Миф excel with listbox

Элемент управления пользовательской формы ListBox для выбора и ввода информации в VBA Excel. Свойства списка, его заполнение, извлечение данных, примеры кода.

UserForm.ListBox – это элемент управления пользовательской формы, предназначенный для передачи в код VBA информации, выбранной пользователем из одностолбцового или многостолбцового списка.

Список используется в тех случаях, когда необходимо добавить в форму информацию, которая заранее известна, а ее отдельные позиции можно сгруппировать в список. Элемент управления ListBox оправдывает себя при небольших списках, так как большой список будет занимать много места на форме.

Использование полос прокрутки уменьшает преимущество ListBox перед элементом управления ComboBox, которое заключается в том, что при открытии формы все позиции для выбора на виду без дополнительных действий со стороны пользователя. При выборе информации из большого списка удобнее использовать ComboBox.

Элемент управления ListBox позволяет выбрать несколько позиций из списка, но эта возможность не имеет практического смысла. Ввести информацию в ListBox с помощью клавиатуры или вставить из буфера обмена невозможно.

Свойства списка

Свойство	Описание
ColumnCount	Указывает количество столбцов в списке. Значение по умолчанию = 1.
ColumnHeads	Добавляет строку заголовков в ListBox. True – заголовки столбцов включены, False – заголовки столбцов выключены. Значение по умолчанию = False.
ColumnWidths	Ширина столбцов. Значения для нескольких столбцов указываются в одну строку через точку с запятой (;).
ControlSource	Ссылка на ячейку для ее привязки к элементу управления ListBox.
ControlTipText	Текст всплывающей подсказки при наведении курсора на ListBox.
Enabled	Возможность выбора элементов списка. True – выбор включен, False – выключен*. Значение по умолчанию = True.
Font	Шрифт, начертание и размер текста в списке.
Height	Высота элемента управления ListBox.
Left	Расстояние от левого края внутренней границы пользовательской формы до левого края элемента управления ListBox.
List	Позволяет заполнить список данными из одномерного или двухмерного массива, а также обращаться к отдельным элементам списка по индексам для записи и чтения.
ListIndex	Номер выбранной пользователем строки. Нумерация начинается с нуля. Если ничего не выбрано, ListIndex = -1.
Locked	Запрет возможности выбора элементов списка. True – выбор запрещен**, False – выбор разрешен. Значение по умолчанию = False.
MultiSelect***	Определяет возможность однострочного или многострочного выбора. 0 (fmMultiSelectSingle) – однострочный выбор, 1 (fmMultiSelectMulti) и 2 (fmMultiSelectExtended) – многострочный выбор.
RowSource	Источник строк для элемента управления ListBox (адрес диапазона на рабочем листе Excel).
TabIndex	Целое число, определяющее позицию элемента управления в очереди на получение фокуса при табуляции. Отсчет начинается с 0.
Text	Текстовое содержимое выбранной строки списка (из первого столбца при ColumnCount > 1). Тип данных String, значение по умолчанию = пустая строка.
TextAlign	Выравнивание текста: 1 (fmTextAlignLeft) – по левому краю, 2 (fmTextAlignCenter) – по центру, 3 (fmTextAlignRight) – по правому краю.
Top	Расстояние от верхнего края внутренней границы пользовательской формы до верхнего края элемента управления ListBox.
Value	Значение выбранной строки списка (из первого столбца при ColumnCount > 1). Value – свойство списка по умолчанию. Тип данных Variant, значение по умолчанию = Null.
Visible	Видимость списка. True – ListBox отображается на пользовательской форме, False – ListBox скрыт.
Width	Ширина элемента управления.

* При Enabled в значении False возможен только вывод информации в список для просмотра.
** Для элемента управления ListBox действие свойства Locked в значении True аналогично действию свойства Enabled в значении False.
*** Если включен многострочный выбор, свойства Text и Value всегда возвращают значения по умолчанию (пустая строка и Null).

В таблице перечислены только основные, часто используемые свойства списка. Еще больше доступных свойств отображено в окне Properties элемента управления ListBox, а все методы, события и свойства – в окне Object Browser.

Вызывается Object Browser нажатием клавиши «F2». Слева выберите объект ListBox, а справа смотрите его методы, события и свойства.

Свойства BackColor, BorderColor, BorderStyle отвечают за внешнее оформление списка и его границ. Попробуйте выбирать доступные значения этих свойств в окне Properties, наблюдая за изменениями внешнего вида элемента управления ListBox на проекте пользовательской формы.

Способы заполнения ListBox

Используйте метод AddItem для загрузки элементов в список по одному:

With UserForm1.ListBox1   .AddItem «Значение 1»   .AddItem «Значение 2»   .AddItem «Значение 3» End With

Используйте свойство List, чтобы скопировать одномерный массив значений в элемент управления ListBox.

UserForm1.ListBox1.List = Array(«Текст 1», _ «Текст 2», «Текст 3», «Текст 4», «Текст 5»)

Вместо функции Array можно использовать переменные одномерных и двухмерных массивов. При загрузке значений из двухмерного массива, требуется предварительно указать количество столбцов в списке.

