Module javafx.controls
Package javafx.scene.control

Class ListView<T>

java.lang.Object
javafx.scene.Node
javafx.scene.Parent
javafx.scene.layout.Region
javafx.scene.control.Control
javafx.scene.control.ListView<T>
Type Parameters:
T - This type is used to represent the type of the objects stored in the ListViews items ObservableList. It is also used in the selection model and focus model.
All Implemented Interfaces:
Styleable, EventTarget, Skinnable
@DefaultProperty("items") public class ListView<T> extends Control
A ListView displays a horizontal or vertical list of items from which the user may select, or with which the user may interact. A ListView is able to have its generic type set to represent the type of data in the backing model. Doing this has the benefit of making various methods in the ListView, as well as the supporting classes (mentioned below), type-safe. In addition, making use of the generic type supports substantially simplified development of applications making use of ListView, as all modern IDEs are able to auto-complete far more successfully with the additional type information.

Populating a ListView

A simple example of how to create and populate a ListView of names (Strings) is shown here: 

 ObservableList<String> names = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
          "Julia", "Ian", "Sue", "Matthew", "Hannah", "Stephan", "Denise");
 ListView<String> listView = new ListView<String>(names);

The elements of the ListView are contained within the items ObservableList. This ObservableList is automatically observed by the ListView, such that any changes that occur inside the ObservableList will be automatically shown in the ListView itself. If passing the ObservableList in to the ListView constructor is not feasible, the recommended approach for setting the items is to simply call: 

 ObservableList<T> content = ...
 listView.setItems(content);
Image of the ListView control

The end result of this is, as noted above, that the ListView will automatically refresh the view to represent the items in the list.

Another approach, whilst accepted by the ListView, is not the recommended approach: 

 List<T> content = ...
 getItems().setAll(content);
The issue with the approach shown above is that the content list is being copied into the items list - meaning that subsequent changes to the content list are not observed, and will not be reflected visually within the ListView.

ListView Selection / Focus APIs

To track selection and focus, it is necessary to become familiar with the SelectionModel and FocusModel classes. A ListView has at most one instance of each of these classes, available from selectionModel and focusModel properties respectively. Whilst it is possible to use this API to set a new selection model, in most circumstances this is not necessary - the default selection and focus models should work in most circumstances.

The default SelectionModel used when instantiating a ListView is an implementation of the MultipleSelectionModel abstract class. However, as noted in the API documentation for the selectionMode property, the default value is SelectionMode.SINGLE. To enable multiple selection in a default ListView instance, it is therefore necessary to do the following: 

 listView.getSelectionModel().setSelectionMode(SelectionMode.MULTIPLE);

Customizing ListView Visuals

The visuals of the ListView can be entirely customized by replacing the default cell factory. A cell factory is used to generate ListCell instances, which are used to represent an item in the ListView. See the Cell class documentation for a more complete description of how to write custom Cells.

Warning: Nodes should not be inserted directly into the items list

ListView allows for the items list to contain elements of any type, including Node instances. Putting nodes into the items list is strongly discouraged, as it can lead to unexpected results.

Important points to note:

  • Avoid inserting Node instances directly into the items list or its data model.
  • The recommended approach is to put the relevant information into the items list, and provide a custom cell factory to create the nodes for a given cell and update them on demand using the data stored in the item for that cell.
  • Avoid creating new Nodes in the updateItem method of a custom cell factory.

The following minimal example shows how to create a custom cell factory for ListView containing Nodes: 

  ListView<Color> lv = new ListView<>();
  lv.getItems().addAll(Color.RED, Color.GREEN, Color.BLUE);

  lv.setCellFactory(p -> {
    return new ListCell<>() {
        private final Rectangle rectangle;
        {
            setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.GRAPHIC_ONLY);
            rectangle = new Rectangle(10, 10);
        }

        @Override
        protected void updateItem(Color item, boolean empty) {
            super.updateItem(item, empty);

            if (item == null || empty) {
                setGraphic(null);
            } else {
                rectangle.setFill(item);
                setGraphic(rectangle);
            }
         }
     };
 });

This example has an anonymous custom ListCell class in the custom cell factory. Note that the Rectangle (Node) object needs to be created in the instance initialization block or the constructor of the custom ListCell class and updated/used in its updateItem method.

