Binaryworld - Determine the optimal width for ListView columns ... [ VB -> Controls-ListView ]

Here's a simple but effective trick to ensure that the column of a ListView control is wide enough to display the entire string you're assigning to the column title or to an element. Just drop a Label on the form, set its Autosize property to True and Visible property to False. Also, ensure that the Label control has a Font property that matches the one used for the ListView.

Then, when you want to ensure that a string will be displayed correctly in the ListView, just assign it to the Label control first, and then compare the Label's Width property with the width of the ListView column:

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Dim text As String

  text = "A very long string added to the ListView"
  ' Add a couple of spaces for good measure.
  Label1.Caption = text & " "

  ' Compare current column width with Label's width
  If ListView1.ColumnHeaders(1).Width < Label1.Width Then
    ' make the column wider if necessary
    ListView1.ColumnHeaders(1).Width = Label1.Width
  End If

  ListView1.ListItems.Add , , text