C# ListBox DrawItem not working

Question

I want to override the DrawItem function of the ListBox but I fail. I have tried various snippets from the web and also from msdn but somewhy it does not work. The sourcecode is just for testing so I does not care about good structure etc. I want a working script which I can learn from and possibly improve.

I am using MS VS 2015 RC and added events via the Form-Designer.

Currently I have following sourcecode. My log rte does not display the drawitem entry either - so it's not being added.

Form1.cs

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace CustomFormElements
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        this.listBox1.Items.Add("Test");
        this.listBox1.Items.Add("Test1");
        this.listBox1.Items.Add("Test2");
        this.listBox1.Items.Add("Test3");
        this.listBox1.Items.AddRange( new Object[] { "Test4", "Test5", "Test6" });
    }

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    private void AddToLog(string text)
    {
        this.richTextBox1.Text = this.richTextBox1.Text + text + "\r\n";
    }

    private void listBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("SelectedIndexChanged");
    }

    private void listBox1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawItemEventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("DrawItem");
        bool isSelected = ((e.State & DrawItemState.Selected) == DrawItemState.Selected);

        if (e.Index > -1)
        {
            /* If the item is selected set the background color to SystemColors.Highlight 
             or else set the color to either WhiteSmoke or White depending if the item index is even or odd */
            Color color = isSelected ? SystemColors.Highlight :
                e.Index % 2 == 0 ? Color.Green : Color.SandyBrown;

            // Background item brush
            SolidBrush backgroundBrush = new SolidBrush(color);
            // Text color brush
            SolidBrush textBrush = new SolidBrush(e.ForeColor);

            // Draw the background
            e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backgroundBrush, e.Bounds);
            // Draw the text
            e.Graphics.DrawString(listBox1.GetItemText(listBox1.Items[e.Index]), e.Font, textBrush, e.Bounds, StringFormat.GenericDefault);

            // Clean up
            backgroundBrush.Dispose();
            textBrush.Dispose();
        }
        e.DrawFocusRectangle();
    }

    private void listBox1_MeasureItem(object sender, MeasureItemEventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("MeasureItem");
    }

    private void listBox1_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("Enter");
    }

    private void listBox1_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("Leave");
    }

    private void listBox1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.AddToLog("Click");
    }
}
}

Form1.Designer.cs

namespace CustomFormElements
{
partial class Form1
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Erforderliche Designervariable.
    /// </summary>
    private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;

    /// <summary>
    /// Verwendete Ressourcen bereinigen.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="disposing">True, wenn verwaltete Ressourcen gelöscht werden sollen; andernfalls False.</param>
    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing && (components != null))
        {
            components.Dispose();
        }
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    #region Vom Windows Form-Designer generierter Code

    /// <summary>
    /// Erforderliche Methode für die Designerunterstützung.
    /// Der Inhalt der Methode darf nicht mit dem Code-Editor geändert werden.
    /// </summary>
    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        this.listBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.ListBox();
        this.richTextBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        // 
        // listBox1
        // 
        this.listBox1.FormattingEnabled = true;
        this.listBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(13, 13);
        this.listBox1.Name = "listBox1";
        this.listBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(332, 303);
        this.listBox1.TabIndex = 0;
        this.listBox1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.listBox1_Click);
        this.listBox1.DrawItem += new System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventHandler(this.listBox1_DrawItem);
        this.listBox1.MeasureItem += new System.Windows.Forms.MeasureItemEventHandler(this.listBox1_MeasureItem);
        this.listBox1.SelectedIndexChanged += new System.EventHandler(this.listBox1_SelectedIndexChanged);
        this.listBox1.Enter += new System.EventHandler(this.listBox1_Enter);
        this.listBox1.Leave += new System.EventHandler(this.listBox1_Leave);
        // 
        // richTextBox1
        // 
        this.richTextBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(361, 13);
        this.richTextBox1.Name = "richTextBox1";
        this.richTextBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(479, 303);
        this.richTextBox1.TabIndex = 1;
        this.richTextBox1.Text = "";
        // 
        // Form1
        // 
        this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
        this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
        this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(1009, 475);
        this.Controls.Add(this.richTextBox1);
        this.Controls.Add(this.listBox1);
        this.Name = "Form1";
        this.Text = "Form1";
        this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.Form1_Load);
        this.ResumeLayout(false);

    }

    #endregion

    private System.Windows.Forms.ListBox listBox1;
    private System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox richTextBox1;
}
}

Answer 1

According to MSDN for ListBox.DrawMode:

This event is used by an owner-drawn ListBox. The event is only raised when the DrawMode property is set to DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed or DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable. You can use this event to perform the tasks needed to draw items in the ListBox. If you have a variable-sized item (when the DrawMode property is set to DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable), before drawing an item, the MeasureItem event is raised. You can create an event handler for the MeasureItem event to specify the size for the item that you are going to draw in your event handler for the DrawItem event.