UXML element ListView

A ListView is a vertically scrollable area that links to and displays a list of items.

Note: The horizontal and vertical Scroller elements are standard UI(User Interface) Allows a user to interact with your application. Unity currently supports three UI systems. More info
See in Glossary Toolkit Scrollers.

Create a ListView

You can create a ListView with UI Builder, UXML, and C#. The following C# example creates a ListView:

var listView = new ListView();

ListView versus ScrollView

You can use a ScrollView control to create the same functionalities as using a ListView. However, a ListView is more efficient than a ScrollView when you do the following:

• Populate list items
• Manage item height
• Bind and unbind to objects
• Instantiate the number of visual elementsA node of a visual tree that instantiates or derives from the C# VisualElement class. You can style the look, define the behaviour, and display it on screen as part of the UI. More info
  See in Glossary required to fill a page
• Recycle visual elements to optimize memory handling

Refresh the collection view

To refresh the collection view, in general, call the RefreshItems or RefreshItem method. However, in the following cases, call Rebuild instead to refresh the collection view:

• You change the type of the data source, such as changing from a List<float> to a List<Vector3>.
• You make changes to makeItem or destroyItem.

Note: If you call Rebuild, the collection view is completely rebuilt, which can be expensive. If you call RefreshItems or RefreshItem, the collection view is only refreshed, which is less expensive.

Set item height

To change how item height is used to drive content, use the VirtualizationMethod:

• VirtualizationMethod.FixedHeight sets all items to the same height.
• VirtualizationMethod.DynamicHeight allows items to have varying heights.

Control the scroll speed

To control the scroll speed of the ListView, override the USS built-in variable --unity-metrics-single_line-height. The default value is 18px. For example:

:root {
--unity-metrics-single_line-height: 500px;
}

Important: When you use CloneTree() without parameter or Instantiate(), it adds a TemplateContainer that stops the line height from propagating. Use CloneTree(root) instead.

Examples

The following UXML example creates a ListView:

<UXML xmlns="UnityEngine.UIElements">
    <ListView class="the-uxml-listview" />
</UXML>

The following C# example illustrates some of the customizable functionalities of the ListView:

/// <sample>
// Create some list of data, here simply numbers in interval [1, 1000]
const int itemCount = 1000;
var items = new List<string>(itemCount);
for (int i = 1; i <= itemCount; i++)
    items.Add(i.ToString());

// The "makeItem" function will be called as needed
// when the ListView needs more items to render
Func<VisualElement> makeItem = () => new Label();

// As the user scrolls through the list, the ListView object
// will recycle elements created by the "makeItem"
// and invoke the "bindItem" callback to associate
// the element with the matching data item (specified as an index in the list)
Action<VisualElement, int> bindItem = (e, i) => (e as Label).text = items[i];

var listView = container.Q<ListView>();
listView.makeItem = makeItem;
listView.bindItem = bindItem;
listView.itemsSource = items;
listView.selectionType = SelectionType.Multiple;

// Callback invoked when the user double clicks an item
listView.onItemsChosen += Debug.Log;

// Callback invoked when the user changes the selection inside the ListView
listView.onSelectionChange += Debug.Log;
/// </sample>

To try this example live in Unity, go to Window > UI Toolkit > Samples. ​ For more examples, refer to the following:

• Create list and tree views: Use ListView, TreeView, MultiColumnListView, and MultiColumnTreeView to create list and tree views.
• Create a complex list view: Use ListView to create a custom Editor window with a list of characters.
• Bind to a list with ListView: Create a list of toggles and bind the list to an underlying list of GameSwitch objects.

C# base class and namespace

C# class: ListView
Namespace: UnityEngine.UIElements
Base class: BaseListView

Inherited attributes

This element inherits the following attributes from its base class:

Name	Type	Description
binding-path	string	Path of the target property to be bound.
fixed-item-height	int	The height of a single item in the list, in pixels. This property must be set when using the virtualizationMethod is set to FixedHeight, for the collection view to function.
focusable	boolean	True if the element can be focused.
header-title	string	This property controls the text of the foldout header when using showFoldoutHeader.
reorder-mode	UIElements.ListViewReorderMode	This property controls the drag and drop mode for the list view. The default values is Simple. When this property is set to Animated, Unity adds drag handles in front of every item and the drag and drop manipulation will push items with an animation as the reordering happens. Multiple item reordering is only supported with the Simple drag mode.
reorderable	boolean	Gets or sets a value that indicates whether the user can drag list items to reorder them. The default values is false. Set this value to true to allow the user to drag and drop the items in the list. The collection view provides a default controller to allow standard behavior. It also automatically handles reordering the items in the data source.
selection-type	UIElements.SelectionType	Controls the selection type. The default value is SelectionType.Single. When you set the collection view to disable selections, any current selection is cleared.
show-add-remove-footer	boolean	This property controls whether a footer will be added to the list view. The default values is false. When this property is set to true, Unity adds a footer under the scroll view. This footer contains two buttons: A “+” button. When clicked, adds a single item at the end of the list view. A “-” button. When clicked, removes all selected items, or the last item if none are selected.
show-alternating-row-backgrounds	UIElements.AlternatingRowBackground	This property controls whether the background colors of collection view rows alternate. Takes a value from the AlternatingRowBackground enum.
show-border	boolean	Enable this property to display a border around the collection view. If set to true, a border appears around the ScrollView that the collection view uses internally.
show-bound-collection-size	boolean	This property controls whether the list view displays the collection size (number of items). The default values is true. When this property is set to true, Unity displays the collection size as the first item in the list, but does not make it an actual list item that is part of the list index. If you query for list index 0, Unity returns the first real list item, and not the collection size. If showFoldoutHeader is set to true, the collection size field will be included in the header instead. This property is usually used to debug a ListView, because it indicates whether the data source is linked correctly. In production, the collection size is rarely displayed as a line item in a ListView. SA: UnityEditor.UIElements.BindingExtensions.Bind
show-foldout-header	boolean	This property controls whether the list view will display a header, in the form of a foldout that can be expanded or collapsed. The default values is false. When this property is set to true, Unity adds a foldout in the hierarchy of the list view and moves the scroll view inside that newly created foldout. The text of this foldout can be changed with headerTitle property on the ListView. If showBoundCollectionSize is set to true, the header will include a TextField to control the array size, instead of using the field as part of the list.
tabindex	int	An integer used to sort focusables in the focus ring. Must be greater than or equal to zero.
virtualization-method	UIElements.CollectionVirtualizationMethod	The virtualization method to use for this collection when a scroll bar is visible. Takes a value from the CollectionVirtualizationMethod enum. The default values is FixedHeight. When using fixed height, you need to specify the fixedItemHeight property. Fixed height is more performant but offers less flexibility on content. When using DynamicHeight, the collection will wait for the actual height to be computed. Dynamic height is more flexible but less performant.

This element also inherits the following attributes from VisualElement:

Name	Type	Description
content-container	string	Child elements are added to it, usually this is the same as the element itself.
name	string	The name of this VisualElement. Use this property to write USS selectors that target a specific element. The standard practice is to give an element a unique name.
picking-mode	UIElements.PickingMode	Determines if this element can be pick during mouseEvents or IPanel.Pick queries.
style	string	Reference to the style object of this element. Contains data computed from USS files or inline styles written to this object in C#.
tooltip	string	Text to display inside an information box after the user hovers the element for a small amount of time.
usage-hints	UIElements.UsageHints	A combination of hint values that specify high-level intended usage patterns for the VisualElement. This property can only be set when the VisualElement is not yet part of a Panel. Once part of a Panel, this property becomes effectively read-only, and attempts to change it will throw an exception. The specification of proper UsageHints drives the system to make better decisions on how to process or accelerate certain operations based on the anticipated usage pattern. Note that those hints do not affect behavioral or visual results, but only affect the overall performance of the panel and the elements within. It’s advised to always consider specifying the proper UsageHints, but keep in mind that some UsageHints might be internally ignored under certain conditions (e.g. due to hardware limitations on the target platform).
view-data-key	string	Used for view data persistence (ie. tree expanded states, scroll position, zoom level). This is the key used to save/load the view data from the view data store. Not setting this key will disable persistence for this VisualElement.

USS classes

The following table lists all the C# public property names and their related USS selector.

