ListBox vs. ListView - how to choose for data binding

wpf data-binding listview listbox
Geoff Cox picture Geoff Cox · Oct 22, 2008 · Viewed 115.5k times · Source

I'm considering either a ListBox or a ListView for a WPF application. It seems either supports data binding and item templates. My application has a simple list of items that I intend to be able to search/sort/filter based on user input. The data binding demo (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms771319.aspx) uses a ListBox with a CollectionViewSource.

Does anyone have pros/cons for which control to use and when?

Answer

Philip Rieck picture Philip Rieck · Oct 22, 2008

A ListView is a specialized ListBox (that is, it inherits from ListBox). It allows you to specify different views rather than a straight list. You can either roll your own view, or use GridView (think explorer-like "details view"). It's basically the multi-column listbox, the cousin of windows form's listview.

If you don't need the additional capabilities of ListView, you can certainly use ListBox if you're simply showing a list of items (Even if the template is complex).

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