I found the effect of fading borders impressive on my smartphone. This is actualy very easy to do as it requires a simple gradient brush.

You can obtain the same effect with Better ListView by overriding the DrawingRedrawCore method and do the drawing over the items:

C#

[csharp gutter=”false” toolbar=”false”]
public class FadedListView : BetterListView
{
///

private const int FadingSize = 64;

public CustomListView()
{
// this is required because we will draw outside item boundaries
OptimizedInvalidation = false;
}

protected override void DrawingRedrawCore(Graphics graphics)
{
base.DrawingRedrawCore(graphics);

// get boundaries of items (this excludes column headers and scroll bars)
Rectangle rectContent = BoundsContent;

// get size of the gradient
int fadingSize = Math.Min(
FadingSize,
rectContent.Height >> 1);

// get boundaries of the gradents
Rectangle rectFadingTop = new Rectangle(
rectContent.Left,
rectContent.Top,
rectContent.Width,
fadingSize);

Rectangle rectFadingBottom = new Rectangle(
rectContent.Left,
rectContent.Bottom – fadingSize,
rectContent.Width,
fadingSize);

// make boundaries larger to avoid rounding errors in gradient brushes
rectFadingTop.Inflate(1, 1);
rectFadingBottom.Inflate(1, 1);

Brush brushFadingTop = new LinearGradientBrush(rectFadingTop, BackColor, Color.Transparent, LinearGradientMode.Vertical);
Brush brushFadingBottom = new LinearGradientBrush(rectFadingBottom, Color.Transparent, SystemColors.Window, LinearGradientMode.Vertical);

// deflate the gradient boundaries back
rectFadingTop.Inflate(-1, -1);
rectFadingBottom.Inflate(-1, -1);

// draw the gradients
graphics.FillRectangle(brushFadingTop, rectFadingTop);
graphics.FillRectangle(brushFadingBottom, rectFadingBottom);

// cleanup
brushFadingTop.Dispose();
brushFadingBottom.Dispose();
}
}
[/csharp]

Visual Basic

[vb gutter=”false” toolbar=”false”]
Public Class CustomListView
Inherits BetterListView
”’

Private Const FadingSize As Integer = 64

Public Sub New()
‘ this is required because we will draw outside item boundaries
OptimizedInvalidation = False
End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub DrawingRedrawCore(graphics As Graphics)
MyBase.DrawingRedrawCore(graphics)

‘ get boundaries of items (this excludes column headers and scroll bars)
Dim rectContent As Rectangle = BoundsContent

‘ get size of the gradient
Dim fadingSize__1 As Integer = Math.Min(FadingSize, rectContent.Height >> 1)

‘ get boundaries of the gradents
Dim rectFadingTop As New Rectangle(rectContent.Left, rectContent.Top, rectContent.Width, fadingSize__1)

Dim rectFadingBottom As New Rectangle(rectContent.Left, rectContent.Bottom – fadingSize__1, rectContent.Width, fadingSize__1)

‘ make boundaries larger to avoid rounding errors in gradient brushes
rectFadingTop.Inflate(1, 1)
rectFadingBottom.Inflate(1, 1)

Dim brushFadingTop As Brush = New LinearGradientBrush(rectFadingTop, BackColor, Color.Transparent, LinearGradientMode.Vertical)
Dim brushFadingBottom As Brush = New LinearGradientBrush(rectFadingBottom, Color.Transparent, SystemColors.Window, LinearGradientMode.Vertical)

‘ deflate the gradient boundaries back
rectFadingTop.Inflate(-1, -1)
rectFadingBottom.Inflate(-1, -1)

‘ draw the gradients
graphics.FillRectangle(brushFadingTop, rectFadingTop)
graphics.FillRectangle(brushFadingBottom, rectFadingBottom)

‘ cleanup
brushFadingTop.Dispose()
brushFadingBottom.Dispose()
End Sub
End Class
[/vb]

Customized item selection.

By default, Better ListView uses system theme for drawing selections.

To draw custom selection, you can use owner drawing capabilities of Better ListView:

C#

[csharp gutter=”false” toolbar=”false”]
class CustomListView : BetterListView
{
protected override void OnDrawItemBackground(BetterListViewDrawItemBackgroundEventArgs eventArgs)
{
base.OnDrawItemBackground(eventArgs);

if (eventArgs.Item.Selected)
{
Brush brushSelection = new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(128, Color.LightGreen));
eventArgs.Graphics.FillRectangle(brushSelection, eventArgs.ItemBounds.BoundsSelection);
brushSelection.Dispose();
}
}

protected override void OnDrawItem(BetterListViewDrawItemEventArgs eventArgs)
{
eventArgs.DrawSelection = false;

base.OnDrawItem(eventArgs);

if (eventArgs.Item.Selected)
{
eventArgs.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.DarkGreen, eventArgs.ItemBounds.BoundsSelection);
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Visual Basic

[vb gutter=”false” toolbar=”false”]
Class CustomListView
Inherits BetterListView
Protected Overrides Sub OnDrawItemBackground(eventArgs As BetterListViewDrawItemBackgroundEventArgs)
MyBase.OnDrawItemBackground(eventArgs)

If eventArgs.Item.Selected Then
Dim brushSelection As Brush = New SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(128, Color.LightGreen))
eventArgs.Graphics.FillRectangle(brushSelection, eventArgs.ItemBounds.BoundsSelection)
brushSelection.Dispose()
End If
End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub OnDrawItem(eventArgs As BetterListViewDrawItemEventArgs)
eventArgs.DrawSelection = False

MyBase.OnDrawItem(eventArgs)

If eventArgs.Item.Selected Then
eventArgs.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.DarkGreen, eventArgs.ItemBounds.BoundsSelection)
End If
End Sub
End Class
[/vb]

In the above code, we have created class CustomListView that inherits from BetterListView. We override OnDrawItemBackground and OnDrawItem methods to customize item background and item foreground drawing, respectively.

The OnDrawItemBackground method contains only check for whether the item is selected. If so, we draw selection background (filled rectangle in selection area).

The OnDrawItem method contains two things:

1. Turn off  default selection.
2. Draw custom selection border if the item is selected.

Drawbacks of drawing custom selections like this include using non-system theme, which can look ugly on various color schemes. By default, Better ListView always use the system theme, so the color consistency is ensured. You can, however, still use classes like SystemColors or SystemBrushes to ensure good look.

Another drawback is that you handle only two states of selection, i.e. selected and unselected state. This is sufficient for Classic Windows theme but there are several more states used on Windows Aero Theme, like “hot”, “focused and hot” or “hot and pressed”.

To allow these states, considerable coding need to be done.

In case you need this level of customization, please contact us for Custom Coding support.