Using F2 as a hot key to Rename an Item in a ListCtrl or TreeCtrl

Although I have taken great care while coding this use this code at your own risk.

Add the following code to the .cpp file of your CListCtrl or CListView

BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CMyListView, CListView)
    ON_WM_KEYDOWN()
    ON_NOTIFY_REFLECT_EX( LVN_BEGINLABELEDIT, OnBeginLabelEdit )
    ON_NOTIFY_REFLECT_EX( LVN_ENDLABELEDIT, OnEndLabelEdit )
END_MESSAGE_MAP()

void CMyListView::OnKeyDown( UINT nChar, UINT nRepCnt, UINT nFlags )
{
    CListCtrl& oListCtrl = GetListCtrl( );
    switch( nChar )
    {
    case VK_F2:
        {
            // To Use F2 as hot Key to get EditCtrl on the ListView it must have 
            // the Style LVS_EDITLABELS
            ASSERT( oListCtrl.GetStyle() & LVS_EDITLABELS );

            // don't do an Edit Label when the multiple Items are selected
            if( oListCtrl.GetSelectedCount( ) == 1 )
            {
                UINT nListSelectedItem = GetSelectedItem();
                VERIFY( oListCtrl.EditLabel( nListSelectedItem ) != NULL );
            }
            else
                CListView::OnKeyDown( nChar, nRepCnt, nFlags );
        }
        break;

    default:
        CListView::OnKeyDown( nChar, nRepCnt, nFlags );
        break;
    }

}

// this Function Returns the first Selected Item In the List
UINT CMyListView::GetSelectedItem()
{
    CListCtrl& oListCtrl = GetListCtrl( );
    // this Function Valid Only when a Single Item Is Selected
    ASSERT( oListCtrl.GetSelectedCount( ) == 1 );

    UINT nNoOfItems = oListCtrl.GetItemCount( );

    for( UINT nListItem = 0; nListItem < nNoOfItems; nListItem++ )
        if( oListCtrl.GetItemState( nListItem, LVIS_SELECTED )  )
            break;

    ASSERT( nListItem < nNoOfItems );
    return nListItem;
}

Add this in the MessageMap section of CMyListView or CMyListCtrl file.

    afx_msg void OnKeyDown( UINT nChar, UINT nRepCnt, UINT nFlags );

Add this Function as a private Member Fn to your CMyListView or CMyListCtrl .h file.

    UINT GetSelectedItem();

Download demo project - 20 KB