Speed up ComboBox Loading

[steve65]

I am adding about at least 1500 to 3000 names to a combobox as show below.

Is there a better way of getting the names in the box? As I add more and more names it takes progressively longer to add a name to the list.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    For i = 1 to Ubound(username)
        Me.cboOldUserName.AddItem (TempUserName)
        Me.cboMACLsUserName.AddItem (TempUserName)
    Next i

[Michael Woolsey]

Without using any APIs or anything like that, one way I have found to speed up things is to make the control invisible.

This may help, I'm not certain in your case.

Me.cboOldUserName.Visible = False
Me.cboMACLsUserName.Visible = False

For i = 1 to Ubound(username)
  Me.cboOldUserName.AddItem (TempUserName)
  Me.cboMACLsUserName.AddItem (TempUserName)
Next i

Me.cboOldUserName.Visible = True
Me.cboMACLsUserName.Visible = True

I was doing a standard loop 1 to 3000 and added a string to the two combo boxes, it only took a second or two... perhaps there is something else that is slowing down your loop?

Michael Woolsey

[PRIVATE1]

This is a CHEAP fix . Set it's .visible propertie to false before you load it then when it's done make it visible again . I noticed this in an app awhile ago . Atleast it was true in my case but I was scrolling the box also . Try it , can't hurt .

[]P

[Mad Compie]

I always use the LockWindowUpdate(xxxxx.hWnd) API to prevent the window from redrawing. After adding the items, simply use LockWindowUpdate(0&) to redraw it's contents.
But also consider that when your list is sorted, this will ALSO take longer than an unsorted list.
Otherwise, it's VERY VERY slow.
A much more faster way to add items, is adding them to strings in memory. After loading you can display them using the Print method on a picturebox.

[steve65]

Thank you all for responses. I will give that a try.

Originally posted by PRIVATE1
This is a CHEAP fix.

Curious, What's the expensive fix?