TextColumn Property

I never noticed this Listbox property before, but it seems like it could be useful. According to help, the TextColumn property sets the column whose value the Text property will return. The BoundColumn property determines what the Value property returns, so this seems to bet the step sister of that.

You can now have easy access to two columns in a multicolumn Listbox. I don’t really see a downside since everything in a Listbox is text anyway, so the difference between Value and Text should be nothing. If you don’t set the TextColumn property, the Text property returns the same as Value.

This example shows two ways to access a different column than the BoundColumn: One using the List property and one using the Text/TextColumn properties.

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
    
    Dim sMsg As String
    
    With Me.ListBox1
        sMsg = "Use TextColumn" & vbNewLine & String(15, "-") & vbNewLine
        sMsg = sMsg & .Value & vbTab & .Text
        sMsg = sMsg & vbNewLine & vbNewLine
        sMsg = sMsg & "No TextColumn" & vbNewLine & String(15, "-") & vbNewLine
        sMsg = sMsg & .Value & vbTab & .List(.ListIndex, 1)
    End With
    
    MsgBox sMsg
    
End Sub
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
    
    Dim i As Long
    
    With Me.ListBox1
        .ColumnCount = 2
        .BoundColumn = 1
        .TextColumn = 2
    
        For i = 1 To 10
            .AddItem i
            .List(.ListCount - 1, 1) = i * 10
        Next i
    End With
    
End Sub

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

Dim sMsg As String

With Me.ListBox1

sMsg = "Use TextColumn" & vbNewLine & String(15, "-") & vbNewLine

sMsg = sMsg & .Value & vbTab & .Text

sMsg = sMsg & vbNewLine & vbNewLine

sMsg = sMsg & "No TextColumn" & vbNewLine & String(15, "-") & vbNewLine

sMsg = sMsg & .Value & vbTab & .List(.ListIndex, 1)

End With

MsgBox sMsg

End Sub

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()

Dim i As Long

With Me.ListBox1

.ColumnCount = 2

.BoundColumn = 1

.TextColumn = 2

For i = 1 To 10

.AddItem i

.List(.ListCount - 1, 1) = i * 10

Next i

End With

End Sub

userform and message box showing results

4 thoughts on “TextColumn Property”

Hi Dick

A great use for this is having a two-column list box with and ID in the first column set to zero width. Hence the BoundColumn is 1 and the TextColumn is 2.

ListBox.Text is what the user sees (e.g. a name)
ListBox.Value is the corresponding ID.

Regards

Stephen Bullen