[RESOLVED] Save checked selections from a listbox?

[Justin M]

Hi there folks! I am working on a program that uses a listbox with check boxes. It is a program that teaches students how to spell word family words ("at, ate, ot, op, etc".) Anyway, teachers can go in and select from a listbox which word families they want to use. What I am stuck with, is how do I save their selections to a textfile for future reference.

For example, if a teacher selects 5 of the 38 word families, I would like to save them in a textfile called SAVEDList. Then the next time the teacher runs the program, it would check the textfile, see which word families are listed, and check them automatically, so they don't have to repeat the process.

Does anyone have any experience working with checkbox listfiles, mine is called UsingList.

Thanks!

[4x2y]

You can save/read check state in INI file

Option Explicit
 
Private Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpSectionName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpString As Any, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim j As Long
    For j = 1 To 35
        List1.AddItem j
    Next
    
    Dim strSelection() As String
    strSelection = Split(ReadValue("SAVEDList", "Selection", vbNullString, App.Path & "\SAVEDList.ini"), ";")
    If UBound(strSelection) > 0 Then
        For j = 0 To UBound(strSelection)
            List1.Selected(j) = CBool(strSelection(j))
        Next
    End If
End Sub
 
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    ' You may move this code to List1_ItemCheck to save instantly.
    Dim j As Long
    Dim strSelection As String
 
    For j = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
        strSelection = strSelection & ";" & CInt(List1.Selected(j))
    Next
    WriteValue "SAVEDList", "Selection", Mid$(strSelection, 2), App.Path & "\SAVEDList.ini"
End Sub
 
Private Function ReadValue(ByVal strSectionName As String, ByVal strKeyName As String, ByVal strDefaultValue As String, ByVal strFileName As String) As String
    Dim lngBufferSize As Long
    Dim lngLength As Long
    Dim strBuffer As String
    strBuffer = String$(2000, 0)
    lngBufferSize = Len(strBuffer)
    lngLength = GetPrivateProfileString(strSectionName, strKeyName, strDefaultValue, strBuffer, lngBufferSize, strFileName)
    strBuffer = Left$(strBuffer, lngLength)
    ReadValue = strBuffer
End Function
 
Private Sub WriteValue(ByVal strSectionName As String, ByVal strKeyName As String, ByVal strValue As String, ByVal strFileName As String)
    WritePrivateProfileString strSectionName, strKeyName, strValue, strFileName
End Sub

[Spooman]

Justin

As an alternative, maybe something like this ...

First, I created and saved an empty text file named "D:\VBForums\SAVEDList.txt"
Then, on a form, I placed

Check2(0) .. A CheckBox named Check2, with the Index set to 0, to make it a control array.
Command1 .. CommandButton to load 9 other CheckBoxes and read the file (assumed empty at first)
Command2 .. CommandButton that saves "marked" CheckBoxes to the file.

The first time I ran the app, I checked boxes 2, 7, 8, 9

Here is the code snippet

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    '
    Check2(0).Top = 1000
    Check2(0).Left = 500
    ' load 9 more
    For ii = 1 To 9
        Load Check2(ii)
        With Check2(ii)
            .Left = 500
            .Top = Check2(ii - 1).Top + Check2(ii - 1).Height
            .Caption = "Check2(" & ii & ")"
            .Visible = True
        End With
    Next ii
    ' read the file
    ' mark "as checked" as applies
    fpath = "D:\VBForums\SAVEDList.txt"
    Open fpath For Input As #1
    Do While Not EOF(1)
        Line Input #1, xtr
        With Check2(CInt(xtr))
            .Value = 1
            .BackColor = vbCyan
        End With
    Loop
    '
End Sub
'
'
Sub Command2_Click()
    '
    ' save to txt file
    If v = 30 Then
        fpath = "D:\VBForums\SAVEDList.txt"
        Close #1
        Open fpath For Output As #1
        For ii = 0 To 9
            If Check2(ii).Value = 1 Then
                Write #1, ii
            End If
        Next ii
        Close #1
    End If
    '
End Sub

Here is an image when I re-run the app.



Here is an image of the text file.



Natch, this is concept only.
You'll need to modify it to meet your needs.

Spoo

[Elroy]

Hmmm, I was thinking he was wanting something like the following:



It's a List1 listbox with its Style property set to "Checkbox". And then a Command1 button ("Save Data" as caption). And a Command2 button ("Load Data" as caption).

And then, this code:

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim iFle As Long
    Dim i As Long
    '
    iFle = FreeFile
    Open App.Path & "\SavedData.txt" For Output As iFle
        For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
            If List1.Selected(i) Then Print #iFle, List1.List(i)
        Next i
    Close iFle
End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Dim iFle As Long
    Dim s As String
    Dim i As Long
    '
    ' Un-select everything.
    For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
        List1.Selected(i) = False
    Next i
    List1.ListIndex = -1
    '
    iFle = FreeFile
    Open App.Path & "\SavedData.txt" For Input As iFle
        Do While Not EOF(iFle)
            Line Input #iFle, s
            For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
                If List1.List(i) = s Then List1.Selected(i) = True
            Next i
        Loop
    Close iFle
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    List1.AddItem "Alpha"
    List1.AddItem "Beta"
    List1.AddItem "Gamma"
    List1.AddItem "Delta"
    List1.AddItem "Epsilon"
End Sub

You run the program, make your selections, and save your data. Exit the program, run it again, and load the data, and voila.

I'm assuming the words are always pre-loaded, as they're not defined by this process.

Also, the ListBox is doing something funky with it's colors, but I didn't spend the time to suss that out.

Enjoy,
Elroy

EDIT1: Also, just to say it, if it were me doing this, I wouldn't put my data file in with my program, but that was just convenient for the demo. Also, I didn't check for the file's existence on loading the data. If you haven't saved first, you'll get an error.

EDIT2: I also fixed the little color selection problem. It's the somewhat larger line of code in the above that fixes it.

[Justin M]

Thank you all for your help on this!!

[Spooman]

And then, this code:

Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim iFle As Long
    Dim i As Long
    '
    iFle = FreeFile
    Open App.Path & "\SavedData.txt" For Output As iFle
        For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
            If List1.Selected(i) Then Print #iFle, List1.List(i)
        Next i
    Close iFle
End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Dim iFle As Long
    Dim s As String
    Dim i As Long
    '
    ' Un-select everything.
    For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
        List1.Selected(i) = False
    Next i
    List1.ListIndex = -1
    '
    iFle = FreeFile
    Open App.Path & "\SavedData.txt" For Input As iFle
        Do While Not EOF(iFle)
            Line Input #iFle, s
            For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
                If List1.List(i) = s Then List1.Selected(i) = True
            Next i
        Loop
    Close iFle
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    List1.AddItem "Alpha"
    List1.AddItem "Beta"
    List1.AddItem "Gamma"
    List1.AddItem "Delta"
    List1.AddItem "Epsilon"
End Sub

EDIT2: I also fixed the little color selection problem. It's the somewhat larger line of code in the above that fixes it.

FWIW, an alternative way to highlight the code is to use the VE wrapper.
In this case, I just clicked OK, and it defaults to the yellow background.

BTW, I've always been impressed by the visual effects of the colors you use in your code posts.
How do you accomplish that?
Do you manually edit them line by line?

EDIT:

If it's a trade secret, I'll understand ..

Spoo