Используйте свойство RowSource, чтобы загрузить в список значения из диапазона ячеек рабочего листа:

UserForm1.ListBox1.RowSource = «Лист1!A1:A6»

При загрузке данных из диапазона, содержащего более одного столбца, требуется предварительно указать количество столбцов в списке:

With UserForm1.ListBox1   ‘Указываем количество столбцов   .ColumnCount = 5   .RowSource = «‘Лист со списком’!A1:E10» End With

В качестве имени листа используется имя ярлыка. Если имя листа содержит пробелы, оно заключается в одинарные кавычки.

Подробнее о заполнении элемента управления ListBox вы можете ознакомиться в отдельной статье с наглядными примерами.

Привязка списка к ячейке

Для привязки списка к ячейке на рабочем листе используется свойство ControlSource. Суть привязки заключается в том, что при выборе строки в элементе управления, значение свойства Value копируется в привязанную ячейку.

Если привязанная к списку ячейка содержит значение одной из строк элемента управления ListBox, то при запуске пользовательской формы список откроется с выделенной строкой, содержащей это значение. Если привязанная ячейка при загрузке формы пустая, то список откроется без выделения какой-либо строки.

В случае, когда при открытии формы в привязанной к списку ячейке содержится значение, которого нет ни в одной из строк элемента управления ListBox, будет сгенерирована ошибка.

Привязать ячейку к списку можно, указав адрес ячейки в поле свойства ControlSource в окне Properties элемента управления ListBox. Или присвоить адрес ячейки свойству ControlSource в коде VBA Excel:

UserForm1.ListBox1.ControlSource = «Лист1!A2»

Теперь значение выбранной строки в списке автоматически копируется в ячейку «A2» на листе «Лист1»:

В окне Properties адрес указывается без двойных кавычек. Если имя листа содержит пробелы, оно заключается в одинарные кавычки.

Извлечение информации из списка

Первоначально элемент управления ListBox открывается со строками, ни одна из которых не выбрана. При выборе (выделении) строки, ее значение записывается в свойства Value и Text.

Из этих свойств мы с помощью кода VBA Excel извлекаем информацию, выбранную в списке пользователем:

Dim myVar as Variant, myTxt As String myVar = UserForm1.ListBox1.Value ‘или myTxt = UserForm1.ListBox1.Text

Вторую строку кода можно записать myVar = UserForm1.ListBox1, так как Value является свойством списка по умолчанию.

Если ни одна позиция в списке не выбрана, свойство Value возвращает значение Null, а свойство Text – пустую строку. Если выбрана строка в многостолбцовом списке, в свойства Value и Text будет записана информация из первого столбца.

Что делать, если понадобятся данные из других столбцов многостолбцового списка, кроме первого?

Для получения данных из любого столбца элемента управления ListBox используется свойство List, а для определения выбранной пользователем строки – ListIndex.

Для тестирования приведенного ниже кода скопируйте таблицу и вставьте ее в диапазон «A1:D4» на листе с ярлыком «Лист1»:

Звери	Лев	Тапир	Вивера
Птицы	Грач	Сорока	Филин
Рыбы	Карась	Налим	Парусник
Насекомые	Оса	Жук	Муравей

Создайте в редакторе VBA Excel пользовательскую форму и добавьте на нее список с именем ListBox1. Откройте модуль формы и вставьте в него следующие процедуры:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize() With Me.ListBox1   ‘Указываем, что у нас 4 столбца   .ColumnCount = 4   ‘Задаем размеры столбцов   .ColumnWidths = «50;50;50;50»   ‘Импортируем данные   .RowSource = «Лист1!A1:D4»   ‘Привязываем список к ячейке «F1»   .ControlSource = «F1» End With End Sub Private Sub UserForm_Click() MsgBox Me.ListBox1.List(Me.ListBox1.ListIndex, 2) End Sub

В процедуре UserForm_Initialize() присваиваем значения некоторым свойствам элемента управления ListBox1 перед открытием пользовательской формы. Процедура UserForm_Click() при однократном клике по форме выводит в MsgBox значение из третьего столбца выделенной пользователем строки.

Теперь при выборе строки в списке, значение свойства Value будет записываться в ячейку «F1», а при клике по форме функция MsgBox выведет значение третьего столбца выделенной строки.

Обратите внимание, что при первом запуске формы, когда ячейка «F1» пуста и ни одна строка в ListBox не выбрана, клик по форме приведет к ошибке. Это произойдет из-за того, что свойство ListIndex возвратит значение -1, а это недопустимый номер строки для свойства List.

Если для списка разрешен многострочный выбор (MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectMulti или MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectExtended), тогда, независимо от количества выбранных строк, свойство Value будет возвращать значение Null, а свойство Text – пустую строку. Свойство ListIndex будет возвращать номер строки, которую кликнули последней, независимо от того, что это было – выбор или отмена выбора.

Иногда перед загрузкой в ListBox требуется отобрать уникальные элементы из имеющегося списка. Смотрите, как это сделать с помощью объектов Collection и Dictionary.

