To select an item :- SetItemState(nItem, LVIS_SELECTED, LVIS_SELECTED);

Index property :- See GetFirstSelectedItemPosition/GetNextSelectedItem in
MSDN

Handling character entry in TextBox :- Override PreTranslateMessage and
handle WM_CHAR in your CEdit derived class

Take a look at the KeyPress event of the edit control.  In the help it is
listed as "Control.KeyPress Event".

I have not done this in a while, but you want to subclass the control. Use
the SetWindowLong() to substitute your own WndProc for the control.
Something like below :

WNDPROC oldEditProc; // to hold old edit control WndProc

LRESULT CALLBACK NewWndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM) //New WndProc for
control
{
   ... //handle WM_CHAR and replace wparam(?) with the character you want.
   ...
    return CallWindowProc(oldEditProc, hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
}

oldWndProc = (WNDPROC) SetWindowLong(hwndEditControl, GWL_WNDPROC, (LONG)
NewWndProc); //replace WndProc for control in WM_CREATE of parent window

HTH,
M