Introduction, Comparison

Quick Summary

Better ListView is a WinForms control written from scratch entirely in C#. It has been designed to completely replace the regular .NET list view control, and it comes with many additional features, improvements and better native look and feel (including Aero support).

Compatibility

Compatible with: Visual Studio 2012, 2010, 2008, 2005 (and newer), with full designer support.
For C#, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), managed C++, and other CLI languages.
Compatible with .NET 4.5, 4.0 and 4.0 Client Profile, 3.5 and 3.5 Client Profile, 3.0, 2.0, and newer.
Runs on Windows 8, 7, Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, and newer, both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Benefits

More features (see the comparison below).
Fixed all bugs and quirks of the regular .NET ListView.
Fully managed, 100% C# code. No more Win32 API.
Minimum learning needed (similar naming conventions, etc).
Single DLL file with simple XCOPY deployment, royalty-free.
Great native look and feel (including Aero support).

Because Better ListView is written entirely from scratch in pure managed code, it adds functionality hardly achievable by just wrapping the regular ListView control. Such features include hierarchical items, image thumbnails, data binding, multi-line items ... and more!

The Better ListView source code consists of a single C# project without any external dependencies, it is clean, readable, fully commented and readily extensible.

You can save time with many of the inbuilt features (sorting, item reordering...).

Side-by-side comparison with regular .NET ListView

Extra Features

	*Better ListView*	*Regular .NET ListView*
Data binding	●	×
Automatic sizing of items	●	×
Background image with transparency	●	×
Circular selection	●	×
Embedded controls	●	×
Serialization to XML and binary	●	×
Inbuilt sorting	●	×
Automatic tooltips on items	●	×
Read-only mode	●	×
Item hiding	●	×
Item formatting	●	×
Hierarchical items	●	×
Column reordering	●	×
Item reordering	●	×
Text on empty list	●	×
Multi-line items	●	×
Thumbnails view, customizable image shadows and borders	●	×
Multi-column sorting	●	×
Text formatting for display (DisplayText property)	●	×
Text formatting (trimming, ellipsis, line breaks)	●	×
Three state checkboxes	●	×
Separate context menus for items, columns and groups	●	×
Alphanumeric sorting support	●	×
Separate context menus on columns, items and groups	●	×
Automatic tooltips on columns and groups	●	×
Custom tooltips	●	×
Saving and loading Better ListView content	●	×
Individual columns can be hidden	●	×
Combined items	●	×
Non-selectable items	●	×
Radio buttons	●	×

Improved Features

	*Better ListView*	*Regular .NET ListView*
Custom label edit (combos, date/time, ...), sub-item label edit	●	×
Flicker-free	●	×
Check boxes in all views	●	×
Detailed hit test	●	×
Images supported on columns, groups, items, sub-items	●	×
Drag and drop: with effects, cross-application item dragging	●	×
Multiple tooltips attachable everywhere	●	×
Owner drawing with full control	●	×
Searching by typing: explorer-like behaviour, customizable	●	×
Full native theme support (modern look on Windows Vista/7)	●	×
Groups: focusable, preserve item order	●	×
Variable image sizes	●	×
Detecting source of selection and check state changes (keyboard, mouse, other)	●	×
Custom item heights	●	×
Groups: collapsible	●	×
Column headers in all views	●	×
Customizable item/column/group sizes and paddings in every view	●	×
Check boxes can be hidden on individual items	●	×

Dropped Features

	*Better ListView*	*Regular .NET ListView*
Item arrangement	×	●
Hot tracking	×	●
RTL support	×	●
State image list	×	●
Virtual mode	×	●