The VBA ListBox is a very useful control. If you are creating any kind of UserForm application you will most likely use it.

In this post, I’m going to show you everything you need to know about the VBA ListBox so you can avoid the common pitfalls and get up and running quickly and easily.

What is the VBA ListBox used for?

The ListBox is used to display a list of items to the user so that the user can then select one or more. The ListBox can have multiple columns and so it is useful for tasks like displaying records.

VBA ListBox versus the VBA ComboBox

The ListBox is very similar to the ComboBox which also allows the user to select an item from a list of items. The main differences are:

1. The Listbox allows multiple selections. The Combobox only allows one selection.
2. Items in the ListBox are always visible. The Combobox items are only visible when you click on the “down” icon.
3. The ComboBox has the ability to filter the contents when you type.

The VBA ListBox Properties Quick Guide

Function	Operation	Example
AddItem	Add an item	listbox.AddItem «Spain»
Clear	Remove all Items	listbox.Clear
ColumnCount	Set the number of visible columns	ComboBox1.ColumnCount = 2
ColumnHeads	Make the column row visible	ComboBox1.ColumnHeads = True
List	Range to Listbox ListBox to Range	Listbox.List = Range(«A1:A4»).Value Range(«A1:A4»).Value = Listbox.List
List	Update a column value	Listbox.List(1,2) = «New value»
ListCount	Get the number of items	cnt = listbox.ListCount
ListIndex	Get/set selected item	Idx = listbox.ListIndex combo.ListIndex = 0
RemoveItem	Remove an item	listbox.Remove 1
RowSource	Add a range of values from a worksheet	ComboBox1.RowSource = Sheet1.Range(«A2:B3»).Address
Value	Get the value of selected Item	Dim sCountry As String sCountry = listbox.Value

How to Add Items to the ListBox

There are 3 ways to add items to the VBA Listbox:

1. One at a time using the AddItem property.
2. Adding an array/range using the List property.
3. Adding a Range using the RowSource property.

The List and RowSource properties are the most commonly used. The table below provides a quick comparison of these properties:

Task	RowSource	List
Column Headers	Yes	No
Update values in ListBox	No	Yes
Add new items	No	Yes
Data type	Range	Array(including Range.Value)
If source data changes	Listbox is automatically updated.	ListBox is not updated.

VBA ListBox List Property

The List property allows you to add to contents of an array to a ListBox. As Range.Value is an array you can copy the contents of any range to the Listbox.

Here are some examples of using the List property:

' Add the contents of an array
ListBox1.List = Array("Apple", "Orange", "Banana")

' Add the contents of a Range
ListBox1.List = Range("A1:E5").Value

You can also use the List property to write from the ListBox to an array or range:

Range("A1:B3").Value = ListBox1.List

Important Note: If there is only one item in a range then VBA doesn’t covert it to an array. Instead, it converts the range to a string/double/date etc.

Sheet1.Range("A1:A2").Value ' Array
Sheet1.Range("A1").Value ' Single value variable

In this case, you need to use AddItem to add the value to the ListBox:

 If myRange.Count = 1 Then
    ListBox1.AddItem myRange
 Else
    ListBox1.List = myRange.Value
 End If

The List Property and Column Headers

The ListBox only displays column headers if you use RowSource. Otherwise, they are not available. The best way to add column headers(and it’s not a great way) is to add Labels above the ListBox columns. One advantage is that you can use the click event of the Label if you want to implement something like sorting.

Updating Items using the List Property

You can update individual items in the ListBox using the List Property.

Imagine we have a ListBox with data like this:

If we want to change Nelson in row 3, column 2 we do it like this:

ListBox1.List(2, 1) = "SMITH"

The result we get is:

The List property rows and columns are zero-based so this means row 1 is 0, row 2 is 1, row 3 is 2 and so on:

VBA ListBox RowSource

The RowSource property allows us to add a range to the ListBox. This is different from the List Property in that the Range is linked to the ListBox. If data in the Range changes then the data in the ListBox will update automatically.

When we use RowSource the data in the ListBox is read-only. We can change the RowSource range but we cannot change the values in the ListBox.

How to use RowSource

We add the RowSource range as a string like this:

 ListBox1.RowSource = "Sheet1!A1:A5"

If you don’t specify the sheet the VBA will use the active sheet

 ListBox1.RowSource = "A1:A5"

If you are using the Address of a range object with RowSource then it is important to use the External parameter. This will ensure that RowSource will read from the  sheet of the range rather than the active sheet:

 ' Get the range
 Dim rg As Range
 Set rg = Sheet1.Range("A1:A5")

 ' Address will be $A$1:$A$5 which will use the active sheet
 ListBox1.RowSource = rg.Address
 Debug.Print ListBox1.RowSource

 ' Address will be [Book2]Sheet1!$A$1:$A$5 which will use Sheet1
 ListBox1.RowSource = rg.Address(External:=True)
 Debug.Print ListBox1.RowSource

RowSource Column Headers

Column headers are automatically added to the ListBox when you use the RowSource property. The ColumnHeads property must be set to True or the headers will not appear. You can set this property in the code or in the properties window of the ListBox.

