How to Drag/Drop an External File to the ListView Using Visual Basic 2008

[Nando1l]

Today, I will teach you how to drag/drop an external file to the ListView by using Visual Basic 2008. You can drag/drop the external images that you like in the ListView and you can also preview the images that you have selected in the ListView.

Let’s begin:

Open Visual Basic 2008, create a new Windows Application and drag a ListView and a PictureBox and do the Form just like this.

Double click the Form and declares all the variable that are needed above the Form1_Load

.

1. Private
   
   lstviewItem As
   
   ListViewItem 'MAKE THE LISTVIEWITEM OBJECT
   
2. Private
   
   lstviewItemImageList As
   
   New
   
   ImageList 'MAKE THE IMAGELIST OBJECT
   

After that, do the following code to fire it on the first load.

1. Private
   
   Sub
   
   Form1_Load(
   
   ByVal
   
   sender As
   
   Object
   
   , ByVal
   
   e As
   
   System.
   
   EventArgs
   
   )
   
   Handles
   
   MyBase
   
   .
   
   Load
   
2. 'TO OUR IMAGELIST OBJECT, SET THE IMAGELIST FOR THE LISTVIEW
   
3. ListView1.
   
   SmallImageList
   
   =
   
   lstviewItemImageList
   
4. 
   
5. With
   
   ListView1
   
6. 'SET THE AllowDrop PROPERTIES OF THE LISTVIEW
   
7. .
   
   AllowDrop
   
   =
   
   True
   
8. 'SET THE View PROPERTIES OF THE LISTVIEW
   
9. .
   
   View
   
   =
   
   View.
   
   Details
   
10. 'ADD A COLUNMS TO THE LISTVIEW
    
11. .
    
    Columns
    
    .
    
    Add
    
    (
    
    "File"
    
    )
    
12. 'SET THE WIDTH OF THE COLUMN THAT FITS TO THE SIZE OF THE LISTVIEW
    
13. ListView1.
    
    Columns
    
    (
    
    0
    
    )
    
    .
    
    Width
    
    =
    
    150
    
14. End
    
    With
    
15. 
    
16. 'SET THE SizeMode PROPERTIES OF THE PICTUREBOX
    
17. PictureBox1.
    
    SizeMode
    
    =
    
    PictureBoxSizeMode.
    
    StretchImage
    
18. End
    
    Sub
    

Then, do this following code for creating a method of the drag and drop events in the ListView.

1. Private
   
   Sub
   
   listviewDragDrop(
   
   ByVal
   
   sender As
   
   System.
   
   Object
   
   , ByVal
   
   e As
   
   System.
   
   Windows
   
   .
   
   Forms
   
   .
   
   DragEventArgs
   
   )
   
   Handles
   
   ListView1.
   
   DragDrop
   
2. Try
   
3. 'SET AN ARRAY VARIABLE
   
4. Dim
   
   file As
   
   Array
   
5. 'GET AN ARRAY OF THE FILES THAT ARE BEING DRAGGED IN
   
6. file =
   
   CType
   
   (
   
   e.
   
   Data
   
   .
   
   GetData
   
   (
   
   DataFormats.
   
   FileDrop
   
   )
   
   , Array)
   
7. 
   
8. 'LOOP THE ARRAY FILE
   
9. For
   
   i As
   
   Integer
   
   =
   
   0
   
   To
   
   file.
   
   Length
   
   -
   
   1
   
10. lstviewItem =
    
    New
    
    ListViewItem(
    
    file.
    
    GetValue
    
    (
    
    i)
    
    .
    
    ToString
    
    )
    
11. Try
    
12. 
    
13. 'ADDING THE IMAGE TO THE IMAGELIST OBJECT. AND
    
14. 'SET THE NEWLY ADDED IMAGE IN THE LISTVIEWITEMS IMAGEINDEX.
    
15. lstviewItem.
    
    ImageIndex
    
    =
    
    lstviewItemImageList.
    
    Images
    
    .
    
    Add
    
    (
    
    Image.
    
    FromFile
    
    (
    
    lstviewItem.
    
    Text
    
    )
    
    , Color.
    
    Transparent
    
    )
    
16. 
    
17. 'ADDING THE LISTVIEWITEM TO LISTVIEW
    
18. ListView1.
    
    Items
    
    .
    
    Add
    
    (
    
    lstviewItem)
    
19. Catch
    
    ome As
    
    OutOfMemoryException
    
20. 'WHEN THE IMAGE.FROMFILE METHOD FAILES THE ERROR WILL OCCURS
    
21. '(WHEN YOU DRAG A NONREADABLE IMAGE FILE)
    
22. 
    
23. MsgBox
    
    (
    
    "Not valid image file: "
    
    &
    
    lstviewItem.
    
    Text
    
    )
    
24. Catch
    
    ex As
    
    Exception
    
25. 'CATCH ANY ERRORS
    
26. MsgBox
    
    (
    
    "Error: "
    
    &
    
    ex.
    
    Message
    
    )
    
27. End
    
    Try
    
28. Next
    
29. Catch
    
    ex As
    
    Exception
    
30. 'CATCH ANY ERRORS IN THE SUB
    
31. MsgBox
    
    (
    
    "Error: "
    
    &
    
    ex.
    
    Message
    
    )
    
32. End
    
    Try
    
33. End
    
    Sub
    

Lastly, do this following code for the selecting events of the ListView. When you select the image in the ListView, it will then preview in the PictureBox.

1. Private
   
   Sub
   
   listview1_SelectedIndexChanged(
   
   ByVal
   
   sender As
   
   System.
   
   Object
   
   , ByVal
   
   e As
   
   System.
   
   EventArgs
   
   )
   
   Handles
   
   ListView1.
   
   SelectedIndexChanged
   
2. 
   
3. If
   
   ListView1.
   
   SelectedItems
   
   .
   
   Count
   
   =
   
   0
   
   Then
   
   Return
   
4. 
   
5. Try
   
6. 
   
7. 'WHEN THE IMAGE FILE AND PATH IS SELECTED
   
8. 'IT WILL LOAD TO THE PICTURBOX SO THAT THE IMAGE WILL PREVIEW
   
9. PictureBox1.
   
   Image
   
   =
   
   Image.
   
   FromFile
   
   (
   
   ListView1.
   
   SelectedItems
   
   (
   
   0
   
   )
   
   .
   
   Text
   
   )
   
10. Me
    
    .
    
    Text
    
    =
    
    ListView1.
    
    SelectedItems
    
    (
    
    0
    
    )
    
    .
    
    Text
    
11. Catch
    
    ome As
    
    OutOfMemoryException
    
12. 'THIS ERROR OCCURS WHEN THE SELECTED IMAGE IS NOT READABLE
    
13. MsgBox
    
    (
    
    "Could not open preview: "
    
    &
    
    ListView1.
    
    SelectedItems
    
    (
    
    0
    
    )
    
    .
    
    Text
    
    )
    
14. Catch
    
    ex As
    
    Exception
    
15. 'CATCH ANY ERRORS
    
16. MsgBox
    
    (
    
    "Error: "
    
    &
    
    ex.
    
    Message
    
    )
    
17. End
    
    Try
    
18. End
    
    Sub
    

Output: