ListView vs ListBox performance in WPF

I've been listing a relatively large number of items in a ListView (8000+) and it is great in terms of performance, fills in less than a second.

I've tried the same with a ListBox and it takes a lot more time. Even if I set the ItemsPanelTemplate to a VirtualStackPanel.

I'm using a (not default) DataTemplate for the items.

I'm very happy to continue to use a ListView instead of a ListBox, I'm just curious about the difference in performance.

Does anyone know why there's such a big difference? What am I missing?

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ListBox already uses a VirtualizingStackPanel by default.

What do the items look like?

Are you using the same DataTemplate in the ListView?

Could you show us the DataTemplate?

 

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The DataTemplate is this:

Code:

            <ListView.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <Grid Margin="0" Background="White">
                        <Border Margin="5" BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="SteelBlue" CornerRadius="4" Background="{Binding Path=Background, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ListViewItem}}}">
                            <Grid Margin="3">
                                <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                                    <RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
                                    <RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
                                </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                    <ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
                                    <ColumnDefinition Width="70"></ColumnDefinition>
                                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Text="{Binding Path=OutrosNomes}"></TextBlock>
                                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">
                                    <TextBlock Margin="0,5,0,5" FontWeight="Bold" Text="BI: "></TextBlock>
                                    <TextBlock Margin="0,5,0,5" Text="{Binding Path=N_BI,Converter={StaticResource NumeroDefinidoConverter}}"></TextBlock>
                                    <TextBlock Margin="0,5,0,5" FontWeight="Bold" Text=" NIF: "></TextBlock>
                                    <TextBlock Margin="0,5,0,5" Text="{Binding Path=NIF,Converter={StaticResource NumeroDefinidoConverter}}"></TextBlock>
                                </StackPanel>
                                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Column="1" Grid.RowSpan="2" VerticalAlignment="Center">
                                    <StackPanel.Style>                                        
                                        <Style>
                                            <Style.Triggers>
                                                <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=IsSelected, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ListViewItem}}}" Value="False">
                                                    <Setter Property="StackPanel.Visibility" Value="Collapsed" />
                                                </DataTrigger>
                                            </Style.Triggers>
                                        </Style>
                                    </StackPanel.Style>
                                    <Button Grid.Column="0" Tag="{Binding .}" Width="20" Margin="5,0,0,0" ToolTip="Seleccionar" Click="SeleccionarButton_Click">
                                        <Image Width="15" Height="15" Source="/UI/Imagens/CheckIcon.png" />
                                    </Button>
                                </StackPanel>
                            </Grid>
                        </Border>
                    </Grid>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListView.ItemTemplate>

I'm also using the following "style" that changes the default ControlTemplate for the ListBox:

Code:

    <Style TargetType="{x:Type ListBox}">
        <Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true" />
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Auto" />
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Auto" />
        <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll" Value="True" />
        <Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Stretch" />
        <Setter Property="VerticalContentAlignment" Value="Center" />
        <Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="Trebuchet MS" />
        <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="12" />
        <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="{DynamicResource ControlBorderBrush}" />
        <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="1" />
        <Setter Property="Padding" Value="1" />
        <Setter Property="IsTabStop" Value="False" />
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type ListBox}">
                    <Grid>
                        <Border x:Name="Border" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" CornerRadius="1" Background="{DynamicResource ControlBackgroundBrush}">
                            <ScrollViewer Margin="1" Focusable="false" Foreground="{TemplateBinding Foreground}">

                                <StackPanel Margin="2" IsItemsHost="true" />

                            </ScrollViewer>
                        </Border>
                        <Border x:Name="DisabledVisualElement" I****TestVisible="false" Background="#A5FFFFFF" BorderBrush="#66FFFFFF" BorderThickness="1" Opacity="0" />
                    </Grid>
                    <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                        <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="false">
                            <Setter Property="Opacity" TargetName="DisabledVisualElement" Value="1" />
                        </Trigger>
                        <Trigger Property="IsGrouping" Value="true">
                            <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll" Value="false" />
                        </Trigger>
                    </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>

Is there something in that Style that makes the VirtualizingStackPanel not work as expected?

===

 

Yeah, the censoring stuff on this forum is a bit naive.

First thing I notice is that in your Style for re-templating the ListBox, you have a normal StackPanel inside the ScrollViewer rather than a VirtualizingStackPanel. They're different classes. Switching that out might help you.

So instead of this...

Code:

XAML

<StackPanel Margin="2" IsItemsHost="true" />

You need this...

Code:

XAML

<VirtualizingStackPanel Margin="2" IsItemsHost="true" />

Let's see if that works.

 

==

Sorry for the late reply, I was on vacations :P

That was it, thanks!

I didn't expect that it was a problem with the template because, even when I set the ListBox.ItemsPanel's ItemsPanelTemplate as a VirtualizingStackPanel it didn't improve performance.
Probably that happens because the default template uses that property (ItemsPanel) and the overrinding ControlTemplate does not...