  ListBox1.ColumnHeads = True

The column headers are taken from the row above the range used for the RowSource.  For example, if your range is A2 to C5 then the column header will use the range A1 to C1:

Here is an example: We want to add the data below to our ListBox and we want A1 to C1 to be the header.

We set the RowSource property to A2:C5 and set the ColumnHeads property to true:

With ListBox1
    .RowSource = "sheet1!A2:C5"
    .ColumnHeads = True
    .ColumnWidths = "80;80;80"
End With

The result will look like this:

VBA ListBox AddItem

It is very rare that you would use the AddItem property to fill the ListBox. List and RowSource are much more efficient. AddItem is normally used when the Listbox already has items and you want to add a new item.

The AddItem property is simple to use. You provide the item you want to add as a parameter. The ListBox will automatically add it as the last item:

With ListBox
    .AddItem "Apple"
    .AddItem "Orange"
End With

If you want to Insert the item at a certain position you can use the second parameter. Keep in mind that this is a zero-based position, so if you want the item in position one then the value is 0, position 2 the value is 1, and so on.

With ListBox1
    .AddItem "Apple"
    .AddItem "Orange"
    
    ' Add "Banana" to position 1(Index 0)
    .AddItem "Banana", 0
End With

The order will be:
Banana
Apple
Orange

If you want to add multiple columns with AddItem then you need to use the List property after you use AddItem:

 With listboxFruit
    .List = myRange.Value
    .AddItem "Banana"
    
    ' Add to the second column of 'Banana' row
    .List(2, 1) = "$2.99"
 End With

One reason for using AddItem  is if you are adding from data that isn’t sequential so you cannot use the List or RowSource properties:

 Dim cell As Range
 ' Fill items with first letter is A
 For Each cell In Sheet1.Range("A1:A50")
    If Left(cell.Value, 1) = "A" Then
        comboBoxFruit.AddItem cell.Value
    End If
 Next

Important Note: If you fill a ListBox with RowSource then you cannot use AddItem to add a new item. If you try you will get a “Runtime Error 70 – Permission Denied”.

VBA ListBox Selected Items

If only one item is selected then you can use ListIndex to get the selected row. Remember that it is zero-based so row 1 in the ListBox is at ListIndex 0, row 2 at ListIndex 1 and so on.

   MsgBox "The selected item is " & ListBox1.ListIndex

If the ListBox has multiple columns then you can use the ListIndex and List properties together to return a value in the selected row:

  ' Display the value from the second column of the selected row
  MsgBox ListBox1.List(ListBox1.ListIndex, 2)

If multiple items are selected then you can use the GetSelectedRows function which returns a collection of selected rows:

 Sub Example()
    
    ' Store the row numbers of selected items to a collection
    Dim selectedRows As Collection
    Set selectedRows = GetSelectedRows()
    
    ' Print the selected rows numbers to the Immediate Window
    Dim row As Long
    For Each row In selectedRows
        ' Print to the Immediate Window Ctrl + G
        Debug.Print row
    Next row

 End Sub

 ' Returns a collection of all the selected items
 Function GetSelectedRows() As Collection

    ' Create the collection
    Dim coll As New Collection

    ' Read through each item in the listbox
    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To listboxFruit.ListCount - 1
    
        ' Check if item at position i is selected
        If listboxFruit.Selected(i) Then
            coll.Add i
        End If
    Next i

    Set GetSelectedRows = coll

End Function

Reading Data from the VBA Listbox

To read data from the ListBox we can use the ListBox.Value property. This only works when the ListBox is set to only select one item i.e. MultiSelect is set to frmMultiSelectSingle(see the section VBA ListBox MultiSelect below for more about this).

Single selection only  with one column

When only one item is selected we can use the Value property to get the currently selected item:

 Dim fruit As String
 fruit = ListBox1.Value

Keep in mind that if there are multiple columns, Value will only return the value in the first column.

Single selection only with multiple columns

If the ListBox has Multiple columns you can use the Value property to get the value in the first column. You need to read through the List property to get the values in the other column(s). The List property is essentially an array so you can treat it like one.

In the example below we read through the columns of row 1(the index of row 1 is 0):

 With ListBox1
 
     For j = LBound(.List, 2) To UBound(.List, 2)
         ' Print the columns of the first row to the Immediate Window
         Debug.Print .List(0, j)
     Next j
     
 End With

Normally you want to print the values in the selected row. You can use the ListIndex property to get the selected item(Note that ListIndex returns the last selected items so it won’t work where there are multiple items selected):

 ' ExcelMacroMastery.com
 Sub ReadValuesFromSelectedRow()

    ' Write contents of the row to the Immediate Window(Ctrl G)
    With ListBox1 
        For j = LBound(.List, 2) To UBound(.List, 2) 
            ' Print the columns of the selected row to the Immediate Window 
            Debug.Print .List(.ListIndex, j) Next j 
    End With
 End Sub
 

Multiple selections

If the ListBox has multiple selections and you want to get all the data from each then you can use the GetSelectedRows() sub from the section VBA ListBox Selected Items. This will get a collection of all selected rows. You can use this to print the data from the selected rows:

Sub PrintMultiSelectedRows()

    ' Get all the selected rows
    Dim selectedRows As Collection
    Set selectedRows = GetSelectedRows(Me.ListBox1)

    Dim i As Long, j As Long, currentRow As Long
    ' Read through the selected rows
    For i = 1 To selectedRows.Count
        With ListBox1
            
            ' Get the current row
            currentRow = selectedRows(i)
            
            ' Print row header
            Debug.Print vbNewLine & "Row : " & currentRow
            
            ' Read items in the current row
            For j = LBound(.List, 2) To UBound(ListBox1.List, 2)
                ' Print the columns of the first row to the Immediate Window
                Debug.Print .List(currentRow, j)
            Next j
        
        End With
    Next i
    
End Sub

Function GetSelectedRows(currentListbox As MSForms.ListBox) As Collection

    ' Create the collection
    Dim coll As New Collection

    ' Read through each item in the listbox
    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To currentListbox.ListCount - 1
    
        ' Check if item at position i is selected
        If currentListbox.Selected(i) Then
            coll.Add i
        End If
    Next i

    Set GetSelectedRows = coll

End Function

VBA ListBox MultiSelect

We can use the MultiSelect property of the ListBox to allow the user to select either a single item or multiple items:

There are 3 selections:

• 0 = frmMultiSelectSingle –  [Default]Multiple selection isn’t allowed.
• 1 = frmMultiSelectMulti – Multiple items are selected or deselected by choosing them with the mouse or by pressing the Spacebar.
• 2 = frmMultiSelectExtended – Multiple items are selected by holding down Shift and choosing them with the mouse, or by holding down Shift and pressing an arrow key to extend the selection from the previously selected item to the current item. You can also select items by dragging with the mouse. Holding down Ctrl and choosing an item selects or deselects that item.

VBA ListBox Columns

You can have multiple columns in a ListBox. For example, you can load a Range or two-dimensional array to a ListBox using List or RowSource.

Often when you load data with multiple columns only one column appears. This can be very confusing when you are using the Listbox. To get the columns to appear you have to set the ColumnCount property to the number of Columns.

You should also make sure that the ColumnWidths property is correct or one of the columns may not appear.

You can do it like this:

With listboxFruit
    .RowSource = "Sheet1!A2:B4"
    .ColumnCount = 2
    .ColumnWidths = "100,100"
End With

In a real-world application, you could set the RowSource and ColumnCount properties like this:

With listboxFruit
    .RowSource = myRange.Address(External:=True)
    .ColumnCount = myRange.Columns.Count
End With

See the AddItem section for how to add data to the other columns when you are using the AddItem property.

VBA ListBox Column Headers

Column Headers are another confusing element of the ListBox. If you use the RowSource property to add data to the ListBox then the line above the Range will be automatically used as the header.

For the Column headers to appear the ColumnHeads property must be set to true. You can do this in the properties window of the ListBox or in the code list this:

ListBox1.ColumnHeads = True

If you use the List or AddItem property to fill the ListBox then the column headers are not available. The best solution, albeit a frustrating one, is to use labels above the ListBox. I know it sounds crazy but that unfortunately is the reality. The one advantage is that you can use the Label click event which is useful if you plan to sort the data by a column.

Creating a ListBox Dynamically

Controls are normally created at design time but you can also create them dynamically at run time:

    Dim myListbox As MSForms.ListBox
    Set myListbox = Controls.Add("Forms.ListBox.1")

If you want to add an event to a dynamic control you can do it like this:

1. First of all create a Class like this:

   Public WithEvents myListBox As MSForms.ListBox
   
   Private Sub myListBox_Change()
     MsgBox "Selection changed"
   End Sub
   

2. Name the class clsListBoxEvents.  Create a variable of this class object in the UserForm like this:

   Private listBoxEvents As New clsListBoxEvents
   

3.   Attach the events to the ListBox:

   Sub CreateDynamicListBox()
   
       ' Create the ListBox
       Dim newListBox As MSForms.ListBox
       Set newListBox = Controls.Add("Forms.ListBox.1")
       
       ' Add some items
       newListBox.List = Array("Apple", "Orange", "Pear")
      
       ' Connect the ListBox to the ListBox events class
       Set listBoxEvents.myListBox = newListBox
   
   End Sub
   

Note that you can attach events to any ListBox. It doesn’t have to be created dynamically to do this.

Loop through ListBoxes

If you want to loop through all the ListBoxes on a UserForm you can do it like this:

 Dim ctrl As Variant
 For Each ctrl In Me.Controls
    If TypeName(ctrl) = "ListBox" Then
        Debug.Print ctrl.Name
    End If
 Next ctrl

YouTube Video

Check out this video where I use the ListBox. The source code for the video is available from here

 

What’s Next?

Free VBA Tutorial If you are new to VBA or you want to sharpen your existing VBA skills then why not try out this Free VBA Tutorial.

Related Training: Get full access to the Excel VBA training webinars and all the tutorials.

