Windows 8 ListView with horizontal item flow

Question

How can i make the ListItems inside windows 8 ListView to flow horizontally. Default behavior is vertical, but i want to show the list in horizontal flow so it can render as panorama.

I tried GridView which does support horizontal layout but there is a limitation on item height which does not show the complete item content for items with large text.

Answer 1

You can also encapsulate Filips approach using a style:

   <Style TargetType="ListView" x:Key="VerticalListView">
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Auto" />
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Disabled" />

        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollMode" Value="Enabled" />
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollMode" Value="Disabled" />

        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.ZoomMode" Value="Disabled" />
        <Setter Property="SelectionMode" Value="None" />

        <Setter Property="ItemsPanel">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                    <StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Top" Orientation="Horizontal" />
                </ItemsPanelTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>

        <Setter Property="ItemContainerStyle">
            <Setter.Value>
                <Style TargetType="ListViewItem">
                    <Setter Property="Height" Value="400" />
                </Style>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>

Apply it to your ListViews as needed:

<ListView Style="{StaticResource VerticalListView}" />

Answer 2

You can use a ListView this way:

<ListView
    Height="500"
    VerticalAlignment="Center"
    ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"
    ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
    ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollMode="Enabled"
    ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollMode="Disabled"
    ScrollViewer.ZoomMode="Disabled"
    SelectionMode="None">
    <ListView.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <ItemsStackPanel
                Orientation="Horizontal" />
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </ListView.ItemsPanel>

-- that gives it a horizontal panel and the right ScrollBars for horizontal scrolling.

Both ListView and GridView can cause problems when you get larger items. I think by default the items might be sized based on the size of the first item added. You can set that size manually though:

<ListView.ItemContainerStyle>
    <Style
        TargetType="ListViewItem"><!-- note - for GridView you should specify GridViewItem, for ListBox - ListBoxItem, etc. -->
        <Setter
            Property="Height"
            Value="200" /> <!-- this is where you can specify the size of your ListView items -->
        <Setter
            Property="Width"
            Value="350" />
    </Style>
</ListView.ItemContainerStyle>

-- note that all items need to be the same size.

-- also note - I have changed this answer to replace a StackPanel with an ItemsStackPanel which is virtualized, so it should get you better performance and lower memory usage for large data sets, but PLEASE - don't create layouts with large, horizontally scrollable lists. They might be a good solution in some very limited scenarios, but in most cases they will break many good UI patterns and make your app harder to use.