Editing

This control supports inline editing of values, and this section attempts to give an overview of the available APIs and how you should use them.

Firstly, cell editing most commonly requires a different user interface than when a cell is not being edited. This is the responsibility of the Cell implementation being used. For ListView, this is the responsibility of the cell factory. It is your choice whether the cell is permanently in an editing state (e.g. this is common for CheckBox cells), or to switch to a different UI when editing begins (e.g. when a double-click is received on a cell).

To know when editing has been requested on a cell, simply override the Cell.startEdit() method, and update the cell text and graphic properties as appropriate (e.g. set the text to null and set the graphic to be a TextField). Additionally, you should also override Cell.cancelEdit() to reset the UI back to its original visual state when the editing concludes. In both cases it is important that you also ensure that you call the super method to have the cell perform all duties it must do to enter or exit its editing mode.

Once your cell is in an editing state, the next thing you are most probably interested in is how to commit or cancel the editing that is taking place. This is your responsibility as the cell factory provider. Your cell implementation will know when the editing is over, based on the user input (e.g. when the user presses the Enter or ESC keys on their keyboard). When this happens, it is your responsibility to call Cell.commitEdit(Object) or Cell.cancelEdit(), as appropriate.

When you call Cell.commitEdit(Object) an event is fired to the ListView, which you can observe by adding an EventHandler via setOnEditCommit(javafx.event.EventHandler). Similarly, you can also observe edit events for edit start and edit cancel.

By default the ListView edit commit handler is non-null, with a default handler that attempts to overwrite the property value for the item in the currently-being-edited row. It is able to do this as the Cell.commitEdit(Object) method is passed in the new value, and this is passed along to the edit commit handler via the ListView.EditEvent that is fired. It is simply a matter of calling ListView.EditEvent.getNewValue() to retrieve this value.

It is very important to note that if you call setOnEditCommit(javafx.event.EventHandler) with your own EventHandler, then you will be removing the default handler. Unless you then handle the writeback to the property (or the relevant data source), nothing will happen. You can work around this by using the Node.addEventHandler(javafx.event.EventType, javafx.event.EventHandler) method to add a editCommitEvent() EventType with your desired EventHandler as the second argument. Using this method, you will not replace the default implementation, but you will be notified when an edit commit has occurred.

Hopefully this summary answers some of the commonly asked questions. Fortunately, JavaFX ships with a number of pre-built cell factories that handle all the editing requirements on your behalf. You can find these pre-built cell factories in the javafx.scene.control.cell package.

Since:
JavaFX 2.0
See Also:

  • Property Details

  • Constructor Details

    • ListView

      public ListView()
      Creates a default ListView which will display contents stacked vertically. As no ObservableList is provided in this constructor, an empty ObservableList is created, meaning that it is legal to directly call getItems() if so desired. However, as noted elsewhere, this is not the recommended approach (instead call setItems(javafx.collections.ObservableList)).

      Refer to the ListView class documentation for details on the default state of other properties.

    • ListView

      public ListView(ObservableList<T> items)
      Creates a default ListView which will stack the contents retrieved from the provided ObservableList vertically.

      Attempts to add a listener to the ObservableList, such that all subsequent changes inside the list will be shown to the user.

      Refer to the ListView class documentation for details on the default state of other properties.

      Parameters:
      items - the list of items

  • Method Details

    • editAnyEvent

      public static <T> EventType<ListView.EditEvent<T>> editAnyEvent()
      An EventType that indicates some edit event has occurred. It is the parent type of all other edit events: editStartEvent(), editCommitEvent() and editCancelEvent().
      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the objects stored in this ListView
      Returns:
      the event type

    • editStartEvent

      public static <T> EventType<ListView.EditEvent<T>> editStartEvent()
      An EventType used to indicate that an edit event has started within the ListView upon which the event was fired.
      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the objects stored in this ListView
      Returns:
      the event type

    • editCancelEvent

      public static <T> EventType<ListView.EditEvent<T>> editCancelEvent()
      An EventType used to indicate that an edit event has just been canceled within the ListView upon which the event was fired.
      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the objects stored in this ListView
      Returns:
      the event type