(NOTE: Planning to build or manage a VBA Application? Learn how to build 10 Excel VBA applications from scratch.)

The Excel VBA ListBox is a list control that allows you to select (or deselect) one or more items at time. This is compared to the VBA ComboBox which only allows you to select a single items from a drop down list. Let us explore how to create, clear and make a VBA ListBox let you select multiple items.

Create a Excel Form ListBox (Form Control)

To create an Excel Form ListBox you need to first make sure you can see the Developer Tab. Next go to Controls and select the ListBox. Place the ListBox on the Worksheet. You can right click on it to set the properties.

Using the Form ListBox

To add items to set items in a From ListBox is easiest by providing an Excel Range on your Worksheet that contain values for options.

Select Excel Range as ListBox Items

To add an Excel Range as Items for a ListBox right-click on the object and go to Format Control. Next go to the Control tab.

As you can see we managed to:

• Set the Input range for the items in the Form ListBox
• Set the Cell Link range for the selected item

The Excel Form ListBox is an option to use if you need a simple way to limit input options for your users in an spreadsheet.

Using Form ListBox does not make much sense as just as well we have Data Validation allowing you to set a drop down list to any Excel cell. See my post on Excel Cascading Drop-downs if you want to see how powerful this can be.

Beware in below examples I am using the ActiveX ListBox instead!

Create a VBA ListBox (ActiveX)

Now let us explore the adding Items to a Listbox using VBA. For this purpose it is easier and more convenient to use an ActiveX ListBox control (which I call the VBA ListBox) instead of the previously used Form ListBox:

In examples below I will be adding code to the Worksheet module in which I added a ActiveX ListBox control named ListBox1.

Add Items to ListBox

To add VBA Add Items to the VBA ListBox use the AddItem function.

'Syntax
AddItem ( itemValue, itemOrder )
'itemValue - the value you want to add to your list
'itemOrder - the position in the VBA ListBox at which you want to insert your item (first is 0)

Examples of adding items to a ActiveX ListBox with VBA:

'Add Item Car
ListBox1.AddItem "Car"
'Add Item Bus
ListBox1.AddItem "Bus"
'Add Item Plane as second
ListBox1.AddItem "Plane", 1
'Add Item Plane
ListBox1.AddItem "Tesla"

The resulting VBA ListBox. Notice that Plane is second in the list:

This list will work identically to the Excel Form ListBox.

Clear items in ListBox

To Clear/Empty items in a VBA ListBox simply use the Clear function:

'Add Item Car
ListBox1.AddItem "Car"

'Remove all items in the ListBox
ListBox1.Clear

Remove item from ListBox

To remove an item at a specific index or position in a VBA ListBox you need to use the RemoveItem function. Remember that the index of the first element is 0:

ListBox1.AddItem "Car"
ListBox1.AddItem "Plane"
ListBox1.AddItem "Bus"

'Remove the item "Plane"
ListBox1.RemoveItem(1)

Count items in ListBox

Counting items in a ListBox can be done using the Count function:

ListBox1.AddItem "Car"
ListBox1.AddItem "Plane"
ListBox1.AddItem "Bus"

'Count items
Debug.Print ListBox1.ListCount 'Result: 3

To enable multiselection on your VBA ListBox (ActiveX) use the MultiSelect property. The property can have one of the following values:

• fmMultiSelectSingle – default property. You can only select 1 item
• fmMultiSelectMulti – you can select multiple items. Clicking on an item will select (include it in the existing selected items) or deselect it (remove it from the existing selected items)
• fmMultiSelectExtended – you can select multiple items. However, when you click on any item it will only select the current item. To select multiple items you need to click and hold and move the mouse up/down to select more items

By setting the MultiSelect option:

ListBox1.MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectExtended 

I am able now to select more items on my ListBox.

Select / Deselect items in ListBox

First we will try to understand how to check if an item on our ListBox is selected or not. For this we will use the Selected property.

ListBox1.AddItem "Car"
ListBox1.AddItem "Plane"
ListBox1.AddItem "Bus"

'...Click on Plane...

'Check which is selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(0) 'Result: False - Car is not selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(1) 'Result: True - Car is not selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(2) 'Result: False - Bus is not selected

To Select or Delect an item simply set the property to True (Selected) or False (Deselected):

ListBox1.AddItem "Car"
ListBox1.AddItem "Plane"
ListBox1.AddItem "Bus"

'Select Car
ListBox1.Selection(0) = True

'Check which is selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(0) 'Result: True - Car is not selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(1) 'Result: False - Car is not selected
Debug.Print ListBox1.Selection(2) 'Result: False - Bus is not selected

January 22, 2019/



Chris Newman

What Are ListBox Controls?

ListBoxes are a great way to manage tables within your userform. I have used them in the past to allow users to manage rows of information without necessary displaying all that information within the userform itself. There are a lot of neat things you can do with a userform so I’ve collected some of the more popular tasks you may want to know how to write within your VBA code.

For all the example VBA code snippets, the name of the listbox with be called “ListBox1”. I also have a downloadable example file that you can get for free if you want to see a lot of this code in action.

Enjoy!

