For each <item> in CheckedListBox. <item> returns as Object and not as Control

Question

Hello there.

I have a CheckedListBox previously populated. I want to loop with a "for each / next" through all items in the CheckedListBox and do a lot of "stuff" with each iteration element of the checkedlistbox.

example code:

    For Each item In CheckedListBox1.Items

        If item.Checked = True Then

            'do stuff like
            item.BackColor = Color.Blue

        Else

            'do other stuff
            item.BackColor = Color.Brown

        End If

    Next

the problem is that is an 'Object' type and not a 'Control' type. If I force the iteration var As CheckBox, it throws an InvalidCastException saying that type 'System.String' can't be associated with type 'System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox'

I know I can easily work around using

for i=0 to CheckedListBox.Items.Count - 1

but I want to use a for each /next loop since I have a lot of code in that loop (and With can't be used) and always poiting directly to the object is something I wish to avoid and I really need the code to be as simple as possible.

I actually spent one afternoon looking for this but couldn't find any answer.

If someone could be kind enough to enlight me in this, it would be extremely appreciated.

Best regards

Answer 1

A CheckedListBox is not a collection of CheckBox controls.
It does not have a collection of wrapper objects.

The CheckedListBox control is a simple control that can only display a plain list of items; it sounds like you're looking for something more powerful. (For example, it is impossible to change the background color of an individual item without owner-drawing)

You should use a ListView (with the CheckBoxes property set to true) instead.
You can then loop through the ListViewItem instances in its Items collection.