 IE5
introduced the AutoComplete feature, and its available for both standard VB text boxes and combo boxes using style 0 or 1. The routine here
just demonstrates the textbox, but its easily extended to include the combo by passing the handle of the edit control (not the handle to the
combo box - see related topics above). When used with the combo box, the AutoComplete dropdown appears in addition to the standard drop down;
its data does not replace the dropdown contents.
Use of this API is limited to systems with IE5 or greater, so a handy
routine for determining the IE version is included. And although the MSDN states that CoInitialize must be called before using this API, and
CoUninitialize called when the edit control has been destroyed, VB takes care of handling this task naturally. |
Option Explicit
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Copyright ©1996-2011 VBnet/Randy Birch, All Rights Reserved.
' Some pages may also contain other copyrights by the author.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Distribution: You can freely use this code in your own
' applications, but you may not reproduce
' or publish this code on any web site,
' online service, or distribute as source
' on any media without express permission.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'Flags to control the operation of SHAutoComplete.
'The first four are used to override the Internet
'Explorer registry settings. The user can change
'these settings manually by launching the Internet
'Options property sheet from the Tools menu and
'clicking the Advanced tab. The last five can be
'used to specify which files or URLs will be
'available for auto append or autosuggest operations.
'Ignore registry default and force feature on
Private Const SHACF_AUTOSUGGEST_FORCE_ON As Long = &H10000000
'Ignore registry default and force feature off.
Private Const SHACF_AUTOSUGGEST_FORCE_OFF As Long = &H20000000
'Ignore registry default and force feature on. (Also know as AutoComplete)
Private Const SHACF_AUTOAPPEND_FORCE_ON As Long = &H40000000
'Ignore registry default and force feature off. (Also know as AutoComplete)
Private Const SHACF_AUTOAPPEND_FORCE_OFF As Long = &H80000000
'Currently (SHACF_FILESYSTEM | SHACF_URLALL)
Private Const SHACF_DEFAULT As Long = &H0
'Includes the File System as well as the rest
'of the shell (Desktop\My Computer\Control Panel\)
Private Const SHACF_FILESYSTEM As Long = &H1
'URLs in the User's History
Private Const SHACF_URLHISTORY As Long = &H2
'URLs in the User's Recently Used list
Private Const SHACF_URLMRU As Long = &H4
Private Const SHACF_URLALL As Long = (SHACF_URLHISTORY Or SHACF_URLMRU)
'Identifies the platform for which the DLL was built.
Private Const DLLVER_PLATFORM_WINDOWS As Long = &H1 'Windows 95
Private Const DLLVER_PLATFORM_NT As Long = &H2 'Windows NT
Private Type DllVersionInfo
cbSize As Long
dwMajorVersion As Long
dwMinorVersion As Long
dwBuildNumber As Long
dwPlatformID As Long
End Type
Private Declare Function SHAutoComplete Lib "shlwapi" _
(ByVal hwndEdit As Long, _
ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DllGetVersion Lib "shlwapi" _
(dwVersion As DllVersionInfo) As Long
Private Function GetIEVersion(DVI As DllVersionInfo) As Long
DVI.cbSize = Len(DVI)
Call DllGetVersion(DVI)
GetIEVersion = DVI.dwMajorVersion
End Function
Private Function GetIEVersionString() As String
Dim DVI As DllVersionInfo
DVI.cbSize = Len(DVI)
Call DllGetVersion(DVI)
GetIEVersionString = "Internet Explorer " & _
DVI.dwMajorVersion & "." & _
DVI.dwMinorVersion & "." & _
DVI.dwBuildNumber
End Function
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim DVI As DllVersionInfo
If GetIEVersion(DVI) >= 5 Then
'Turn on auto-complete
Call SHAutoComplete(Text1.hWnd, SHACF_DEFAULT)
'update the captions and set focus to the textbox
Command1.Caption = "SHAutoComplete is On"
Command1.Enabled = False
Text1.SetFocus
Text1.SelStart = Len(Text1.Text)
Else
'damn!
MsgBox "Sorry ... you need IE5 to use this demo", vbExclamation
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Load()
'dim a DllVersionInfo type
Dim DVI As DllVersionInfo
'display the version of Shlwapi
Label1.Caption = "Using Shlwapi.dll for " & GetIEVersionString
'if not 5 or greater, can't do it
Command1.Enabled = GetIEVersion(DVI) >= 5
Command1.Caption = "SHAutoComplete is Off"
End Sub |