Add An Item to The ListBox

To The End

To A Specific Position

Remember ListBoxes are zero based, so the first item is really at position 0. So if you want to add an item to the 5th position, you need to reference number 4 in the AddItem function.

‘Add to the 2nd Position (subtract 1 from desired)
  ListBox1.AddItem «Apple», 1

Add Multiple Items To The ListBox

Individually Written

Sub ListBox_Load()

ListBox1.AddItem «Apple»
ListBox1.AddItem «Orange»
ListBox1.AddItem «Pear»

  End Sub

From An Array List

Sub ListBox_LoadArray()

Dim myArray As Variant

myArray = Array(«Apple», «Orange», «Pear»)

ListBox1.List = myArray

End Sub

From A Cell Range

Sub ListBox_LoadRange()

Dim cell As Range

‘Load to ListBox
  For Each cell In Worksheets(«Sheet1»).Range(«A1:A6»)
    ListBox1.AddItem cell.Value
  Next cell

End Sub

From A Table Object (ListObject)

Sub ListBox_LoadTable()

Dim tbl As ListObject
Dim cell As Range

‘Store Table Object to a variable
    Set tbl = Sheet1.ListObjects(«Table1»)

  ‘Load List Box
  For Each cell In tbl.DataBodyRange.Columns(1).Cells
    ListBox1.AddItem cell.Value
  Next cell

  End Sub

Delete ListBox Items

Remove An Item From The ListBox

‘Remove 4th item in ListBox (subtract 1 from desired row)
  ListBox1.RemoveItem 3

Remove Selected Item(s) From The ListBox

Private Sub DeleteSelection()
‘PURPOSE: Remove any selected items from the ListBox

Dim x As Long
Dim OriginalCount As Long

‘Store original ListBox count
  OriginalCount = ListBox1.ListCount

‘Temporarily hide ListBox (runs faster)
  ListBox1.Visible = False

‘Delete selected line items
  For x = OriginalCount — 1 To 0 Step -1
    If ListBox1.Selected(x) = True Then ListBox1.RemoveItem x
  Next x

‘Unhide ListBox
  ListBox1.Visible = True

End Sub

Remove All Items From The ListBox

Listbox Selected Items

Select A Specific Item In The ListBox

‘Select the 5th item in the ListBox (subtract 1 from desired row)
  ListBox1.Selected(4) = True

Deselect All Items

Unfortunately, the “ListIndex = -1” method does not work when a ListBox allows for multiple selections. Hence, the below code tests for the ListBox’s selection mode.

If ListBox1.MultiSelect = fmMultiSelectSingle Then
  ListBox1.ListIndex = -1
Else
  For x = 0 To ListBox1.ListCount — 1
    If ListBox1.Selected(x) Then ListBox1.Selected(x) = False
  Next x
End If

Count How Many Items Are Selected (Function)

Function ListBoxSelectionCount(LB As ListBox) As Long
‘PURPOSE: Count how many items are selected in a give Listbox

Dim x As Long
Dim Count As Long

For x = 0 To LB.ListCount — 1
  If LB.Selected(x) Then Count = Count + 1
Next x

ListBoxSelectionCount = Count

End Function

Count How Many Items Are In The ListBox

‘Return how many items are in the ListBox
  MsgBox ListBox1.ListCount

Move Selected Item Up/Down

Move Selection Up One Position

Sub MoveUp()
‘PURPOSE: Move the selected item up one position in the list

Dim x As Long
Dim Count As Long
Dim Position As Long

‘Is there an item selected?
  If ListBox1.ListIndex = -1 Then Exit Sub

  ‘Which Item is selected?
  For x = 0 To ListBox1.ListCount — 1
    If ListBox1.Selected(x) = True Then
      Position = x
      Count = Count + 1
      If Count > 1 Then Exit Sub ‘More than 1 item selected
    End If
  Next x

‘Selected item already at the top?
  If Position = 0 Then Exit Sub

‘Add an item above the current selection
  ListBox1.AddItem ListBox1.List(Position), Position — 1

‘Remove Original Selection
  ListBox1.RemoveItem Position + 1

‘Re-select the item that got moved
  ListBox1.Selected(Position — 1) = True

End Sub

Move Selection Down One Position

Sub MoveDown()
‘PURPOSE: Move the selected item down one position in the list

Dim x As Long
Dim Count As Long
Dim Position As Long

‘Is A ValidSelection Made?
  If ListBox1.ListIndex = -1 Then Exit Sub ‘No Selection made

  ‘Which Item is selected?
  For x = 0 To ListBox1.ListCount — 1
    If ListBox1.Selected(x) = True Then
      Position = x
      Count = Count + 1
      If Count > 1 Then Exit Sub ‘More than 1 item selected
    End If
  Next x

‘Move selected item down if not already at the bottom
  If Position < ListBox1.ListCount — 1 Then
    ‘Add an item below the current selection
      ListBox1.AddItem ListBox1.List(Position), Position + 2
    ‘Remove Original Selection
      ListBox1.RemoveItem Position
    ‘Re-select the item that got moved
      ListBox1.Selected(Position + 1) = True
  End If

End Sub

Additional Resources

• Excel VBA UserForm Listbox (AnalysisTabs.com)

• The Complete Guide to Excel VBA Form Control ListBoxes (wellsr.com)

Anything To Add?

