delphilistboxdelphi-xe2delphi-xe3listbox-control

How do I make a listbox same as Outlook 2013?


In Delphi XE2 or XE3, How can I make a list box similar to Outlook 2013 list of emails ?

or is the list in Outlook 2013 something else ?

how can I achieve a similar one in Delphi XE2 or XE3 ?

Thanks

enter image description here


Solution

  • You can do something similar with a TListView and ListGroups. There's an example of using the ListGroups in the Delphi documentation (link for XE4, but works in XE2 and XE3 as well). It doesn't give you the image you're looking for, but it demonstrates using them, and you should be able to take it from there.

    (Note the code below is not a direct copy/paste of the code from that link, as that code has errors and omissions. I've corrected, compiled, and run it first to fix those before posting it here.)

    Drop a TListView and TImageList on a new VCL forms application. Change the name of the TImageList to DigitsLetters, and then add the following code to the form (create the FormCreate and FormDestroy in the Object Inspector as usual, and paste the code into the event handlers, and just add the declaration of GetImageFromAscii to the private section of the form declaration):

    procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
    var
      Group: TListGroup;
      ListItem: TListItem;
      Image: TBitmap;
      c: Char;
    begin
      { align the list view to the form }
      ListView1.Align := alClient;
    
      { center and stretch the form to fit the screen }
      Self.Position := poScreenCenter;
      Self.Height := 600;
      Self.Width := 800;
    
      {
      change the view style of the list view
      such that the icons are displayed
      }
      ListView1.ViewStyle := vsIcon;
    
      { enable group view }
      ListView1.GroupView := True;
    
      { create a 32 by 32 image list }
      DigitsLetters := TImageList.CreateSize(32, 32);
    
      {
      generate the DigitsLetters image list with the digits,
      the small letters and the capital letters
      }
      GetImagesFromASCII('0', '9');
      GetImagesFromASCII('a', 'z');
      GetImagesFromASCII('A', 'Z');
    
      {
      add an empty image to the list
      used to emphasize the top and bottom descriptions
      of the digits group
      }
      Image := TBitmap.Create;
      Image.Height := 32;
      Image.Width := 32;
      DigitsLetters.Add(Image, nil);
      Image.Destroy;
    
      { create a title image for the small letters category }
      Image := TBitmap.Create;
      Image.Height := 32;
      Image.Width := 32;
      Image.Canvas.Brush.Color := clYellow;
      Image.Canvas.FloodFill(0, 0, clYellow, fsBorder);
      Image.Canvas.Font.Name := 'Times New Roman';
      Image.Canvas.Font.Size := 14;
      Image.Canvas.Font.Color := clRed;
      Image.Canvas.TextOut(3, 5, 'a..z');
      DigitsLetters.Add(Image, nil);
      Image.Destroy;
    
      { create a title image for the capital letters category }
      Image := TBitmap.Create;
      Image.Height := 32;
      Image.Width := 32;
      Image.Canvas.Brush.Color := clYellow;
      Image.Canvas.FloodFill(0, 0, clYellow, fsBorder);
      Image.Canvas.Font.Name := 'Times New Roman';
      Image.Canvas.Font.Size := 13;
      Image.Canvas.Font.Color := clRed;
      Image.Canvas.TextOut(2, 5, 'A..Z');
      DigitsLetters.Add(Image, nil);
      Image.Destroy;
    
      { associate the image list with the list view }
      ListView1.LargeImages := DigitsLetters;
      ListView1.GroupHeaderImages := DigitsLetters;
    
      { set up the digits group }
      Group := ListView1.Groups.Add;
      Group.State := [lgsNormal, lgsCollapsible];
      Group.Header := 'Digits';
      Group.HeaderAlign := taCenter;
      Group.Footer := 'End of the Digits category';
      Group.FooterAlign := taCenter;
      Group.Subtitle := 'The digits from 0 to 9';
    
      {
      use the empty image as the title image
      to emphasize the top and bottom descriptions
      }
      Group.TitleImage := DigitsLetters.Count - 3;
    
      { create the actual items in the digits group }
      for c := '0' to '9' do
      begin
        // add a new item to the list view
        ListItem := ListView1.Items.Add;
    
        // ...customize it
        ListItem.Caption := c + ' digit';
        ListItem.ImageIndex := Ord(c) - Ord('0');
    
        // ...and associate it with the digits group
        ListItem.GroupID := Group.GroupID;
      end;
    
      { set up the small letters group }
      Group := ListView1.Groups.Add;
      Group.State := [lgsNormal, lgsCollapsible];
      Group.Header := 'Small Letters';
      Group.HeaderAlign := taRightJustify;
      Group.Footer := 'End of the Small Letters category';
      Group.FooterAlign := taLeftJustify;
      Group.Subtitle := 'The small letters from ''a'' to ''z''';
      Group.TitleImage := DigitsLetters.Count - 2;
    
      { create the actual items in the small letters group }
      for c := 'a' to 'z' do
      begin
        // add a new item to the list view
        ListItem := ListView1.Items.Add;
    
        // ...customize it
        ListItem.Caption := 'letter ' + c;
        ListItem.ImageIndex := Ord(c) - Ord('a') + 10;
    
        // ...and associate it with the small letters group
        ListItem.GroupID := Group.GroupID;
      end;
    
      {
      to see how the NextGroupID property can be used,
      the following lines of code show how an item can be associated
      with a group ID, prior to creating the group
      }
    
      { create the actual items in the capital letters group }
      for c := 'A' to 'Z' do
      begin
        // add a new item to the list view
        ListItem := ListView1.Items.Add;
    
        // ...customize it
        ListItem.Caption := 'letter ' + c;
        ListItem.ImageIndex := Ord(c) - Ord('A') + 36;
    
        // ...and associate it with the capital letters group
        ListItem.GroupID := ListView1.Groups.NextGroupID;
      end;
    
      { set up the capital letters group }
      Group := ListView1.Groups.Add;
      Group.State := [lgsNormal, lgsCollapsible];
      Group.Header := 'Capital Letters';
      Group.HeaderAlign := taRightJustify;
      Group.Footer := 'End of the Capital Letters category';
      Group.FooterAlign := taLeftJustify;
      Group.Subtitle := 'The capital letters from ''A'' to ''Z''';
      Group.TitleImage := DigitsLetters.Count - 1;
    
    end;
    
    procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
    begin
      { remove the image list from memory }
      DigitsLetters.Destroy;
    end;
    
    {
    Generates a series of images for the characters
    starting with ASCII code First and ending with Last.
    All images are added to the DigitsLetters variable.
    }
    procedure TForm1.GetImagesFromASCII(First, Last: Char);
    var
      Image: TBitmap;
      c: Char;
    begin
      for c := First to Last do
      begin
        Image := TBitmap.Create;
        Image.Height := 32;
        Image.Width := 32;
        Image.Canvas.Font.Name := 'Times New Roman';
        Image.Canvas.Font.Size := 22;
        Image.Canvas.TextOut((Image.Width - Image.Canvas.TextWidth(c)) div 2, 0, c);
        DigitsLetters.Add(Image, nil);
        Image.Destroy;
      end;
    end;
    

    Results (shown with the Digits and Small Letters groups collapsed):

    Sample ListView/ListGroups image