IE 4.00
    'Version 4.72 is shipped with IE 4.01
    'Version 5.80 is shipped with IE 5.0
    'Version 5.81 is shipped with IE 5.01
    'Version 5.82 is shipped with Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2008
(returns this version if not using a manifest)
    'Version 6.00 is shipped with Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2008
(returns this version if using a manifest)

    Dim hModule                     As Long
    Dim lDllGetVersionAddress       As Long
    Dim dvi                         As DLLVERSIONINFO
    Dim lRet                        As Long
    Dim lMajor                      As Long
    Dim lMinor                      As Long

    hModule = LoadLibrary("comctl32.dll")

    If hModule Then
        'See if the DllGetVersion function is exported by commctrl.dll
        lDllGetVersionAddress = GetProcAddress(hModule, "DllGetVersion")
        If lDllGetVersionAddress = 0 Then
            'The function is not exported which means the version
            'of comctl32.dll is 4.0 or 4.70....assume the lesser
            lMajor = 4
            lMinor = 0
        Else
            'It is, so let's get the version of it
            With dvi
                .cbSize = Len(dvi)
                lRet = DllGetVersion(dvi)
                If lRet = 0 Then
                    lMajor = .dwMajor
                    lMinor = .dwMinor
                End If
            End With
        End If

        'Make sure we free the library
        FreeLibrary hModule

    End If

    GetCommonControlsDLLVersion = CLng(Format$(lMajor, "00") &
Format$(lMinor, "00"))

End Function
-----END CODE


If your Listview isn't named ListView1, be sure to change the code.

Hi

You've had an answer which to be honest looks a bit complex.
As long as you are already using a manifest and the Common Controls 5.0(SP2)
then you might find it easier to just mark the sort column by making it a
bit darker like in Windows Exporer. If a user knows which is the sort column
then unless they have a single digit IQ they should be able to work out
what's sorted and in which direction.

Private Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Private Const LVM_SETSELECTEDCOLUMN        As Long = LVM_FIRST + 140

Private Declare Function SendMessageLong Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA"
(ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal Msg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam
As Long) As Long

Public Sub SetHiColumn(LVHwnd As Long, ColumnID As Long)
Call SendMessageLong(LVHwnd, LVM_SETSELECTEDCOLUMN, ColumnID, 0)
End Sub

Just send it the ListView handle and the index of the column to highlight
and away you go. As the listview only seems to support one column being
highlit at any time, setting one column will clear any existing dark column.
(I can't remember off the top of my head if ColumnID should be 0 based or 1
based - I'll let you work that one out)

Regards
DaveO.

Enhanced ListView
http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=4034&lngWId=1

A module with 24 functions for enhancing the ListView. Resize columns based
on Column Caption, Contents, or ListView Size. FullRow Select, GridLines,
CheckBoxes, Allow Repositioning of Columns, Track Selected, One-Click
Activate, Two-Click Activate, SubItem Images, Check All Items, UnCheck All
Items, Reverse Checked Items, Flat Column Headers, Enhanced Sort Columns

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