Better ListView - Summary

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Summary

Better ListView by Component Owl

URLs: better-listview, better listview, betterlistview, component-owl, component owl, componentowl

Alternative .NET list view control for WinForms. Better ListView is a replacement control for the regular .NET list view control. Better ListView has significantly more features and improved behavior. It is lightweight and always uses the system theme (including Aero support). It does not inherit from the regular list view control and is therefore very flexible. Better ListView has no dependencies and is easy to deploy (a single 80kB DLL when compressed). Better ListView is optimized for speed (100,000+ items) and includes drag & drop support, sorting, image support, checkboxes and more.

Why choose the Better ListView control?

Written from scratch in pure managed code (C#)

Does not inherit from the regular ListView

Light-weight, flexible and powerful

Very little learning time needed - mostly compatible with the regular ListView control

No dependencies, single DLL deployment (80kB when the DLL is compressed)

Optimized and fast

Used in real world applications by thousands of users (= thoroughly tested)

Attention to detail (especially in behavior)

Always uses current system theme

Flicker free and double-buffered

Enhanced image support (each sub-item can have an image, automatic intelligent resizing, and more)

Improved drag and drop support and behavior

Improved checkboxes (usable in all view modes, three-state checkboxes support, better behavior)

Improved selections behavior (mimics Windows Explorer)

Auto-scroll while reordering items and column headers

Multi-column sorting

Improved column headers (eg. they can be used in all layouts)

Context menu for column headers

Column header images supported

Added automatic tooltips for items with too long text

Complex data-binding support added

All elements can be owner-drawn

Rich ListView event data

Better ListView Features

Fast, light-weight, pure managed code

Written from scratch in pure managed C# code - does not inherit from regular ListView

No dependencies

Easy deployment - single DLL binary that has just 80 kB when compressed in a ZIP archive

100% compatible with .NET 2.0 or higher

Lightning fast. Optimized for 100,000+ items

Fixed all bugs and issues related to regular .NET ListView control

Since the whole control has been written from scratch and it does not inherit from the regular Microsoft .NET ListView component, the original ListView bugs are not present.

Furthermore, Component Owl have fixed all issues and some limitations related to the regular .NET ListView control, especially incorrect behavior and non-standard implementation of many features (selections, drag & drop, checkboxes, etc).

Surprisingly, .NET ListView does not support complex data binding. This forces developers to write additional code for populating and updating the control. Better ListView, however, has the ability just like the DataGrid control - one can simply bound any IList, DataSet, DataTable and several other types directly to Better ListView and leave all the management on .NET internals.

Better drag & drop support:

Insertion mark for inner reordering of items helps users preview the action

Auto-scroll while reordering items added

Better column headers:

Columns can be shown in all layouts (not just Details)

Column headers have their own context menu

Auto-scroll when reordering column headers added

Better sorting:

Inbuilt sorting (zero code needed)

Multi-column sort supported (use Shift+Click to add additional columns to sort)

Ability to create custom comparer

Images support:

Each sub-item can have its own image

Use both ImageList control or individual images

Supports images of all sizes

Can automatically resize images nicely if needed (no pixelated horrors)

Column header images are supported

Better checkboxes:

Checkboxes can be used in all layouts (not just Details)

Fixed behavior. Checkboxes behave as expected - this makes Better ListView user friendly, compared to regular ListView.

Three-state checkboxes supported

Looks and feels great

Better ListView always fully utilizes the current Windows theme

Double-buffered and flicker-free

Fixed bugs and wrong behavior of regular .NET ListView

The regular ListView has various obscure bugs (like events firing twice) and non-standard implementation of behavior in many cases.

Component Owl have fixed all the bugs, and made it to always behave as expected.

User friendly:

Leverage the user knowledge of Windows Explorer ListView. The ListView in Windows Explorer is a great model, because every Windows user already knows how it works and how to use it. Unfortunately, the regular .NET ListView deviates from this behavior, and is thus not user friendly. Better Listview replicates the correct standard behavior of Windows Explorer ListView whenever possible. Better ListView always works as expected.

Developer friendly:

Better Listview can be used just like the common ListView. All the method names and property names are the same whenever possible. If you know how to use the common ListView, Better Listview will require nearly no learning on your side. Better ListView is a true pragmatic choice -- skip the learning time, and focus on development.

Powerful, flexible, customizable:

Advanced features like super powerful HitTest and ability to have owner-drawn item are supported. You might be surprised by all the things that are possible to do with Better ListView.

Guaranteed supported and continued development

Better ListView is developed as a joint-venture of two software companies that use it in their flagship products (Swift To-Do List and ImagingShop), used by thousands of users daily. This is your guarantee that it will be supported and developed in the future.

Tested in real world applications by thousands of users

Because Better ListView is used in professional consumer software applications - Swift To-Do List and ImagingShop, thousands of users work with it every day. Although Component Owl use unit tests that cover all code, and do thorough inhouse testing, this is your true bullet-proof guarantee that it is tested thoroughly in the real world.

