This is how I did it in one of my projects (the original code is in c#):
Public Class ColoringStepCommandListBox
Inherits CommandListBox
Const ItemHeight As Integer = 20
Public Sub New()
listBox.ItemHeight = ItemHeight
listBox.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnDrawItem(sender As Object, e As DrawItemEventArgs)
Const textFormatFlags__1 As TextFormatFlags = TextFormatFlags.EndEllipsis Or TextFormatFlags.PreserveGraphicsClipping Or TextFormatFlags.VerticalCenter
Const colorRectangleWidth As Integer = 100, textLeft As Integer = 110
If e.Index >= 0 Then
'Cast the listbox item to your custom type (ColoringStep in my example).
Dim coloringStep = TryCast(listBox.Items(e.Index), ColoringStep)
e.DrawBackground()
'Do custom coloring and rendering, draw icons etc.
Dim colorRect = New Rectangle(2, e.Bounds.Top + 2, colorRectangleWidth, ItemHeight - 5)
Dim innerRect = New Rectangle(colorRect.Left + 1, colorRect.Top + 1, colorRect.Width - 1, colorRect.Height - 1)
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, colorRect)
DrawingHelper.DrawGradient(coloringStep, e.Graphics, innerRect, LinearGradientMode.Horizontal)
'Draw the text (this does not happen automatically any more with owner draw modes).
Dim textRect = New Rectangle(textLeft, e.Bounds.Top, e.Bounds.Width - textLeft, e.Bounds.Height)
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, coloringStep.ToString(), e.Font, textRect, e.ForeColor, textFormatFlags__1)
e.DrawFocusRectangle()
End If
End Sub
End Class