The HotList is a new kind of listbox control that allows you to use HTML for a better looking, more functional presentation in your UI. The HotList displays HTML instead of plain text. Why use boring text-only listboxes when you can have HTML listboxes instead? The HotList is a new invention in user-interface technology that will add style to your UI! Here are some of the features of the HotList :

• Display any HTML text, including graphics.
• Complete control over background and text colors, fonts and effects
• Events for Click, DoubleClick, MouseOver and MouseOut, enabling you to do anything you need to do to customize your listboxes, such as changing the background or text color in the ListItem while it is selected, or even change the HTML for the ListItem.
• You can also pass mouse click events through to your application code by using the window.external.raiseEvent method.

Each ListItem has its own HTML. You can specify any valid HTML for a ListItem, including fonts, background and text color, graphics, even animated GIFs and ActiveX controls (the HotList actually hosts the Microsoft WebBrowser control). You can use HTML in a ListItem to create special effects. For example, you could use animated GIFs for a blinking graphic to draw attention to an item. You can specify graphics stored as a resource in your EXE or DLL using the RES: protocol, or you can use EzStor files with the HSP: protocol.

Microsoft has done a similar thing in Windows 2000 in the "Add/Remove Programs" dialog. Compare the screenshot of that with our HotList boxes below. Now you can do the same thing easily in your own programs with the HotList.

This HotList uses DHTML to implement expanding list items. Clicking on a link can either jump to a hyperlink, open an email message, or fire an event in your program code to action.

This HotList mimics functionality found in Microsoft Word. Again, it uses DHTML to expand/collapse list items.

Windows "Add / Remove Programs Dialog box" implemented in HotList. Clicking on a list item expands the item. Clicking on the buttons or links fires an event in the program code to action.

A simple customer list. Clicking on a customer name opens a webbrowser to their webpage. Clicking on contact name opens an email message.