Userform with 2 listboxes; default values. (Word 2002 SP-2)

[st3333ve]

I've got a Word userform with 2 listboxes. The code for the two listboxes is identical. I populate each listbox from an array of strings, and I set a default value for each listbox (e.g., ctlList1.Value = Choice1) before I Show the dialog. The dialog duly displays, the correct values show as selected, so far so good.

The problem is that if I simply hit the OK button to accept both default values (which hides the dialog, at which point the code continues), the value of one (and only one) of the listboxes is always an empty string, rather than the default value (even though the default value is always correctly and visibly selected on the screen).

To add further confusion, depending on which items in the lists I choose as the default values, the empty listbox is sometimes the first one and sometimes the second one.

If I affirmatively (and redundantly, if things were working properly) select the default value in the listbox that would otherwise turn up empty, the macro works as it should.

As a final confusing note (and possible further clue), if I set a breakpoint on the frm.lblList1 = strLabel1 line (see my code, below) and hover over ctlList1.Value, Choice1, ctlList2.Value and Choice2 (in the preceding 6 lines), Choice1 and Choice2 are always the correct strings, while one of the two .Value references is always correct and the other is always an empty string. (And again, whether it's ctlList1.Value or ctlList2.Value that's empty varies, depending on which list items I've chosen as the default values). So it looks from this like the problem has already occurred before the dialog shows (since the .Show line comes later; see below) -- and yet the default value is correctly displayed onscreen for BOTH listboxes.

Here's my code. The commented lines are my kludgey "fix" for the problem, but they shouldn't be necessary. Anyone know what the real problem is?

Sub ShowFrm2Lists(ListArray1 As Variant, ListArray2 As Variant, _
Choice1 As Variant, Choice2 As Variant, _
strLabel1 As String, strLabel2 As String)

Dim frm As UserForm
Dim ctlList1 As ListBox, ctlList2 As ListBox

Load frm2Lists

Set frm = frm2Lists
Set ctlList1 = frm.lstList1
Set ctlList2 = frm.lstList2

ctlList1.List() = ListArray1
ctlList2.List() = ListArray2

If Not IsNull(Choice1) Then
ctlList1.Value = Choice1
End If
If Not IsNull(Choice2) Then
ctlList2.Value = Choice2
End If

frm.lblList1 = strLabel1
frm.lblList2 = strLabel2

frm2Lists.Show

If Not IsLoaded("frm2Lists") Then
Choice1 = Null
Choice2 = Null
Exit Sub
Else
' If ctlList1.Value <> "" Then
Choice1 = ctlList1
' End If
' If ctlList2.Value <> "" Then
Choice2 = ctlList2
' End If
End If

Unload frm

End Sub

[jscher2000]

It has been a while since I've run into this, but .Value probably is the wrong property to use to set an initial value in a ListBox. Instead, try using one of these:

ctlList1.ListIndex = 0

ctlList1.Selected(0) = True

[st3333ve]

<img src=/S/shrug.gif border=0 alt=shrug width=39 height=15> Well, I guess there's something to be said for consistency. I'm getting buggy behavior with your alternative lines that is similar to the bugginess I get with the lines that use the .Value property. The particular list item that I designate by its index using either of your alternatives displays correctly in the dialog, but the Choice2 = ctlList2 line at the end of the procedure still fails, because ctlList2.Value remains an empty string (unless I make a point of clicking on the displayed default value in ctlList2 before I hit the OK button, in which case ctlList2.Value gets set and the macro works properly).

ctlList1, on the other hand -- the code for which is identical to the code for ctlList2 -- works properly (i.e., its .Value property correctly reflects the default index) without the need to click on it before hitting OK.

This is slightly different from the bugginess I experienced using .Value to set the default values in that, when I used .Value, the misbehavior would sometimes be with ctlList1 and sometimes with ctlList2, whereas for each case I tried using the index language, it was consistently ctlList2 whose .Value refused to "take".

[jscher2000]

I think the better solution would be to stop using the value, and use:

<pre>Choice2 = ctlList2.List(ctlList2.ListIndex)</pre>

But you also could use .SetFocus to update the .Value after you set .ListIndex. For example:

<pre>With Me.ListBox2
.AddItem "1 (Box 2)"
.AddItem "2 (Box 2)"
.ListIndex = 0
.SetFocus
End With
With Me.ListBox1
.AddItem "1 (Box 1)"
.AddItem "2 (Box 1)"
.ListIndex = 0
.SetFocus
End With</pre>

But really that's work work that you should have to do.

[st3333ve]

<img src=/S/cheers.gif border=0 alt=cheers width=30 height=16> I am pleased to report that either one of your latest 2 solutions does the trick by itself.

I had actually thought to try "SetFocus", but as I typed "ctlList2.SetFocus" I noted that SetFocus wasn't on the list in the whatchamacallit pop-up-as-you-type box, so I immediately bailed on that approach. In any case, the ctlList2.List(ctlList2.ListIndex) reference is clearly the cleaner approach, although why that doesn't equate to ctlList2.Value remains a mystery to me -- particularly given that the default choice that is correctly displayed in the listbox is in response to the line "ctlList2.Value = Choice2".

I'm a Word newbie but I've been creating Access forms since Access 2, and I don't recall ever having a comparable problem referring to an Access listbox's value.

Anyway, thanks for your persistence and have a good weekend.