    • editCommitEvent

      public static <T> EventType<ListView.EditEvent<T>> editCommitEvent()
      An EventType used to indicate that an edit event has been committed within the ListView upon which the event was fired.
      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the objects stored in this ListView
      Returns:
      the event type

    • setItems

      public final void setItems(ObservableList<T> value)
      Sets the underlying data model for the ListView. Note that it has a generic type that must match the type of the ListView itself.
      Parameters:
      value - the list of items for this ListView

    • getItems

      public final ObservableList<T> getItems()
      Returns an ObservableList that contains the items currently being shown to the user. This may be null if setItems(javafx.collections.ObservableList) has previously been called, however, by default it is an empty ObservableList.
      Returns:
      An ObservableList containing the items to be shown to the user, or null if the items have previously been set to null.

    • itemsProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<ObservableList<T>> itemsProperty()
      The underlying data model for the ListView. Note that it has a generic type that must match the type of the ListView itself.
      Returns:
      the items property for this ListView
      See Also:

    • placeholderProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<Node> placeholderProperty()
      The Node to show to the user when the ListView has no content to show. This happens when the list model has no data or when a filter has been applied to the list model, resulting in there being nothing to show the user.
      Returns:
      the placeholder property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • setPlaceholder

      public final void setPlaceholder(Node value)
      Sets the value of the placeholder property.
      Property description:
      The Node to show to the user when the ListView has no content to show. This happens when the list model has no data or when a filter has been applied to the list model, resulting in there being nothing to show the user.
      Parameters:
      value - the value for the placeholder property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • getPlaceholder

      public final Node getPlaceholder()
      Gets the value of the placeholder property.
      Property description:
      The Node to show to the user when the ListView has no content to show. This happens when the list model has no data or when a filter has been applied to the list model, resulting in there being nothing to show the user.
      Returns:
      the value of the placeholder property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • setSelectionModel

      public final void setSelectionModel(MultipleSelectionModel<T> value)
      Sets the MultipleSelectionModel to be used in the ListView. Despite a ListView requiring a MultipleSelectionModel, it is possible to configure it to only allow single selection (see MultipleSelectionModel.setSelectionMode(javafx.scene.control.SelectionMode) for more information).
      Parameters:
      value - the MultipleSelectionModel to be used in this ListView

    • getSelectionModel

      public final MultipleSelectionModel<T> getSelectionModel()
      Returns the currently installed selection model.
      Returns:
      the currently installed selection model

    • selectionModelProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<MultipleSelectionModel<T>> selectionModelProperty()
      The SelectionModel provides the API through which it is possible to select single or multiple items within a ListView, as well as inspect which items have been selected by the user. Note that it has a generic type that must match the type of the ListView itself.
      Returns:
      the selectionModel property
      See Also:

    • setFocusModel

      public final void setFocusModel(FocusModel<T> value)
      Sets the FocusModel to be used in the ListView.
      Parameters:
      value - the FocusModel to be used in the ListView

    • getFocusModel

      public final FocusModel<T> getFocusModel()
      Returns the currently installed FocusModel.
      Returns:
      the currently installed FocusModel

    • focusModelProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<FocusModel<T>> focusModelProperty()
      The FocusModel provides the API through which it is possible to both get and set the focus on a single item within a ListView. Note that it has a generic type that must match the type of the ListView itself.
      Returns:
      the FocusModel property
      See Also:

    • setOrientation

      public final void setOrientation(Orientation value)
      Sets the orientation of the ListView, which dictates whether it scrolls vertically or horizontally.
      Parameters:
      value - the orientation of the ListView

    • getOrientation

      public final Orientation getOrientation()
      Returns the current orientation of the ListView, which dictates whether it scrolls vertically or horizontally.
      Returns:
      the current orientation of the ListView

    • orientationProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<Orientation> orientationProperty()
      The orientation of the ListView - this can either be horizontal or vertical.
      Returns:
      the orientation property of this ListView
      See Also:

    • setCellFactory

      public final void setCellFactory(Callback<ListView<T>,ListCell<T>> value)
      Sets a new cell factory to use in the ListView. This forces all old ListCell's to be thrown away, and new ListCell's created with the new cell factory.
      Parameters:
      value - cell factory to use in this ListView

    • getCellFactory

      public final Callback<ListView<T>,ListCell<T>> getCellFactory()
      Returns the current cell factory.
      Returns:
      the current cell factory

    • cellFactoryProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<Callback<ListView<T>,ListCell<T>>> cellFactoryProperty()

      Setting a custom cell factory has the effect of deferring all cell creation, allowing for total customization of the cell. Internally, the ListView is responsible for reusing ListCells - all that is necessary is for the custom cell factory to return from this function a ListCell which might be usable for representing any item in the ListView.

