ListView vs. ListBox for multiple column usage

Question

I am currently struggling with the GUI of my application. I have a hard time figuring out whether the ListBox or ListView is more \"suitable\" for multi-column representation of

Answer 1

A DataGridView is nice if you want to be able to edit data straight from the grid, like a spreadsheet. A listview in detail mode is great for simple presentation of lists of data columns. A DataGridView will also be easier to sort, as far as I know.

Generally I do something like this:

private void UpdateListView()
{
   mListView.Items.Clear();
   foreach (Item item in mItems)
   {
      ListViewItem listViewItem = 
         new ListViewItem(item.Value1.ToString()) { Tag = item; }
      listViewItem.SubItems.Add(item.Value2.ToString());
      listViewItem.SubItems.Add(item.Value3.ToString());
      mListView.Items.Add(listViewItem);
   }
}

The columns will need to have been defined in the designer, including column header text and column widths.

With the Tag = item; part you will be able to access the selected object with:

   if (mListView.SelectedIndices.Count <= 0)
      return;

   Item selectedItem = mListView.SelectedItems[0].Tag as Item;
   if (selectedItem == null)
      return;

   // do something with selectedItem