C# property	USS selector	Description
ussClassName	.unity-list-view	The USS class name for ListView elements. Unity adds this USS class to every instance of the ListView element. Any styling applied to this class affects every ListView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
itemUssClassName	.unity-list-view__item	The USS class name of item elements in ListView elements. Unity adds this USS class to every item element the ListView contains. Any styling applied to this class affects every item element located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
emptyLabelUssClassName	.unity-list-view__empty-label	The USS class name for label displayed when ListView is empty. Unity adds this USS class to the label displayed if the ListView is empty. Any styling applied to this class affects every empty label located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
reorderableUssClassName	.unity-list-view__reorderable	The USS class name for reorderable animated ListView elements. Unity adds this USS class to every instance of the ListView element when reorderMode is set to Animated. Any styling applied to this class affects every ListView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
reorderableItemUssClassName	.unity-list-view__reorderable-item	The USS class name for item elements in reorderable animated ListView. Unity adds this USS class to every element in the ListView when reorderMode is set to Animated. Any styling applied to this class affects every element located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
reorderableItemContainerUssClassName	.unity-list-view__reorderable-item__container	The USS class name for item container in reorderable animated ListView. Unity adds this USS class to every item container in the ListView when reorderMode is set to Animated. Any styling applied to this class affects every item container located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
reorderableItemHandleUssClassName	.unity-list-view__reorderable-handle	The USS class name for drag handle in reorderable animated ListView. Unity adds this USS class to drag handles in the ListView when reorderMode is set to Animated. Any styling applied to this class affects every drag handle located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
reorderableItemHandleBarUssClassName	.unity-list-view__reorderable-handle-bar	The USS class name for drag handle bar in reorderable animated ListView. Unity adds this USS class to every drag handle bar in the ListView when reorderMode is set to Animated. Any styling applied to this class affects every drag handle bar located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
footerUssClassName	.unity-list-view__footer	The USS class name for the footer of the ListView. Unity adds this USS class to the footer element in the ListView. Any styling applied to this class affects every ListView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
foldoutHeaderUssClassName	.unity-list-view__foldout-header	The USS class name for the foldout header of the ListView. Unity adds this USS class to the foldout element in the ListView. Any styling applied to this class affects every foldout located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
arraySizeFieldUssClassName	.unity-list-view__size-field	The USS class name for the size field of the ListView when foldout header is enabled. Unity adds this USS class to the size field element in the ListView when showFoldoutHeader is set to true. Any styling applied to this class affects every size field located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
listViewWithHeaderUssClassName	.unity-list-view--with-header	The USS class name for ListView when foldout header is enabled. Unity adds this USS class to ListView when showFoldoutHeader is set to true. Any styling applied to this class affects every list located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
listViewWithFooterUssClassName	.unity-list-view--with-footer	The USS class name for ListView when add/remove footer is enabled. Unity adds this USS class to ListView when showAddRemoveFooter is set to true. Any styling applied to this class affects every list located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
scrollViewWithFooterUssClassName	.unity-list-view__scroll-view--with-footer	The USS class name for scroll view when add/remove footer is enabled. Unity adds this USS class to ListView’s scroll view when showAddRemoveFooter is set to true. Any styling applied to this class affects every list located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
ussClassName	.unity-collection-view	The USS class name for BaseVerticalCollectionView elements. Unity adds this USS class to every instance of the BaseVerticalCollectionView element. Any styling applied to this class affects every BaseVerticalCollectionView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
borderUssClassName	.unity-collection-view--with-border	The USS class name for BaseVerticalCollectionView elements with a border. Unity adds this USS class to an instance of the BaseVerticalCollectionView element if the instance’s BaseVerticalCollectionView.showBorder property is set to true. Any styling applied to this class affects every such BaseVerticalCollectionView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
itemUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__item	The USS class name of item elements in BaseVerticalCollectionView elements. Unity adds this USS class to every item element the BaseVerticalCollectionView contains. Any styling applied to this class affects every item element located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
dragHoverBarUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__drag-hover-bar	The USS class name of the drag hover bar. Unity adds this USS class to the bar that appears when an item element is dragged. The BaseVerticalCollectionView.reorderable property must be true in order for items to be dragged. Any styling applied to this class affects every BaseVerticalCollectionView located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
itemDragHoverUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__item--drag-hover	The USS class name applied to an item element on drag hover. Unity adds this USS class to the list element that is dragged. The BaseVerticalCollectionView.reorderable property must be set to true for items to be draggable. Any styling applied to this class affects every BaseVerticalCollectionView item located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
itemSelectedVariantUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__item--selected	The USS class name of selected item elements in the BaseVerticalCollectionView. Unity adds this USS class to every selected element in the BaseVerticalCollectionView. The BaseVerticalCollectionView.selectionType property decides if zero, one, or more elements can be selected. Any styling applied to this class affects every BaseVerticalCollectionView item located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
itemAlternativeBackgroundUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__item--alternative-background	The USS class name for odd rows in the BaseVerticalCollectionView. Unity adds this USS class to every odd-numbered item in the BaseVerticalCollectionView when the BaseVerticalCollectionView.showAlternatingRowBackground property is set to ContentOnly or All. When the showAlternatingRowBackground property is set to either of those values, odd-numbered items are displayed with a different background color than even-numbered items. This USS class is used to differentiate odd-numbered items from even-numbered items. When the showAlternatingRowBackground property is set to None, the USS class is not added, and any styling or behavior that relies on it’s invalidated.
listScrollViewUssClassName	.unity-collection-view__scroll-view	The USS class name of the scroll view in the BaseVerticalCollectionView. Unity adds this USS class to the BaseVerticalCollectionView’s scroll view. Any styling applied to this class affects every BaseVerticalCollectionView scroll view located beside, or below the stylesheet in the visual tree.
disabledUssClassName	.unity-disabled	USS class name of local disabled elements.

You can also use the Matching Selectors section in the Inspector or the UI Toolkit Debugger to see which USS selectors affect the components of the VisualElement at every level of its hierarchy.

Additional resources

• ScrollViewA UI Control which displays a large set of Controls in a viewable area that you can see by using a scrollbar. More info
  See in Glossary