Cannot Set TOC View/Tab to Display with VBA?

Question

I have some code from 9.3 that would check the CurrentContentsView.ContextItem to ensure that the TOC was in Display (or Drawing Order) view. If not it would set it to Display via:

If Not pDoc.CurrentContentsView.ContextItem = 1 Then
 Set pDoc.CurrentContentsView.ContextItem = 1
 pDoc.ContentsView(1).Refresh Nothing
End If
pDoc.ContentsView(1).Refresh Nothing

Now that the TOC is a DockableWindow (which I can access) and there are several IContentsViews, this no longer works. It's surprising that this is impossible to find in the forums and the VBA SDK as as brief and cryptic as could be.

How do I access the ContextItem (which seems stuck at NULL) to set it? Also, is the fact that "currentContentsView" automatically reverts to a lower-case "c" when the object apparently shouldhave an upper-case "C" significant?

Any help would be MUCH appreciated. For some reason, my code runs 3x faster in Display View and I want to automatically set it if the user forgets (or doesn't know).

Oh...and yes, I AM aware of VBA's demise and the existence of Python. Noted.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

This add-in code example (not in VBA format) will check contents view and change to display view (List By Drawling Order).

 Protected Overrides Sub OnClick()
 'ChangeArcMapTOC_ContentsView("Source")
 ChangeArcMapTOC_ContentsView("Display")
 My.ArcMap.Application.CurrentTool = Nothing
 End Sub
 Private Sub ChangeArcMapTOC_ContentsView(ByVal newContentsViewName As String)
 Dim app As IApplication = CType(Hook, IApplication)
 Dim mxdoc As IMxDocument = CType(My.ArcMap.Application.Document, IMxDocument)
 If mxdoc.CurrentContentsView.Name = newContentsViewName Then
 Exit Sub
 End If
 ' loop thru all ContentsViews to see if newContentsViewName exists.
 Dim i As Integer
 Dim pContentView As IContentsView
 Dim bFound As Boolean
 For i = 0 To mxdoc.ContentsViewCount - 1
 pContentView = mxdoc.ContentsView(i)
 If pContentView.Name = newContentsViewName Then
 bFound = True
 Exit For
 End If
 Next
 If bFound = False Then
 MessageBox.Show("Contents view '" & newContentsViewName & "' does not exist", "Could not change contents view")
 Exit Sub
 Else
 mxdoc.CurrentContentsView = pContentView
 End If
 pContentView.Refresh(Nothing)
 Exit Sub
 End Sub

• Dan Shaffer: Hmm...as ususal.
• Dan Shaffer: OK that auto-submit on Enter is killing me! As usual...I missed the simplest possible way to do something! Thanks for getting me pointed back in the right direction. On another note...do I use the ContentsView3 to update the selected button (List by Drawing Order vs. Source)? This script doesn't do that. But it was immensely helpful. Thanks!
• Dan Shaffer: Interesting...never mind. When inserted into my code and run, the button DOES update after a second or two...maybe I needed a few refreshes or something. Again...many thanks!