      Refer to the Cell class documentation for more detail.

      Returns:
      the cell factory property
      See Also:

    • setFixedCellSize

      public final void setFixedCellSize(double value)
      Sets the new fixed cell size for this control. Any value greater than zero will enable fixed cell size mode, whereas a zero or negative value (or Region.USE_COMPUTED_SIZE) will be used to disabled fixed cell size mode.
      Parameters:
      value - The new fixed cell size value, or a value less than or equal to zero (or Region.USE_COMPUTED_SIZE) to disable.
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0

    • getFixedCellSize

      public final double getFixedCellSize()
      Returns the fixed cell size value. A value less than or equal to zero is used to represent that fixed cell size mode is disabled, and a value greater than zero represents the size of all cells in this control.
      Returns:
      A double representing the fixed cell size of this control, or a value less than or equal to zero if fixed cell size mode is disabled.
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0

    • fixedCellSizeProperty

      public final DoubleProperty fixedCellSizeProperty()
      Specifies whether this control has cells that are a fixed height (of the specified value). If this value is less than or equal to zero, then all cells are individually sized and positioned. This is a slow operation. Therefore, when performance matters and developers are not dependent on variable cell sizes it is a good idea to set the fixed cell size value. Generally cells are around 24px, so setting a fixed cell size of 24 is likely to result in very little difference in visuals, but a improvement to performance.

      To set this property via CSS, use the -fx-fixed-cell-size property. This should not be confused with the -fx-cell-size property. The difference between these two CSS properties is that -fx-cell-size will size all cells to the specified size, but it will not enforce that this is the only size (thus allowing for variable cell sizes, and preventing the performance gains from being possible). Therefore, when performance matters use -fx-fixed-cell-size, instead of -fx-cell-size. If both properties are specified in CSS, -fx-fixed-cell-size takes precedence.

      Returns:
      the fixed cell size property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • setEditable

      public final void setEditable(boolean value)
      Sets the value of the editable property.
      Property description:
      Specifies whether this ListView is editable - only if the ListView and the ListCells within it are both editable will a ListCell be able to go into their editing state.
      Parameters:
      value - the value for the editable property
      See Also:

    • isEditable

      public final boolean isEditable()
      Gets the value of the editable property.
      Property description:
      Specifies whether this ListView is editable - only if the ListView and the ListCells within it are both editable will a ListCell be able to go into their editing state.
      Returns:
      the value of the editable property
      See Also:

    • editableProperty

      public final BooleanProperty editableProperty()
      Specifies whether this ListView is editable - only if the ListView and the ListCells within it are both editable will a ListCell be able to go into their editing state.
      Returns:
      the editable property
      See Also:

    • getEditingIndex

      public final int getEditingIndex()
      Returns the index of the item currently being edited in the ListView, or -1 if no item is being edited.
      Returns:
      the index of the item currently being edited

    • editingIndexProperty

      public final ReadOnlyIntegerProperty editingIndexProperty()

      A property used to represent the index of the item currently being edited in the ListView, if editing is taking place, or -1 if no item is being edited.

      It is not possible to set the editing index, instead it is required that you call edit(int).

      Returns:
      the editing index property
      See Also:

    • setOnEditStart

      public final void setOnEditStart(EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> value)
      Sets the EventHandler that will be called when the user begins an edit.

      This is a convenience method - the same result can be achieved by calling addEventHandler(ListView.EDIT_START_EVENT, eventHandler).

      Parameters:
      value - the EventHandler that will be called when the user begins an edit

    • getOnEditStart

      public final EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> getOnEditStart()
      Returns the EventHandler that will be called when the user begins an edit.
      Returns:
      the EventHandler that will be called when the user begins an edit

    • onEditStartProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>>> onEditStartProperty()
      This event handler will be fired when the user successfully initiates editing.
      Returns:
      the onEditStart event handler property
      See Also:

    • setOnEditCommit

      public final void setOnEditCommit(EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> value)
      Sets the EventHandler that will be called when the user has completed their editing. This is called as part of the Cell.commitEdit(java.lang.Object) method.

