Option Strict On Public Class ArraySearchForm Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form #Region " Windows Form Designer generated code " Public Sub New() MyBase.New() 'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer. InitializeComponent() 'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call End Sub 'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list. Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean) If disposing Then If Not (components Is Nothing) Then components.Dispose() End If End If MyBase.Dispose(disposing) End Sub Friend WithEvents ListBox1 As System.Windows.Forms.ListBox Friend WithEvents bttnPopulate As System.Windows.Forms.Button Friend WithEvents bttnSearch As System.Windows.Forms.Button 'Required by the Windows Form Designer Private components As System.ComponentModel.Container 'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer 'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer. 'Do not modify it using the code editor. Private Sub InitializeComponent() Me.ListBox1 = New System.Windows.Forms.ListBox() Me.bttnPopulate = New System.Windows.Forms.Button() Me.bttnSearch = New System.Windows.Forms.Button() Me.SuspendLayout() ' 'ListBox1 ' Me.ListBox1.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Verdana", 9.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(161, Byte)) Me.ListBox1.ItemHeight = 14 Me.ListBox1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 8) Me.ListBox1.Name = "ListBox1" Me.ListBox1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(200, 312) Me.ListBox1.TabIndex = 0 ' 'bttnPopulate ' Me.bttnPopulate.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Verdana", 9.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(161, Byte)) Me.bttnPopulate.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(216, 8) Me.bttnPopulate.Name = "bttnPopulate" Me.bttnPopulate.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(120, 40) Me.bttnPopulate.TabIndex = 1 Me.bttnPopulate.Text = "Populate Array" ' 'bttnSearch ' Me.bttnSearch.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Verdana", 9.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(161, Byte)) Me.bttnSearch.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(216, 64) Me.bttnSearch.Name = "bttnSearch" Me.bttnSearch.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(120, 40) Me.bttnSearch.TabIndex = 2 Me.bttnSearch.Text = "Search Array" ' 'ArraySearchForm ' Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13) Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(346, 325) Me.Controls.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.Control() {Me.bttnSearch, Me.bttnPopulate, Me.ListBox1}) Me.Name = "ArraySearchForm" Me.Text = "ArraySearch" Me.ResumeLayout(False) End Sub #End Region Dim words() As String Private Sub bttnPopulate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bttnPopulate.Click Dim wordLen As Integer ' number of words to place on the list Dim Nwords As Integer = 999 ' The words array holds the random words ReDim words(Nwords) Dim ascChar As Integer Dim rnd As System.Random rnd = New System.Random() Dim rndChar As Char Dim thisWord As String Dim word, chr As Integer Dim T1, T2 As System.DateTime T1 = Now ' Generate random words and populate list For word = 0 To Nwords wordLen = CInt(rnd.Next(3, 15)) thisWord = "" For chr = 0 To wordLen rndChar = ChrW(65 + rnd.Next(0, 25)) thisWord = thisWord & rndChar Next words(word) = thisWord 'ListBox1.Items.Add(thisWord) Next ' show how long it took to generate words T2 = Now MsgBox("It took " & ((T2.Ticks - T1.Ticks) / 10000).ToString & " msecs to create array") ' now sort the list T1 = Now ListBox1.Items.Clear() System.Array.Sort(words) ' show how long it took to sort the array with the words T2 = Now MsgBox("It took " & ((T2.Ticks - T1.Ticks) / 10000).ToString & " msecs to sort array") T1 = Now ' now add the words to the ListBox control For word = 0 To Nwords ListBox1.Items.Add(words(word)) Next ' and show how long it took to populate the control T2 = Now MsgBox("It took " & ((T2.Ticks - T1.Ticks) / 10000).ToString & " msecs to refresh the List Box") End Sub Private Sub bttnSearch_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bttnSearch.Click Dim srchWord As String ' the word to search for Dim wordIndex As Integer ' the index of the word in the list (if found) srchWord = InputBox("Enter word to search for") ' perform a binary search to locate the word, because the list is sorted wordIndex = System.Array.BinarySearch(words, srchWord) Console.WriteLine(wordIndex) If wordIndex >= 0 Then ' Zero or positive value indicates an exact match MsgBox("Words(" & wordIndex.ToString & ") = " & words(wordIndex), , "EXACT MATCH") ListBox1.TopIndex = wordIndex ListBox1.SelectedIndex = wordIndex Else ' a negative value indicates a near match (the first item after the location ' of the item we search for, if it were in the list MsgBox("Words(" & (-wordIndex - 1).ToString & ") = " & words(-wordIndex - 1), , "NEAR MATCH") ListBox1.TopIndex = -wordIndex - 1 ListBox1.SelectedIndex = -wordIndex - 1 End If End Sub End Class