Other nice-to-have and might-come-handy features:

Customizable searching by typing

Ability to set custom size for items in all layouts

Any element of the control can be customized with properties and owner-drawing

What's new in BetterListView V3.2.0?

Added BetterListViewColumnHeaderStyle.None enum value (indicates that column header is not displayed, but corresponding sub-items are)

Added BetterListViewColumnHeaderStyle.Hidden enum value (indicates that column header is hidden, including sub-items)

Improved mouse and keyboard selections to behave more like Windows Explorer

Merged BetterListViewColumnHeaderStyle.Hidden enum value and BetterListViewColumnHeader.Value

Control+Shift modifier keys behave the same way as Control modifier key alone in Multi-column Sorting

Hidden ShowItemExpandButtons property in Express edition

Fixed possible multiselection using Control+click when MultiSelect is false

What's new in BetterListView V2.7.4?

Parent and child items can be combined to single item with expandable details

Height of every item can be adjusted

Visible property for items and columns, which allows individual column and item hiding

Non-selectable items support

Support for newline characters in text

Thumbnail view can be vertically centered

Adjustable spacing between items in Details view

Customizable text wrapping on every sub-item

Vertical alignment of text

Support for displaying hotkey prefixes in text

Several item selection hiding options

Custom image borders

Better handling of selections through specialized collections

Label edit can be activated by single click on unselected item

Customizable group header behavior

Default and empty groups can be displayed

What's new in BetterListView V2.x?

Groups – items can be organized in collapsible groups

Item Hierarchy – items can be organized in a tree structure, can be also collapsed just like the nodes in a TreeView

Multi-Line Items - item texts can break in several lines and each item can have different size

Data Binding – complex data binding is fully supported, any List, DataTable, DataView, array or any other IList-type object can be bound to Better ListView as a data source

What's new in BetterListView V1.5x?

New samples and new samples launcher

Added Thumbnails view

Added support for image borders

Extended owner-drawing capabilities

Extended label editing capabilities

Changed type of BetterListViewDrawColumnHeaderBackgroundEventArgs.ColumnHeaderBounds from Rectangle to BetterListViewColumnHeaderBounds (more options available)

Fixed behaviour of layouts in special cases

Fixed SelectedIndexChanged event raising before Better ListView state has changed

Fixed light borders of downsampled images

Fixed redraw bug when calling some of the RemoveRange() overrides

Alternative .NET list view control for WinForms.

Pricing: Better ListView V3.2.0 Single developer license with 1 year subscription, Better ListView V3.2.0 Single developer license with 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support, Better ListView V3.2.0 5 developer license with 1 year subscription, Better ListView V3.2.0 5 developer license with 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support, Better ListView V3.2.0 Site license with 1 year subscription, Better ListView V3.2.0 Site license with 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support, Better ListView V3.2.0 Site license with source code and 1 year subscription, Better ListView V3.2.0 Site license with source code and 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support, Better ListView V3.2.0 Enterprise license with source code and 1 year subscription, Better ListView V3.2.0 Enterprise license with source code and 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Single developer 1 year subscription Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Single developer 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals 5 developer 1 year subscription Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals 5 developer 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Site license 1 year subscription Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Site license 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Site license with source code 1 year subscription Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Site license with source code 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Enterprise license with source code 1 year subscription Renewal, Better ListView V3.2.0 Subscription Renewals Enterprise license with source code 1 year subscription and 1 year priority support Renewal

Evals & Downloads: Read the Better ListView documentation, Read the Component Owl License Agreement, Download the Better ListView V3.2.0 evaluation on to your computer - Displays Nag Screens

Operating System for Deployment: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000

Architecture of Product: 32Bit

Product Type: Component

Component Type: .NET Class

Compatible Containers: Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Visual Basic 2010, Microsoft Visual Basic 2008, Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Microsoft Visual C++ 2010, Microsoft Visual C++ 2008, Microsoft Visual C++ 2005, Microsoft Visual C# 2010, Microsoft Visual C# 2008, Microsoft Visual C# 2005, .NET Framework 4.0, .NET Framework 3.5, .NET Framework 3.0, .NET Framework 2.0

Keywords: treeview, list, tree view, tree-view, list-view, listview, listbox

User Interface UI

Part numbers: PC-540227-479419 540227-479419 PC-540227-479421 540227-479421 PC-540227-479423 540227-479423 PC-540227-479425 540227-479425 PC-540227-479427 540227-479427 PC-540227-479429 540227-479429 PC-540227-479431 540227-479431 PC-540227-479433 540227-479433 PC-540227-479435 540227-479435 PC-540227-479437 540227-479437 PC-540227-479439 540227-479439 PC-540227-479441 540227-479441 PC-540227-479443 540227-479443 PC-540227-479445 540227-479445 PC-540227-479447 540227-479447 PC-540227-479449 540227-479449 PC-540227-479451 540227-479451 PC-540227-479453 540227-479453 PC-540227-479455 540227-479455 PC-540227-479457 540227-479457