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How to: Enable Tile View in a Windows Forms ListView Control

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With the tile view feature of the ListView control, you can provide a visual balance between graphical and textual information. The textual information displayed for an item in tile view is the same as the column information defined for details view. Tile view works in combination with either the grouping or insertion mark features in the ListView control.

The tile view uses a 32 x 32 pixel icon and several lines of text, as shown in the following images.

Tile View in a ListView Control

To enable tile view, set the View property to Tile. You can adjust the size of the tiles by setting the TileSize property, and the number of text lines displayed in the tile by adjusting the Columns collection.

To set tile view programmatically

  1. Use the View enumeration of the ListView control.

    ListView1.View = View.Tile  

    listView1.View = View.Tile;

Example

The following complete code example demonstrates Tile view with tiles modified to show three lines of text. The tile size has been adjusted to prevent line-wrapping.

#using <System.dll>
#using <System.Windows.Forms.dll>
#using <System.Drawing.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Drawing;
using namespace System::Windows::Forms;

public ref class ListViewTilingExample: public Form
{
private:
   ImageList^ myImageList;

public:
   ListViewTilingExample()
   {
      // Initialize myListView.
      ListView^ myListView = gcnew ListView;
      myListView->Dock = DockStyle::Fill;
      myListView->View = View::Tile;
      
      // Initialize the tile size.
      myListView->TileSize = System::Drawing::Size( 400, 45 );
      
      // Initialize the item icons.
      myImageList = gcnew ImageList;
      System::Drawing::Icon^ myIcon = gcnew System::Drawing::Icon( "book.ico" );
      try
      {
         myImageList->Images->Add( myIcon );
      }
      finally
      {
         if ( myIcon )
                  delete safe_cast<IDisposable^>(myIcon);
      }

      myImageList->ImageSize = System::Drawing::Size( 32, 32 );
      myListView->LargeImageList = myImageList;
      
      // Add column headers so the subitems will appear.
      array<ColumnHeader^>^temp0 = {gcnew ColumnHeader,gcnew ColumnHeader,gcnew ColumnHeader};
      myListView->Columns->AddRange( temp0 );
      
      // Create items and add them to myListView.
      array<String^>^temp1 = {"Programming Windows","Petzold, Charles","1998"};
      ListViewItem^ item0 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp1,0 );
      array<String^>^temp2 = {"Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software","Petzold, Charles","2000"};
      ListViewItem^ item1 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp2,0 );
      array<String^>^temp3 = {"Programming Windows with C#","Petzold, Charles","2001"};
      ListViewItem^ item2 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp3,0 );
      array<String^>^temp4 = {"Coding Techniques for Microsoft Visual Basic .NET","Connell, John","2001"};
      ListViewItem^ item3 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp4,0 );
      array<String^>^temp5 = {"C# for Java Developers","Jones, Allen & Freeman, Adam","2002"};
      ListViewItem^ item4 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp5,0 );
      array<String^>^temp6 = {"Microsoft .NET XML Web Services Step by Step","Jones, Allen & Freeman, Adam","2002"};
      ListViewItem^ item5 = gcnew ListViewItem( temp6,0 );
      array<ListViewItem^>^temp7 = {item0,item1,item2,item3,item4,item5};
      myListView->Items->AddRange( temp7 );
      
      // Initialize the form.
      this->Controls->Add( myListView );
      this->Size = System::Drawing::Size( 430, 330 );
      this->Text = "ListView Tiling Example";
   }

protected:

   // Clean up any resources being used.
   ~ListViewTilingExample()
   {
      if ( myImageList != nullptr )
      {
         delete myImageList;
      }
   }
};

[STAThread]
int main()
{
   Application::EnableVisualStyles();
   Application::Run( gcnew ListViewTilingExample );
}

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class ListViewTilingExample : Form
{
    private ImageList myImageList;

    public ListViewTilingExample()
    {
        // Initialize myListView.
        ListView myListView = new ListView();
        myListView.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
        myListView.View = View.Tile;

        // Initialize the tile size.
        myListView.TileSize = new Size(400, 45);

