SetListSelections - Select in a List control the items passed as a comma delimited list

' Select the specified items (passed as a comma delimited list) in the input 
' List control (e.g. ListBox, CheckBoxList)
' 
' Example:
' SetListSelections(CheckBoxList1, "item 3, item 5, item 6")

Sub SetListSelections(ByVal listCtl As System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListControl, _
    ByVal selections As String)
    ' first reset the list's selections
    For Each item As System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItem In listCtl.Items
        item.Selected = False
    Next
    ' replace the ", " separator with a single char separator,
    '  so that the string's Split method can be used
    selections = selections.Replace(", ", "*")
    ' split the string in an array of items to select
    Dim itemsToSelect As String() = selections.Split("*"c)
    ' search each item, and if found, select it
    For Each itemToSelect As String In itemsToSelect
        Dim item As System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItem = _
            listCtl.Items.FindByValue(itemToSelect)
        If Not item Is Nothing Then item.Selected = True
    Next
End Sub