Article
11/17/2011

How to: Display Data in a ListBox

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There are many different ways to display data in a ListBox control. ListBox is an ItemsControl, which means that you can add items directly to the list box using XAML, or set its ItemsSource property to a collection. When you set the ItemsSource property, you can also set an ItemTemplate to customize how each ListBoxItem will display. The following procedures show some of the ways you can specify ListBox content.

To populate a ListBox using XAML Elements

Create XAML elements as direct children of the ListBox.

<ListBox Width="150" Margin="0,5,0,10">
    <TextBlock Text="TextBlock" />
    <TextBox Text="TextBox" />
    <Button Content="Button"  />
    <Rectangle Fill="LightBlue" Height="20" Width="100"  Margin="2,2,2,2"/>
    <Ellipse Fill="Coral" Height="20" Width="150"  Margin="2,2,2,2"/>
</ListBox>

To populate a ListBox using the ItemsSource Property

Set the ItemsSource property to the collection you want to display. Optionally, set the DisplayMemberPath to specify the property to display in the ListBox.

<UserControl x:Class="ListBoxSnippetEx.Page"
    xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
    xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
    xmlns:src="clr-namespace:ListBoxSnippetEx"
     >


...


<Grid>
    <Grid.Resources>
        <src:Customers x:Key="customers"/>
    </Grid.Resources>
    <ListBox ItemsSource="{StaticResource customers}" Width="250" Margin="0,5,0,10" 
       DisplayMemberPath="LastName"/>
</Grid>


...


</UserControl>

Public Class Customer
    Private _firstName As String
    Private _lastName As String
    Private _address As String

    Public Property FirstName() As String
        Get
            Return _firstName
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _firstName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property LastName() As String
        Get
            Return _lastName
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _lastName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Address() As String
        Get
            Return _address
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _address = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Sub New(ByVal firstName As String, ByVal lastName As String, ByVal address As String)
        Me.FirstName = firstName
        Me.LastName = lastName
        Me.Address = address
    End Sub

End Class

Public Class Customers
    Inherits ObservableCollection(Of Customer)

    Public Sub New()
        Add(New Customer("Michael", "Anderberg", "12 North Third Street, Apartment 45"))
        Add(New Customer("Chris", "Ashton", "34 West Fifth Street, Apartment 67"))
        Add(New Customer("Cassie", "Hicks", "56 East Seventh Street, Apartment 89"))
        Add(New Customer("Guido", "Pica", "78 South Ninth Street, Apartment 10"))
    End Sub

End Class

public class Customer
{
    public String FirstName { get; set; }
    public String LastName { get; set; }
    public String Address { get; set; }

    public Customer(String firstName, String lastName, String address)
    {
        this.FirstName = firstName;
        this.LastName = lastName;
        this.Address = address;
    }

}

public class Customers : ObservableCollection<Customer>
{
    public Customers()
    {
        Add(new Customer("Michael", "Anderberg",
                "12 North Third Street, Apartment 45"));
        Add(new Customer("Chris", "Ashton",
                "34 West Fifth Street, Apartment 67"));
        Add(new Customer("Cassie", "Hicks",
                "56 East Seventh Street, Apartment 89"));
        Add(new Customer("Guido", "Pica",
                "78 South Ninth Street, Apartment 10"));
    }

}

To format items in a ListBox

Set the ItemsSource property to the collection you want to display.

Set the ItemTemplate property to the DataTemplate that formats the items.

Note:
Make sure to add a reference to the local namespace in the XAML file like the following.

xmlns:src="clr-namespace:ListBoxSnippetEx"

<UserControl x:Class="ListBoxSnippetEx.Page"
    xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
    xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
    xmlns:src="clr-namespace:ListBoxSnippetEx"
     >


...


<Grid>
    <Grid.Resources>
        <src:Customers x:Key="customers"/>
    </Grid.Resources>

    <ListBox ItemsSource="{StaticResource customers}" Width="350" Margin="0,5,0,10">
        <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
            <DataTemplate>
                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                    <TextBlock Padding="5,0,5,0"
          Text="{Binding FirstName}" />
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding LastName}" />
                    <TextBlock Text=", " />
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Address}" />
                </StackPanel>
            </DataTemplate>
        </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
    </ListBox>
</Grid>


...


</UserControl>

Public Class Customer
    Private _firstName As String
    Private _lastName As String
    Private _address As String

    Public Property FirstName() As String
        Get
            Return _firstName
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _firstName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property LastName() As String
        Get
            Return _lastName
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _lastName = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Address() As String
        Get
            Return _address
        End Get

        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _address = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Sub New(ByVal firstName As String, ByVal lastName As String, ByVal address As String)
        Me.FirstName = firstName
        Me.LastName = lastName
        Me.Address = address
    End Sub

End Class

Public Class Customers
    Inherits ObservableCollection(Of Customer)

    Public Sub New()
        Add(New Customer("Michael", "Anderberg", "12 North Third Street, Apartment 45"))
        Add(New Customer("Chris", "Ashton", "34 West Fifth Street, Apartment 67"))
        Add(New Customer("Cassie", "Hicks", "56 East Seventh Street, Apartment 89"))
        Add(New Customer("Guido", "Pica", "78 South Ninth Street, Apartment 10"))
    End Sub

End Class

public class Customer
{
    public String FirstName { get; set; }
    public String LastName { get; set; }
    public String Address { get; set; }

    public Customer(String firstName, String lastName, String address)
    {
        this.FirstName = firstName;
        this.LastName = lastName;
        this.Address = address;
    }

}

public class Customers : ObservableCollection<Customer>
{
    public Customers()
    {
        Add(new Customer("Michael", "Anderberg",
                "12 North Third Street, Apartment 45"));
        Add(new Customer("Chris", "Ashton",
                "34 West Fifth Street, Apartment 67"));
        Add(new Customer("Cassie", "Hicks",
                "56 East Seventh Street, Apartment 89"));
        Add(new Customer("Guido", "Pica",
                "78 South Ninth Street, Apartment 10"));
    }

}

How to: Display Data in a ListBox

To populate a ListBox using XAML Elements

To populate a ListBox using the ItemsSource Property

To format items in a ListBox

See Also

Reference

Concepts

Additional resources