XL: Returning a Value from a List Box in Visual Basic

ID: Q124214

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, there is no direct property to return the value selected in a list box using Visual Basic, Applications Edition macro code. To do this, use the index number of the list based on the selection, and use a combination of the List property and the ListIndex property.

MORE INFORMATION

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The List property returns all the values in the list box as an array of strings. The ListIndex property returns an integer indicating the position of the selected item within the List array. By combining these two properties, you can retrieve the selected text value. The following code example demonstrates how to retrieve the selected text value from a list box on a dialog sheet.

Visual Basic Code Example

   Sub GetSelectedListText()

      ' Display the dialog box.
      DialogSheets(1).Show

      ' Set a variable named "SelectedText" to the selected
      ' value in the list box.
      With DialogSheets(1).ListBoxes(1)
         SelectedText = .List(.ListIndex)
      End With

      ' Display the selected value in a message box.
      MsgBox SelectedText

   End Sub

Note: Instead of the using the ListIndex property of List, you could use the Value property of List. The Value property for a listbox will return a number from 1 to the number of items in the list.

Additional query words: 5.00 5.00a 5.00c 7.00 7.00a

Keywords          : kbcode kbprg PgmOthr PgmHowto 
Version           : WINDOWS: 5.0,5.0c,7.0,7.0a; MACINTOSH: 5.0,5.0a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999