I know there are a TON of things you can do with ListBoxes and if there are actions you are stuck trying to figure out, leave a comment below and I will try to add them to the guide. Please only ask for generic tasks and not super-specific ones. Also, if there is a more simplistic way to carry out some of these tasks, let me know!

Download The Excel Example File

If you would like to get a copy of the Excel file I used throughout this article, feel free to directly download the spreadsheet by clicking the download button below.

About The Author

Hey there! I’m Chris and I run TheSpreadsheetGuru website in my spare time. By day, I’m actually a finance professional who relies on Microsoft Excel quite heavily in the corporate world. I love taking the things I learn in the “real world” and sharing them with everyone here on this site so that you too can become a spreadsheet guru at your company.

Through my years in the corporate world, I’ve been able to pick up on opportunities to make working with Excel better and have built a variety of Excel add-ins, from inserting tickmark symbols to automating copy/pasting from Excel to PowerPoint. If you’d like to keep up to date with the latest Excel news and directly get emailed the most meaningful Excel tips I’ve learned over the years, you can sign up for my free newsletters. I hope I was able to provide you with some value today and I hope to see you back here soon!

— Chris
Founder, TheSpreadsheetGuru.com

This tutorial will demonstrate how to work with Listboxes using VBA.

In VBA, you can create a Listbox where a user can choose one of the listed options. Listboxes are often used in UserForms, but can also be used in a Worksheet. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create, populate and delete a Listbox. You will also see how to get a user choice in VBA and use it in code.

If you want to learn how to create a ComboBox, click here: VBA ComboBox

If you want to learn how to create a Checkbox, click here: VBA Checkbox

Create a Listbox

In order to insert a Listbox in the Worksheet, you need to go to the Developer tab, click Insert and under ActiveX Controls choose List Box:

When you select the Listbox which you inserted, you can click on Properties under the Developer tab:

Here you can set different properties of the Listbox. For the beginning, we changed the attribute Name to lstListBox. Now, we can use the Listbox with this name in VBA code.

Populate a Listbox in VBA code

First, we need to populate the Listbox with values. In most cases, a Listbox needs to be populated when the Workbook is opened. Because of this, we need to put a code for populating the Listbox in object Workbook, procedure Open. This procedure is executed every time a user opens the Workbook. Here is the code:

With Sheet1.lstListBox
    .AddItem "John"
    .AddItem "Michael"
    .AddItem "Jennifer"
    .AddItem "Lilly"
    .AddItem "Robert"
End With

As you can see in Image 3, we populated our Listbox with 5 names (John, Michael, Jennifer, Lilly and Robert):

Populate a Listbox From a Cells Range

Another possible way to populate a Listbox is to let a user do it. A Listbox can be linked to a range of cells. Therefore, every time a user enters a new value in the cells range, the Listbox will update with that value.

If you want to enable this, you have to go to the Properties of the ListBox and set the attribute ListFillRange:

We linked our Listbox with the range E2:E5, where we put names we want (Nathan, Harry, George, Roberta). As a result, the Listbox is now populated with these names.

Get a Selected Item of a Listbox in VBA

The purpose of a Listbox is to get a users choice. In order to retrieve a value that is selected by a user, you need to use this code:

Dim strSelectedItem As Variant

strSelectedItem = Sheet1.lstListBox.Value

The users selection is in the attribute Value of Sheet1.lstListbox object. This value is assigned to the variable strSelectedItem:

We selected George in the Listbox and executed the procedure. As you can see in Image 5, the value of the strSelectedItem is George, which is the value we selected. Furthermore, you can process this variable in the code.

Clear a Listbox

In order to clear a Listbox in VBA, you need to use Clear method of Sheet1.lstListBox object. It will delete all the items from the Listbox. Here is the code:

Sheet1.lstListBox.Clear

(Note: If the attribute ListFillRange is set, the above code will produce an error.
You have to clear the attribute ListFillRange first.)

When we execute the code, we get the empty Listbox:

Use a Listbox in a UserForm

As we mentioned, Listbox is most often used in UserForms. To explain how you can do it, we will first insert an Userform. In VBA Editor, right-click on Module name, click on Insert and choose UserForm:

To display controls for inserting, you need to enable the Toolbox. To do this, click on the Toolbox icon in the toolbar. After that, you will get the windows with all the controls available. You can click on ListBox to create it in the Userform.

We will name the ListBox lstListBox. In order to populate it with values, we need to put the following code into the method Initialize of the object UserForm:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
    
    With UserForm1.lstListBox

        .AddItem "John"
        .AddItem "Michael"
        .AddItem "Jennifer"
        .AddItem "Lilly"
        .AddItem "Robert"

    End With

End Sub

This code triggers every time a user runs the Userform and populates the Listbox with these 5 names:

If you want to get selected value from the ListBox, you need to use the same logic for the Listbox in a Worksheet, which is explained earlier in the article.