Better ListView: Alternative list view control for .NET

Ideal .NET WinForms (C#, VB.net) replacement list view component. More features, less limitations, fast and optimized.

The tables below explain the main differences between regular .NET list view and Better ListView. However, it would be a mistake to look on Better ListView just as an improved or fixed listview - it can do so much more. The Overview and our blog highlights many of these extra features and possibilities.

Better behavior and fixed issues:

Regular .NET ListView Control	Better ListView control
Some events fire twice bug	Fixed
Selection behavior different from Windows Explorer	Fixed; Behaves as expected
Drag & Drop behavior different from Windows Explorer	Fixed; Behaves as expected
Checkboxes do not stay in the first column when the first column is reordered	Fixed; Behaves as expected
Non-standard checkboxes behavior (e.g. when using spacebar)	Fixed
Non-standard look, incompatible with system themes	Fixed; Always uses system theme. Looks great on all Windows versions. Works with Windows 7 themes and Aero

In addition to creating a new List View control to incorporate broader flexibility and functionality, Better ListView could also be called Fixed ListView, as it corrects a number of annoying problems with the standard List View that Microsoft delivers to Visual Studio customers.

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Removed limitations:

Regular .NET ListView Control	Better ListView control
Just one image per item	Enhanced; Each sub-item can have image
No group header customization	Added, each group header is fully customizable
ImageList must be used to display images	Both ImageList and Image instances can be used
Simple sorting only	Multi-column sorting; Users can use Shift+Click to add additional columns to the sort
Three-state checkboxes not supported	Support for both two-state and three-state check boxes
Very limited event data	Enhanced; Many events have rich event data with useful information
Only 1 context menu for whole ListView	Up to 3 separate context menus: One for column headers, one for items, and one for empty area
Columns can be shown only in “Details” layout	Columns can be shown in all layouts
Only “SmallIcon” and “LargeIcon” size supported	Images can be of any size
Image size is static	Images are scaled and centered smoothly when necessary while keeping their respective aspect ratios
Column header images are not supported	Both ImageList and custom Image instances can be set for column headers
Custom comparer for sorting has to be implemented from scratch	Custom comparer can be inherited from BetterListView’s default comparer to extend its functionality; Any custom IComparer is supported as well
Sub-item images very limited; Usable only via WinAPI with limitations in size and color depth	Images for sub-item fully supported (both ImageList and custom Image instances)
Check boxes do not have animation effect like the standard control	Check boxes are animated when used with mouse or keyboard the same way as the CheckBox control
Searching with keyboard only on first column and limited to string prefixes	Keyboard searching can be used on columns of choice and the searching behavior can be further adjusted (any substring, character-based or word-based search)
Only simple item tooltips supported	Automatic and customizable tooltips on items, sub-items and columns are supported
Can scroll to just one item	One or several items can be specified to be scrolled into view
Vista-look only with WinAPI extension	Visual elements are used by default
No Drag & Drop item highlighting	Items under cursor are properly highlighted during dragging; Highlighting can be switched off for selected items

The control is very easy and intuitive to use and is well documented.

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Other extra features:

Regular .NET ListView Control	Better ListView control
No thumbnails view	Added support; can be used for viewing thumbnails of photos or other images
No inbuilt saving/loading	Added support; save/load contents to file or string (XML or binary)
No item hierarchy	Added support; tree-like hierarchical items supported
No image shadows or borders	Added support; you can use image shadows or borders, supports custom image padding (eg. useful when owner-drawing overlay icons)
No empty text support (watermark text when ListView is empty)	Added support; Empty text for empty ListView is supported; You can give hint to your users now
No inbuilt sort	Added inbuilt sort support; Zero-code sorting
No auto-scroll when reordering items	Added; Auto-scroll speed can be adjusted
No auto-scroll when reordering columns	Added; Auto-scroll speed can be adjusted
No inbuilt item/column reordering	Added item/column reordering support; Zero-code reordering
No auto-scroll when dragging an item	Added; Auto-scroll speed can be adjusted

The enhancements I found most useful for my own projects were the automatic layout, context menus, improved drag and drop, item searching, and sorting options. Thanks to both the source code–included demos, the online documentation, and the obvious property names of the control's "better" features, I was able to put the component to use faster than it took me to install the setup package.

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Download Free Trial - With sample projects See Pricing & Licensing

Version 3.15 / May 27, 2015

Seamless integration with .NET 2.0 and higher

See Quick Start Guide

See Documentation

See Class Reference