VB listbox cannot be indexed because it has no default value

Question

I have a listbox and I want to loop through each of the items to see if the string im looking for is inside. I know I could do .contains but that wouldnt look at substrings. The code im using looks like this:

While tempInt > Listbox.items.count then
if searchString.contains(listbox(tempInt)) then
end if
tempInt+=1
end while

Everything in the loop is fine but VB gives an error on the listbox(tempInt) part. The error is "class windows.forms.listbox cannot be indexed because it has no default value". Can anyone help get around the default value crap? I tried putting in a blank string but no change.

Answer 1

Use the Items property of the listbox, which is accessible via an indexer, like an array...

listBox.Items[0]

Answer 2

The error message means that the ListBox class does not have an indexer (meaning that it doesn't define a property, known as a default in VB and an indexer or this property in C#, which can be passed an index in order to retrieve a value).

You're looking for listbox.Items(tempInt)

Just as an aside, using a For loop is preferable to the While you've chosen, though For Each would probably be best (assuming you don't need the index)

For tempInt as Integer = 0 to listbox.Items.Count - 1
    if searchString.contains(listbox.Items(tempInt).ToString()) then
    end if
Next

Or, if the index isn't relvant to you, use For Each

For Each item in listbox.Items
    if searchString.contains(item.ToString()) then
    end if
Next