Friend WithEvents ListBox1 As System.Windows.Forms.ListBox

Private Sub InitializeOwnerDrawnListBox()
    Me.ListBox1 = New System.Windows.Forms.ListBox

    ' Set the location and size.
    ListBox1.Location = New Point(20, 20)
    ListBox1.Size = New Size(240, 240)

    ' Populate the ListBox.ObjectCollection property 
    ' with several strings, using the AddRange method.
    Me.ListBox1.Items.AddRange(New Object() _
        {"System.Windows.Forms", "System.Drawing", "System.Xml", _
        "System.Net", "System.Runtime.Remoting", "System.Web"})

    ' Turn off the scrollbar.
    ListBox1.ScrollAlwaysVisible = False

    ' Set the border style to a single, flat border.
    ListBox1.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle

    ' Set the DrawMode property to the OwnerDrawVariable value. 
    ' This means the MeasureItem and DrawItem events must be 
    ' handled.
    ListBox1.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable
    Me.Controls.Add(Me.ListBox1)
End Sub


' Handle the DrawItem event for an owner-drawn ListBox.
Private Sub ListBox1_DrawItem(ByVal sender As Object, _
    ByVal e As DrawItemEventArgs) Handles ListBox1.DrawItem

    ' If the item is the selected item, then draw the rectangle filled in
    ' blue. The item is selected when a bitwise And of the State property
    ' and the DrawItemState.Selected property is true. 
    If (e.State And DrawItemState.Selected = DrawItemState.Selected) Then
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.CornflowerBlue, e.Bounds)
    Else
        ' Otherwise, draw the rectangle filled in beige.
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Beige, e.Bounds)
    End If

    ' Draw a rectangle in blue around each item.
    e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Blue, e.Bounds)

    ' Draw the text in the item.
    e.Graphics.DrawString(Me.ListBox1.Items(e.Index), Me.Font, _
        Brushes.Black, e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y)

    ' Draw the focus rectangle around the selected item.
    e.DrawFocusRectangle()
End Sub

' Handle the MeasureItem event for an owner-drawn ListBox.
Private Sub ListBox1_MeasureItem(ByVal sender As Object, _
    ByVal e As MeasureItemEventArgs) Handles ListBox1.MeasureItem

    ' Cast the sender object back to ListBox type.
    Dim theListBox As ListBox = CType(sender, ListBox)

    ' Get the string contained in each item.
    Dim itemString As String = CType(theListBox.Items(e.Index), String)

    ' Split the string at the " . "  character.
    Dim resultStrings() As String = itemString.Split(".")

    ' If the string contains more than one period, increase the 
    ' height by ten pixels; otherwise, increase the height by 
    ' five pixels.
    If (resultStrings.Length > 2) Then
        e.ItemHeight += 10
    Else
        e.ItemHeight += 5
    End If

End Sub