PRB: DBList Shrinks When Toggling Appearance Property

• Professional and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

With the DBList's IntegralHeight property set to True (the default) switching back and forth between the 3D and flat versions of the DBList control (via the Appearance property) causes the DBList control to shrink vertically, possibly all the way to a single horizontal line.

CAUSE

When the control's Appearance property is Flat, the control has a certain number of pixels X for a certain number of rows N, as well as two extra pixels for the border. When switched to a 3D view, the control still only uses a maximum of X+2 pixels total but now uses 4 pixels for the border, and it doesn't have enough space left over for all N rows of data. To remedy this, the control reduces the number of rows shown by one. Repeating this numerous times causes row after row to be lost, until no rows are left, and the control appears as a flat line.

RESOLUTION

After setting the Appearance property to the desired value, resize the control to the desired proportions.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Visual Basic, or if it is already running, choose New Project from the File menu.

2. Click and drag a single DBList control onto the form. The IntegralHeight property of the control is set to True by default.

3. Repeatedly double-click on the DBList's Appearance property in the Properties window to toggle between the flat and 3D views of the DBList control. The control will shrink in size vertically, until it remains as just a single line on the form.