An application uses a list-box control to display a list in a window. List boxes can be displayed in standard application windows, although they are more commonly used in dialog windows. In either case, notification messages are sent from the list box to its owner window, enabling the application to respond to user actions in the list.

Once a list box is created, the application controls the insertion and deletion of list items. Items can be inserted at the end of the list, automatically sorted into the list, or inserted at a specified index position. Applications can turn list drawing on and off to speed up the process of inserting numerous items into a list.

The owner-window procedure of the list box receives messages when a user manipulates the list-box data. Most default list actions (for example, highlighting selections and scrolling) are handled automatically by the list box itself. The application controls the responses when the user chooses an item in the list, either by double-clicking the item or by pressing Enter after an item is highlighted. The list box also notifies the application when the user changes the selection or scrolls the list.

Normally, list items are text strings drawn by a list box. An application also can draw and highlight the items in a list. This enables the application to create customized lists that contain graphics. When an application creates a list box with the LS_OWNERDRAW style, the owner of the list box receives a WM_DRAWITEM message for each item that should be drawn or highlighted. This is similar to the owner-drawn style for menus, except that the owner-drawn style applies to the entire list rather than to individual items.