Fast Listview Loading

The most obvious solution here is a cross between all of those you mentioned; basically paging. Load a set number and then allow the user to page backward and forward using a numbered page sequence above or below the ListView control.

To speed up further don't use an active RecordSet; instead, load the data into an array and directly drop the information into the control. Use an alternative form if you want to edit the information rather than editing in the ListView control.

Alternatively you could just create your own ListView equivalent and write the objects directly onto the form yourself using your own format.

I think that if you have to use something like LockWindowUpdate then you're going down the wrong path. You should just be able to use the appropriate property of the control to prevent user interference.

-- EDIT --

The idea is to read the data into an array in memory and then loop through it and populate your ListView in a similar way to this:

Private Function TestInsertListView() As Long
    Dim i As Long
    Dim j As Long
    Dim lT As Long
    Dim itmX As ListItem
    lT = timeGetTime

    ' Add first row
    With lvwTest
        i = 1
        Set itmX = .ListItems.Add(, , "Row" & i & ";Col 1")
        For j = 2 To mcCOLS
           itmX.SubItems(j - 1) = "Row" & i & ";Col" & j - 1
        Next

        For i = 2 To m_iRows
           Set itmX = .ListItems.Add(i, , "Row" & i & ";Col 1")
           For j = 2 To mcCOLS
              itmX.SubItems(j - 1) = "Row" & i & ";Col" & j - 1
           Next
        Next
     End With
     TestInsertListView = timeGetTime - lT

End Function

(I found the above example here.)

Obviously you'd need to modify the above to include the reading of the data but that should be pretty straightforward. This link gives a demo of the ADO GetRows method which allows you to read the data.

For suggestion #1 - You could either superempose your only vertical scroll bar on top of the list view control, or subclass the ListView control.

Alternatively, you could use the ItemClick() event (clicking items near the bottom of the list) to determine whether more lines need to be loaded.

Don't use LockWindowUpdate - that is meant to be used for processes which need to draw into windows belonging to other processes when do drag-drop. Google OldNewThing LockWindowUpdate for articles explaining how it works and why using this is a bad idea. It isn't equal to ListView.Visible = False. You can only use one window at a time with this API call.

Use the following SendMessage calls to disable and enable updating.

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "User32.dll" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Private Const WM_SETREDRAW  As Long = &HB
Private Const SR_ON         As Long = 1
Private Const SR_OFF        As Long = 0

SendMessage ListView.hWnd, WM_SETREDRAW, SR_OFF, 0&
SendMessage ListView.hWnd, WM_SETREDRAW, SR_ON, 0&

Make sure sorting is disabled while it is loading.