        // Initialize the item icons.
        myImageList = new ImageList();
        using (Icon myIcon = new Icon("book.ico"))
        {
            myImageList.Images.Add(myIcon);
        }
        myImageList.ImageSize = new Size(32, 32);
        myListView.LargeImageList = myImageList;

        // Add column headers so the subitems will appear.
        myListView.Columns.AddRange(new ColumnHeader[]
            {new ColumnHeader(), new ColumnHeader(), new ColumnHeader()});

        // Create items and add them to myListView.
        ListViewItem item0 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"Programming Windows",
            "Petzold, Charles",
            "1998"}, 0 );
        ListViewItem item1 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software",
            "Petzold, Charles",
            "2000"}, 0 );
        ListViewItem item2 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"Programming Windows with C#",
            "Petzold, Charles",
            "2001"}, 0 );
        ListViewItem item3 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"Coding Techniques for Microsoft Visual Basic .NET",
            "Connell, John",
            "2001"}, 0 );
        ListViewItem item4 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"C# for Java Developers",
            "Jones, Allen & Freeman, Adam",
            "2002"}, 0 );
        ListViewItem item5 = new ListViewItem( new string[]
            {"Microsoft .NET XML Web Services Step by Step",
            "Jones, Allen & Freeman, Adam",
            "2002"}, 0 );
        myListView.Items.AddRange(
            new ListViewItem[] {item0, item1, item2, item3, item4, item5});

        // Initialize the form.
        this.Controls.Add(myListView);
        this.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(430, 330);
        this.Text = "ListView Tiling Example";
    }

    // Clean up any resources being used.
    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing)
        {
            myImageList.Dispose();
        }
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.Run(new ListViewTilingExample());
    }
}

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class ListViewTilingExample
    Inherits Form
    
    Private myImageList As ImageList

    Public Sub New()
        ' Initialize myListView.
        Dim myListView As New ListView()
        myListView.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
        myListView.View = View.Tile
        
        ' Initialize the tile size.
        myListView.TileSize = new Size(400, 45)
        
        ' Initialize the item icons. 
        myImageList = New ImageList()
        Dim myIcon as Icon = new Icon("book.ico")
        Try
            myImageList.Images.Add(myIcon)
        Finally
            myIcon.Dispose()
        End Try
        myIcon.Dispose()
        myImageList.ImageSize = New Size(32, 32)
        myListView.LargeImageList = myImageList
        
        ' Add column headers so the subitems will appear.
        myListView.Columns.AddRange(New ColumnHeader() _
            {New ColumnHeader(), New ColumnHeader(), New ColumnHeader()})
        
        ' Create items and add them to myListView.
        Dim item0 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"Programming Windows", _
            "Petzold, Charles", _
            "1998"}, 0 )
        Dim item1 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software", _
            "Petzold, Charles", _
            "2000"}, 0 )
        Dim item2 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"Programming Windows with C#", _
            "Petzold, Charles", _
            "2001"}, 0 )
        Dim item3 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"Coding Techniques for Microsoft Visual Basic .NET", _
            "Connell, John", _
            "2001"}, 0 )
        Dim item4 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"C# for Java Developers", _
            "Jones, Allen / Freeman, Adam", _
            "2002"}, 0 )
        Dim item5 As New ListViewItem( New String() _
            {"Microsoft .NET XML Web Services Step by Step", _
            "Jones, Allen / Freeman, Adam", _
            "2002"}, 0 )
        myListView.Items.AddRange( _
            New ListViewItem() {item0, item1, item2, item3, item4, item5})
        
        ' Initialize the form.
        Me.Controls.Add(myListView)
        Me.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(430, 330)
        Me.Text = "ListView Tiling Example"
    End Sub
    
    ' Clean up any resources being used.        
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If (disposing) Then
            myImageList.Dispose()
        End If

        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub

    <STAThread()> _
    Shared Sub Main()
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Application.Run(New ListViewTilingExample())
    End Sub

End Class

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

  • References to the System and System.Windows.Forms assemblies.

  • An icon file named book.ico in the same directory as the executable file.

See also