      This is a convenience method - the same result can be achieved by calling addEventHandler(ListView.EDIT_START_EVENT, eventHandler).

      Parameters:
      value - the EventHandler that will be called when the user has completed their editing

    • getOnEditCommit

      public final EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> getOnEditCommit()
      Returns the EventHandler that will be called when the user commits an edit.
      Returns:
      the EventHandler that will be called when the user commits an edit

    • onEditCommitProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>>> onEditCommitProperty()

      This property is used when the user performs an action that should result in their editing input being persisted.

      The EventHandler in this property should not be called directly - instead call Cell.commitEdit(java.lang.Object) from within your custom ListCell. This will handle firing this event, updating the view, and switching out of the editing state.

      Returns:
      the onEditCommit event handler property
      See Also:

    • setOnEditCancel

      public final void setOnEditCancel(EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> value)
      Sets the EventHandler that will be called when the user cancels an edit.
      Parameters:
      value - the EventHandler that will be called when the user cancels an edit

    • getOnEditCancel

      public final EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>> getOnEditCancel()
      Returns the EventHandler that will be called when the user cancels an edit.
      Returns:
      the EventHandler that will be called when the user cancels an edit

    • onEditCancelProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<EventHandler<ListView.EditEvent<T>>> onEditCancelProperty()
      This event handler will be fired when the user cancels editing a cell.
      Returns:
      the onEditCancel event handler property
      See Also:

    • edit

      public void edit(int itemIndex)
      Instructs the ListView to begin editing the item in the given index, if the ListView is editable. Once this method is called, if the current cellFactoryProperty() is set up to support editing, the Cell will switch its visual state to enable for user input to take place.
      Parameters:
      itemIndex - The index of the item in the ListView that should be edited.

    • scrollTo

      public void scrollTo(int index)
      Scrolls the ListView such that the item in the given index is visible to the end user.
      Parameters:
      index - The index that should be made visible to the user, assuming of course that it is greater than, or equal to 0, and less than the size of the items list contained within the given ListView.

    • scrollTo

      public void scrollTo(T object)
      Scrolls the ListView so that the given object is visible within the viewport.
      Parameters:
      object - The object that should be visible to the user.
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0

    • setOnScrollTo

      public final void setOnScrollTo(EventHandler<ScrollToEvent<Integer>> value)
      Sets the value of the onScrollTo property.
      Property description:
      Called when there's a request to scroll an index into view using scrollTo(int) or scrollTo(Object)
      Parameters:
      value - the value for the onScrollTo property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • getOnScrollTo

      public final EventHandler<ScrollToEvent<Integer>> getOnScrollTo()
      Gets the value of the onScrollTo property.
      Property description:
      Called when there's a request to scroll an index into view using scrollTo(int) or scrollTo(Object)
      Returns:
      the value of the onScrollTo property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • onScrollToProperty

      public final ObjectProperty<EventHandler<ScrollToEvent<Integer>>> onScrollToProperty()
      Called when there's a request to scroll an index into view using scrollTo(int) or scrollTo(Object)
      Returns:
      the onScrollTo property
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0
      See Also:

    • refresh

      public void refresh()
      Calling refresh() forces the ListView control to recreate and repopulate the cells necessary to populate the visual bounds of the control. In other words, this forces the ListView to update what it is showing to the user. This is useful in cases where the underlying data source has changed in a way that is not observed by the ListView itself.
      Since:
      JavaFX 8u60

    • getClassCssMetaData

      public static List<CssMetaData<? extends Styleable,?>> getClassCssMetaData()
      Gets the CssMetaData associated with this class, which may include the CssMetaData of its superclasses.
      Returns:
      the CssMetaData
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0

    • getControlCssMetaData

      public List<CssMetaData<? extends Styleable,?>> getControlCssMetaData()
      Gets the unmodifiable list of the control's CSS-styleable properties.
      Overrides:
      getControlCssMetaData in class Control
      Returns:
      the unmodifiable list of the control's CSS-styleable properties
      Since:
      JavaFX 8.0